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Should I start hoarding pre-82 cents?

Since copper is about worth about 1.4x face, do you think it might be a good idea to hoard pre-82 cents?
-Ben T. * Collector of Errors! * Proud member of the CUFYNA

Comments

  • krankykranky Posts: 8,709 ✭✭✭
    I would if I had a machine to separate them.

    New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.

  • OffMetalOffMetal Posts: 1,684
    Well, I'm on spring break, and I have several hundred dollars to play around with...

    ...good idea, bad idea?

    I think that a machine could be invented to seperate the coins based on the weight image
    -Ben T. * Collector of Errors! * Proud member of the CUFYNA
  • BaleyBaley Posts: 22,663 ✭✭✭✭✭
    surely you can think of a more efficiently profitable way to utilize your time and financial resources!

    Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry

  • Steve27Steve27 Posts: 13,274 ✭✭✭
    I think you would be wasting your time. It's just too much effort, and where would you be able to sell them for more than a cent each?
    "It's far easier to fight for principles, than to live up to them." Adlai Stevenson
  • CladiatorCladiator Posts: 18,062 ✭✭✭✭✭
    If you're talking a significant amount then storage and transporation could become an issue as well. Copper isn't light.
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's a waste of time unless you can do them in truckload batches. You'll also want to line up a buyer
    before you start or you may be in for a nasty surprise. Some of the scrap dealers have huge spreads
    and some won't even accept coin.
    Tempus fugit.
  • If you can actually <b>get </b> for .01and sell for .014 per unit
    then why not? done in bulk it could really add up.
  • jdsinvajdsinva Posts: 1,508
    I would say the hoarding has already started. Just pulling out pre-1982 cents from pocket change, I would roughly estimate a pre-1982 is in the 10%-20% range of all cent coins received. Unless you plan to go out and buy bags of coins from the bank to search for the coppers, I doubt very seriously you would ever accumulate a large quantity of them anytime soon.
    Jeff

    image

    Semper ubi sub ubi
  • CoinosaurusCoinosaurus Posts: 9,631 ✭✭✭✭✭
    These coins will disappear much more slowly than the silver did. It just ain't worth it for 0.4c per coin. Maybe at 2c or 3c a coin the general public would start getting more excited about it. I agree you see them less than you used to - but on the other hand, they ARE 25 years old.
  • rec78rec78 Posts: 5,747 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i would rather have the few hundred bucks around in case the bargain coin that i need for my set shows up suddenly-as it will just as suddenly disappear-You only get one chance at a bargain as for sure the next guy that comes along will grab it. Hoarding cents them at this point will just tie up your cash. The price must go much higher before it becomes worthwhile-This may or may not happen even in our lifetime. Is anyone paying a premium on them yet?-they will when it becomes profitable to do so. However if you are looking for the same coins that i am- then by all means hoard them until you run out of cash.--. Bob
    image
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>These coins will disappear much more slowly than the silver did. It just ain't worth it for 0.4c per coin. Maybe at 2c or 3c a coin the general public would start getting more excited about it. I agree you see them less than you used to - but on the other hand, they ARE 25 years old. >>



    You're right that they'll be slower than the silver but there has already been an
    unconfirmed report that Coinstar is pulling them. The counting houses can pull
    out large percentages pretty quickly but none around here have started yet.

    Cents have a very low velocity and it takes many years just to turn over 90% of
    them. You'll still see these in circulation as long as the penny remains.

    Watch production numbers to get a feel for how many are being removed since
    every cent removed will result in a new one being produced. Ironically the new
    one will probably cost more to produce then the profit on the cent melted. The
    mint will start pulling their hair out and may seek legislation to protect the coppers.
    Many will disappear overnight when the legislation is proposed.
    Tempus fugit.
  • thebeavthebeav Posts: 3,802 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I would think you would do better garbage picking pop cans. The aluminum in them is worth 4.2 cents.....
  • ................1982 cents would be a job in its self......................image
  • I'll say this the less people think their worth the more their worth in the long run
    mission furniture [ baseball cards] is the prime example your read the books over the years people
    hate it no one want it's 30's a decade later none around 40's so so on and so on
    in the 70 or 80's highest selling 450000.00 furniture a couch
    so say what you want depends on supply and demand some day they'll be one depends on if your willing to wait
  • What no jumping on this ????
  • I separate/hoard copper cents for the express purpose of melting them in the back yard. This is not done for profit, but for fun. Casting in copper is fun, easy and most importantly cheap.
  • ccexccex Posts: 1,188 ✭✭✭
    When I started collecting coins as a kid in the early '70s I read an article predicting that in 5 years wheat cents (some of which were less than 15 years old) would be as tough to find in change as Buffalo Nickels were a year or two earlier. Of course I started hoarding wheat cents even though they sold for 40% over face and could be had for face value + patience. 30+ years later, they sell for more, but haven't kept pace with inflation.

    I'm not surprised to hear that the same situation finally applies to copper Memorial cents made 47 to 24 years ago. Will I hoard them? Not if it takes my time away from finding more interesting and scarcer coins.
    "Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity" - Hanlon's Razor
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>When I started collecting coins as a kid in the early '70s I read an article predicting that in 5 years wheat cents (some of which were less than 15 years old) would be as tough to find in change as Buffalo Nickels were a year or two earlier. Of course I started hoarding wheat cents even though they sold for 40% over face and could be had for face value + patience. 30+ years later, they sell for more, but haven't kept pace with inflation.

