buying junk in bulk

CarlWohlforth

Does anybody do it? I was wondering how to value a coffee can full of junk. Can you price it by the pound? I'd like a rule of thumb where I can price junk by the pound and never come up short. I would imagine you could pay a bit more if you see quarters, or at least shiny coins (not just cents) or less if you see loads of world coins....

Robb

Modern clad pocket change type stuff or silver?

BlindedByEgo

<< <i>Modern clad pocket change type stuff or silver? >>



Do you mean 90% melt?

CarlWohlforth

It seems every other family has a coffee can full of junk coins. Things like cents that people think are worthless. I was thinking of setting up at the flea market with a "Buying all coins" theme. I'm expecting people to stop by with a jar full of corroded pennies. I'd like to quickly offer them a few bucks and, if they take me up on the offer, I can run the coins through a CoinStar machine and come out ahead by a few cents.

Crazy, I know, but I'm really looking to buy %90 silver and do know how to value that...

element159

From the perspective of a potential customer at the flea market - Why would I sell my coins to you instead of a CoinStar machine? With the machine, I'd know I was getting some kind of fair value, but just by the pound, it could be way off. I'd then be inclined to only sell to you if I was sure I was getting a good deal (and you a bad one!), i.e. all I had was cents, or foreign that CoinStar would not pay me for.

So I guess you would tend to attract the business you don't want.

CarlWohlforth

We have a really huge flea market here. There are loads of people walking around trying to hustle up a buck. I just want to be able to say "Buying All Coins" and mean it. I'd want to be prepared to make an offer in case some fellow living out of his van comes by with his jar of change collected on his journey here from Mexico.

You are probably right though, I really don't want that kind of stuff, I want 90% silver or partially completed coin folders, Morgans or stuff like that. I think there is close to zero percent chance of getting offered certified coins there. I do think people will offer gold chains or jewelry which I know nothing about so would likely have to decline those offers.

Does anybody have any idea how many cents are in a pound?

zrlevin

'bout a hundred and fifty I think

rbf

<< <i>Does anybody have any idea how many cents are in a pound? >>

A bag of 5,000 copper cents weights approximately 34 lbs., so one pound of cents should be equal to about 147 coins, or $1.47. I know the zinc cents (post-1982) weigh slightly less (29 lbs per 5,000?), but I think the aforementioned number should be a reasonably good estimate to go by.

element159

<< <i>Does anybody have any idea how many cents are in a pound? >>


At 2.5 grams/zlincoln, it comes to 181.4 cents/pound.
Dimes and quarters both come out to 0.23 grams/cent (10x better than cents), and nickels(*) come out to about 1.0 gram/cent (still much better than cents).
If you could divide into cents, nickels, other US, non-US, then you could price it reasonably.
(*) - I weighed a buffalo as that was the only convenient nickel at hand, I assume current ones weigh the same.