Should we start hoarding Nickels like we do copper cents?

kvilleification

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I would say it depends on your ready cash. If you have several thousand bucks in a savings account or CD earning squat, then you might as well. I do think in another 10 years people will be using the nickel option on the Ryedale to be sorting out US Nickels like they do copper cents today.
 

The trouble is...any investment must compete against silver and gold, which in my book, is a no-brainer.

I can't stand to have any bucks tied up in copper or nickel when it will never IMHO match the profit potential of silver or gold.

Just my two zincolns worth.

Keep on Rollin' !
 

Piledriver said:
The trouble is...any investment must compete against silver and gold, which in my book, is a no-brainer.

I can't stand to have any bucks tied up in copper or nickel when it will never IMHO match the profit potential of silver or gold.

Just my two zincolns worth.

Keep on Rollin' !

You can do what I do. Save 2 or 3 rolls a week and set them aside. They add up pretty fast. If you have some spare change, throw it into a roll of nickels. Also save all your nickels and roll them up when you get enough.

$100 brick of nickels are currently worth $112.48. Copper and Nickel are no where near their highs.

Copper current - $3.72/lb
Copper high - $4.62/lb
Nickel current - $9.25
Nickel high - $24.23
 

should we also start saving clad dimes quarters and halves in hope that one day their contents will skyrocket and we will double our money?
no.
I think hoarding nickels is a bit extreme. I can somewhat understand why people hoard copper pennies, but nickels... :icon_scratch:

this is all opinionized though :icon_sunny:
 

BuffaloBoy said:
should we also start saving clad dimes quarters and halves in hope that one day their contents will skyrocket and we will double our money?
no.
I think hoarding nickels is a bit extreme. I can somewhat understand why people hoard copper pennies, but nickels... :icon_scratch:

this is all opinionized though :icon_sunny:

The question about saving clad coins is a strawman argument.

I don't keep nickels but I understand why it makes sense:
1. Melt value over 5 cents today and has been considerably higher.
2. No risk.
3. No sorting necessary.
 

BuffaloBoy said:
should we also start saving clad dimes quarters and halves in hope that one day their contents will skyrocket and we will double our money?
no.
I think hoarding nickels is a bit extreme. I can somewhat understand why people hoard copper pennies, but nickels... :icon_scratch:

this is all opinionized though :icon_sunny:

As Penn says

1. Melt value over 5 cents today and has been considerably higher.
2. No risk.
3. No sorting necessary.

I try to sort a box of nickels a weekend for buffalo and War nickels. Sticking 3-5 rolls aside a week for the future doesnt hurt and if you ever need emergency funds, its there for you. If you dont touch it, it only goes up. Feb of last year, nickels were worth almost 7 cents each if I recall correctly.
 

I already am, eh....


HH

Trench
 

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^^^^^^^^^If those are the Can. pre - '82's - those are def. the best ones to be hoarding.

This question continues to come up on this forum and will continue to do so for good reason. Nickel and all medal prices will continue to rise and more people will be hoarding nickels as more people will be hoarding cents also. As others have already stated though neither of these are nearly as good as getting silver @ face but both copper and nickel are a much better store of value than the USD which has no intrinsic value whatsoever.

Currently I only save/hoard the pre-'60 Jeffs, '09 Jeffs, any pre-'82 Canadian's (slim pickens' for me), sometimes other lower mintage '60's dates if they are really nice & any silver & buffs of course. It will probably be just a matter of time before the comp. of US nics is changed to steel which might finally give the pre-'60 Jeff's a little added numis.value as well. :)

HH
 

SilverFace said:
^^^^^^^^^If those are the Can. pre - '82's - those are def. the best ones to be hoarding.

This question continues to come up on this forum and will continue to do so for good reason. Nickel and all medal prices will continue to rise and more people will be hoarding nickels as more people will be hoarding cents. As others have already stated though neither of these are nearly as good as getting silver @ face but both copper and nickel are a much better store of value than the USD which has no intrinsic value whatsoever.