    I'm not surprised to hear that the same situation finally applies to copper Memorial cents made 47 to 24 years ago. Will I hoard them? Not if it takes my time away from finding more interesting and scarcer coins. >>



    I strongly agree it's a waste of time but there are opportunities here. Many of the varieties
    are scarce except in circulation. If these coins are to be destroyed then these coins will for-
    ever be scarce. Something many people don't realize is that when silver was melted there
    was a higher probability of a BU roll being destroyed than a circulated coin because these
    coins were more accessable and their owner more likely to have the means and opportunity
    to sell them. The same will apply to the BU rolls of Lincolns. Many of these have too low a
    premium to ship but are easily gathered up and hauled off for scrap. Some of the post '64
    issues are less common than percieved. In the case of cents they are all common but the gems
    and other special coins will be destroyed at the same time.

    If it's not worth picking up a cent than how can it possibly pay to separate one out for .4c?
    But, this will mean a real sea change in the long term and there will be opportunities.
    Tempus fugit.
  • ARCOARCO Posts: 4,411 ✭✭✭✭✭
    "Well, I'm on spring break, and I have several hundred dollars to play around with..."


    Your on Spring break and your contemplating using that time to sort through pennies? Man, get a swimsuit on and head to the pool/beach or wherever there is water, oogle the females and drink a lot of beer. image
  • itsnotjustmeitsnotjustme Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭
    I doubt they are disappearing from circulation due to the copper content.... more due to the time. These are now 24 years old. I think the ration would be little changed today from 5 years ago of how many cents in circulation are that old.
    Give Blood (Red Bags) & Platelets (Yellow Bags)!
  • itsnotjustmeitsnotjustme Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭
    Looking at Mint Production figures, 7.7 Billion cent were produced last year. That is more than ALL other denominations combined. 100 times as many as half dollars. 150 times as many as golden dollars.

    So if the mint stops making sense, how many workers will be laid off...... which also means how many dollars will be saved?
    Give Blood (Red Bags) & Platelets (Yellow Bags)!
  • OldnewbieOldnewbie Posts: 1,425 ✭✭


    << <i>I'll say this the less people think their worth the more their worth in the long run
    mission furniture [ baseball cards] is the prime example your read the books over the years people
    hate it no one want it's 30's a decade later none around 40's so so on and so on
    in the 70 or 80's highest selling 450000.00 furniture a couch
    so say what you want depends on supply and demand some day they'll be one depends on if your willing to wait >>



    Michael????
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I doubt they are disappearing from circulation due to the copper content.... more due to the time. These are now 24 years old. I think the ration would be little changed today from 5 years ago of how many cents in circulation are that old. >>



    There may not be a big change from five years ago but there certainly is from ten
    or fifteen years ago. Before Coinstar was so large most of the cents around here
    were less than five years old. The pennies simply tended to go straight into peoples'
    homes and never reappear.

    Tempus fugit.
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Jeesh. when will it be too late to change my vote on this?

    Copper was up $200 per metric tonne today in the largest one day advance ever, and to a new record high.
    Tempus fugit.
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Zinc also had strong gains and is near a record high.
    Tempus fugit.
  • Hello everyone! I hang out at the paper money forum but enjoy reading the coin forum. I just had to reply to this question.

    I have to admit I save all copper pennies.......Why? Not really sure, but it only costs me a penny and I like to search for them. Most other
    collectors aren't taking an interest in saving them so this alone interests me to save them. Also, saving copper pennies doesn't limit my spending on coins or paper money so it's not a big deal.
    I've been hoarding for about 5 years and they are getting harder to find in quantity.

    So..........Will they be worth anything? Probably not, but one never knows! Years from now they could have a premium as copper continues
    to rise due to world demand. image
    Dave from PA
  • rec78rec78 Posts: 5,747 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Text >>

    Something many people don't realize is that when silver was melted there
    was a higher probability of a BU roll being destroyed than a circulated coin because these
    coins were more accessable and their owner more likely to have the means and opportunity
    to sell them.
    This statement is not correct. There were many many more circulated coins going into the melting pots than BU coins. I went to coin shops every day during the silver rush of 1980 and saw firsthand-But i did see some BU rolls of Mercury dimes and Walking liberty halves go through the counters and sent off to be melted..i wanted to buy them, but at 52 times face i could not afford it and the dealers were making so much money at that time they didnt care. True some BU coins went but most were circlulated coins over 90%. Bob
    image
  • rec78rec78 Posts: 5,747 ✭✭✭✭✭
    oops- i guess i dont know how to use that text italizer either.. lol that top paragraph in my last post was a quite form someone elses post.
    image
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Certainly far more circulated '64-D quarters were destroyed than BU '64-D quarters.

    What I was trying to say is that a larger percentage of the unc coins available were
    destroyed than the percentage of circ coins. This wouldn't have been true for rare
    dates but would apply to many of the rolls which had sold for less than the new sil-
    ver price.

    The program will italicize something if you click on "quote" rather than "reply".
    Tempus fugit.

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