Questions on your approach to pennies.

[FAT SEXY]

1.) Do you separate coppers?

2.) If the answer to question 1 is yes, do you include 82's or just 81 back? I've heard that 82 had some zincs already being introduced and some guys exclude separating that year entirely because of this... any truth to this?

3.) Is it even worth it to separate coppers?

TIA, you beautiful specimens.

 

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[galenrog]

The problem with separating cents by alloy type (.950 copper vs .950 zinc) is the market. To sell at a profit means finding a willing buyer. When copper was around $4 per pound, the market was reasonably good. No one was getting rich, but some were making enough for it to be a worthwhile addition to other things they were doing. Many were, and still are, using comparators to separate cents by alloy. Much faster than checking dates.

Time for more coffee.

 

[Dozer D]

I was hoarding coppers for years. Saved about $1500+\- then decided to dump them last fall & this past spring. Was hoping for a poor mans PM market buy, but never happened.
Yes the '82 cents can be separated between copper & zinc if you have a .00 gram scale., coppers are 3.11 grams, zinc 2.5 grams. Easy to do, but not worth it anymore. I could not find a buyer.

 

[MidMoTreasure]

I do separate and save the coppers. I kind of horde them now with the hope that copper will go up in the future and the feds will allow melting. At the very least, it's a form of savings. I search them for errors and die varieties and then roll them up. Like Dozer D said, I use a gram scale for '82 and I weigh all the '83's as well just in case I find that million dollar rarity.

 

[port ewen ace]

just find errors---THAT is where the profit is. got a CUD? up to $25, an O/C, up to $5, '84 DBL EAR-- yup, sold it for $115, the '99 WAM, YUP-- that sold for $100, greasers-- up to $5, clips go for $4, blank copper or zincs up to $4, die cracks can hit $4, split die cracks up to $25, die clashes, up to $5--- nuff said

 

[Owassokie]

1.) Yes, I did (past tense)
2.) No, I skipped them because it required a significant amount of work. Some chose to set them aside in case they ever want to take the time to separate.
3.) No, not in terms of value, today. Of course, you could make the case nothing about CRHing is "worth it" if you compared it to spending an equal amount of time at a part time job.

At the end of the day, it's a hobby that doesn't really lose money and you can actually come out ahead. If you enjoy separating coppers, do it. If not, don't.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I always look through my change for copper cents and save them. Been doing it for years, so got about 10 lbs of them.

Not much effort involved, and have no real plans for them - at this point.

I remember in 1965 my uncle Jack was saving the silver coins - a man ahead of his time.

 

[cudamark]

I save the copper, spend the zinc, and separate the '82's for when I really get bored!