Currently I only save/hoard the pre-'60 Jeffs, '09 Jeffs, any pre-'82 Canadian's (slim pickens' for me), sometimes other lower mintage '60's dates if they are really nice & any silver & buffs of coarse. It will probably be just a matter of time before the comp. of US nics is cjanged to steel which might finally give the pre-'60 Jeff's a little added numis.value as well. :)

HH

Eh! ;D

Leo, what is that steel 2005 doing in that nice nickel stash?
SilverFace, the pre 1982 are best to hoard. They are exactly 1/100 of pound each and .999 pure. There are not many left in circulation.
 

Eh! ;D

Leo, what is that steel 2005 doing in that nice nickel stash?
SilverFace, the pre 1982 are best to hoard. They are exactly 1/100 of pound each and .999 pure. There are not many left in circulation.

That's what I was trying to convey in my post:

SilverFace said:
^^^^^^^^^If those are the Can. pre - '82's - those are def. the best ones to be hoarding.

I wish I could find more of them but I can't - because those are definitely the best nics to hoard - well except for the silver war nics of course which I actually find more of than the Canadian pre-82's. :)
 

SilverFace said:
Eh! ;D

Leo, what is that steel 2005 doing in that nice nickel stash?
SilverFace, the pre 1982 are best to hoard. They are exactly 1/100 of pound each and .999 pure. There are not many left in circulation.

That's what I was trying to convey in my post:

SilverFace said:
^^^^^^^^^If those are the Can. pre - '82's - those are def. the best ones to be hoarding.

I wish I could find more of them but I can't - because those are definitely the best. :)

The best always ends fast :(. Nickel nickels are like the wheat pennies, today they are uncommon, while in 90s there were a lot of them.
 

I've decided to NOT store nickels yet for one reason.

the day they announce the nickel will change content, I can go to 20 branches of Wells fargo, 15 branches of Chase bank, and 15 branches of BoA, and order 4 boxes from each branch. All the branches would be willing to order that few boxes, and have ordered that many or more pennies and halves for me. Add them up and I'd have 200 BOXES of nickels. Within a week of the announcement.

So why bother collecting them NOW, when 100% of what is in the boxes will be keepers right up until the new composition is shipped? No need. Pennies? I DO collect those, and just went through those same banks and got 4 boxes each at each bank. Yes, the week after Christmas I picked up 240 boxes of pennies (A few other banks too). Going through them now, and will be for a few months. I did it before the next year pennies start showing up and then the percentage of copper goes down even more. PLus a big surge all at once might get the pennies down to a different level, and more copper. We'll see. Still collecting the pennies though, and loving my ryedale. :-)
 

jrf30 said:
I've decided to NOT store nickels yet for one reason.

the day they announce the nickel will change content, I can go to 20 branches of Wells fargo, 15 branches of Chase bank, and 15 branches of BoA, and order 4 boxes from each branch. All the branches would be willing to order that few boxes, and have ordered that many or more pennies and halves for me. Add them up and I'd have 200 BOXES of nickels. Within a week of the announcement.

So why bother collecting them NOW, when 100% of what is in the boxes will be keepers right up until the new composition is shipped? No need. Pennies? I DO collect those, and just went through those same banks and got 4 boxes each at each bank. Yes, the week after Christmas I picked up 240 boxes of pennies (A few other banks too). Going through them now, and will be for a few months. I did it before the next year pennies start showing up and then the percentage of copper goes down even more. PLus a big surge all at once might get the pennies down to a different level, and more copper. We'll see. Still collecting the pennies though, and loving my ryedale. :-)

Pretty easy reason to start hoarding now. I dont have the funds to drop $400 to set aside right this minute for nickels let alone $2000. I cant afford to be fishing, penny hoarding, nickel hoarding and CRH'ing all at the same time, full tilt. Dont get me wrong, if I could, I would but I cant so I wont.
 

jrf30 said:
I've decided to NOT store nickels yet for one reason.

the day they announce the nickel will change content, I can go to 20 branches of Wells fargo, 15 branches of Chase bank, and 15 branches of BoA, and order 4 boxes from each branch. All the branches would be willing to order that few boxes, and have ordered that many or more pennies and halves for me. Add them up and I'd have 200 BOXES of nickels. Within a week of the announcement.

