Just curious, who...

[pepperpump]

here reguarly is collecting pre 82 copper pennies? I have been thinking of saving them and selling them on Ebay like some others do. Any ideas or comments?
Pepperpump

 

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[Gabev71]

ive been saving them to..havent been buying boxes at the bank and going thru them. but any i get in change i pull out, have about $40 face value in copper pennys so far. since copper keeps going up i figure i'll keep saving until the time is right then put them on ebay or sell them thru a coin dealer like u can with silver.

 

[coolpix9]

I have done 6 or 7 pre 82 penny auctions. I was successful but you have to realize I did not cull any wheats etc. I found I could fit 6600 pennies into one of the USPS Flat Rate Priority boxes. With $100 insurance and a delivery confirmation,the cost is right at $12.65. Add in the eBay fees,paypal fees and your time, you will be lucky to come out ahead. If you cull out the wheats, I can't see why anyone would pay a premium for just copper pennies without the chance of Wheaties. This is just my opinion. You might have a better idea on how to market them. The biggest problem that I see with just pre'82 coppers is what is your potential customer going to do with the pennies. You can't sell them to be melted down, and the fee structure pretty well eats up any profits. Good luck, Jim

 

[fatsmahoney]

very i actually figured this all out before i tried to auction them your better selling unsearched bank rolls thats what i do to fund my other habits

 

[King_Of_Coins]

So, you just get unsearched rolls from the bank and sell them on E-Bay?

 

[fatsmahoney]

yes ive been doing it for awhile look at the price of unsearched halves and dimes

 

[King_Of_Coins]

Why can't someone just get their own rolls at the bank?

 

[tsnf]

Ditto Gabev71, I'm just hoarding my copper cents and wheaties - separately. I really have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but I have them. Same thing with my silver - I'm tempted right now to unload some of it, but I'll just keep it in the safe deposit box for now.

HH, TSNF

 

[Trezurehunter]

I seperate and save mine. Ron

 

[Goes4ever]

I have been saving mine, I only have about 15lbs worth right now, I do not normally buy pennies unless I am really bored, most comes from my change

 

[jewelerdave]

I dont, reasons being many.

First off due to the melting law against pennies.

Second Even with copper prices high right now. Does not mean that someone is going to pay you full spot value for them. So even if you did have the resources to "melt" them down, no one is going to pay you the daily spot price for the bar. Your just going to get a % of spot. They have to make a profit to buy it and resell.

3rd the only way it would really be profitable is if you were a metals recycling company and set up to do it on a massive scale

4th, Ebaying them off to people who would buy them at a premium will only do so for so long. As well. If you run the numbers for the time put in. fees, shipping, time to do the auctions and all associated costs. Its losing money and time better spent doing other things. maybe some people can get a fluke and make a decent profit some times, But over all its not even at todays prices a very profitable venture for the individual.

I will admit that I have a few rolls and a small box of old copper cents that are 59 to 82, As we would use them when we needed to alloy down fine silver to sterling. However with the melting law that stopped. But even then the most we ever used was 10 a month. We just use copper pipe scrap now. I also have a couple rolls of metal detected coins. just never had a reason to spend em really. They just sit there.

Yeah I keep em around, mainly so my kid can look though em when he gets older if he wants a collection. Its maybe $10 face worth. All collected from pocket change and not from CRH. But I also forget that I have them as they just sit in a shelf in a closet. Just like many coins do.