So why bother collecting them NOW, when 100% of what is in the boxes will be keepers right up until the new composition is shipped? No need. Pennies? I DO collect those, and just went through those same banks and got 4 boxes each at each bank. Yes, the week after Christmas I picked up 240 boxes of pennies (A few other banks too). Going through them now, and will be for a few months. I did it before the next year pennies start showing up and then the percentage of copper goes down even more. PLus a big surge all at once might get the pennies down to a different level, and more copper. We'll see. Still collecting the pennies though, and loving my ryedale. :-)
+1
 

July of 2007

Copper was $3.75/lb
Nickel was $24.23/lb

1 Nickel was worth $0.098
1 Roll was worth $3.91
1 Box was worth $195.35

You only have to sort out key days, war and buffalo nickels and return nothing if you dont want to.
 

The_EE said:
July of 2007

Copper was $3.75/lb
Nickel was $24.23/lb

1 Nickel was worth $0.098
1 Roll was worth $3.91
1 Box was worth $195.35

I didn't realise nickels prices ever got that high. I just checked coinflation and currently a US nic is worth $.0562392. I guess we still have a ways to go to reach the highs again. But I wouldn't be surprised if US nic comp. is changed to all steel before prices ever get that high again. :)
 

this is an interesting topic...There is one survivalist type that endorses hoarding nickels for the metal,but it has several flaws to it.But it has some interesting good points.Let's just assume a few average numbers for the sake of argument.A pre 82 cent is 95% pure copper,a nickel is 75% copper and 25% nickel.In an average box,roll,you find 20% coppers.
Now imagine finding a 1 ounce gold nugget..are you going to sell it for spot? Nope,it's not 24k!A nugget is not pure,but you might get a bit more due to the size,but not spot,as it needs to be refined.A nickel would need to be refined a lot more than a penny will,due to its purity.the "melt" price you see on coinflation or other sites are for the metal value,not the refining cost,so you will never get spot price for them.
Assume the cent is .03 in melt value,you'd be lucky to get 2.5x face in volume.For a nickel,assume .09 melt value,you'd be really lucky to get .07 after the refining cost.
Consider the cost and storage space too.And they need to lift the melt ban before any hoarding makes sense,or cents!
 

I've never understood the melting coin idea and why that should have anything to do with the value of a coin. Unless a coin is damaged and in poor condition - why melt a perfectly good coin? The coin has already been melted to make the coin that it is. And since people know the comp. of a coin then we know it's exact value. Copper, nickel, silver & gold coins have real intrinsic value and have a valid use as real money. And as was mentioned above why spend/waste the melting/refining costs to melt them? I know metals have other industrial uses as well but those metals are still being mined and unless there is a real shortage of nickel, copper, or silver there is simply no reason for people to melt coins - too many coins have been melted already. And if the purpose of melting coins is just to exchange real money for increasingly worthless fiat currency that certainly makes no sense either. Eventually people will begin to realise it makes much more sense to burn fiat currencies than it does to melt coins. :)
 

I'll will chime in one more time on this. I think hoarding nickels for the general population is a good idea because they are worth more than face value right now, require no sorting, and will never be worth less than 5 cents each. It is a semi-precious metals investment with no significant downside risk (other than theft).

For people who coin roll hunt, however, it is probably not worth the money tied up. Since we spend our time sorting anyway, we are better off sorting for the high return silver, or the low return but high volume 95% copper cents.

If I didn't want to take the time to sort coins, I would buy and hold nickels. Since I do sort, I'll take the higher return on investment with silver and copper.
 

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