bahabully Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 We've touched on silver coinage's 'actual' worth of it's silver content in a previous thread. On to copper. I see that it's spot price is at about 2.86 dollar per pound. How much is that scrap metals dealer going to pay me for 1 lb. of 95% copper pennies. Guessing it's probably worse than the 20% discount for silver.... .... maybe .86 per pound? Is there a better outlet for copper cents than the local scrap metals dealer? ~157 cents per lb.,,,, 2.86 dollar per pound,,, how much longer before the pre81 cents go the way of the pre65 quarters/dimes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccg Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 Scrap is discounted huge on base metals. Copper is bought around here for $1 or so /lb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtryka Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 I think it takes only 153 cents to make a pound of copper. I imagine it will have to get way over $5/lb. before people actually start melting pennies for scrap like silver. Even so, copper cents are disappearing from circulation, now you'd be lucky to find 20% copper cents in your change. I know because I actually save them, and put them in a jar, and when the jar is full they go into a mint bag. That $50 face bag has about 32.7 pounds of copper, which at $2.86 is theoretically worth $93.52, even though I'd be hard pressed to find a buyer at that price. Even so, Gresham's law is still at work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burks Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 Not sure what price it would take but like jtryka said, copper cents are getting hard to come by. I personally take all the copper cents I come across and save them. There might be about 1-2k saved so far. One day they more be actually worth cashing in.........or we could just all be wasting our time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 I'd be guessing that common copper Lincoln Memorials will start to take on the sales characteristics of common wheaties. They're currently sold in quantities from rolls to bags at prices ranging from 5 cents per coin to as much as 7 cents per coin. Larger quantity = lower price. I used to get common date 50s wheaties in bags of 100 for about 3 cents each at our local coin club. They haven't had any in that price range for 6 or more months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cladking Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 Very few people or industries would have much use for coin silver. This silver would have to be refined for almost all users. This isn't true for copper or bronze. Many small users would be very happy to substitute 1 cent coin at $1.51 / lb for the metal they buy from dealers at $3 or $3.50 per pound. This applies to most of the base metal coinages of the world (except cu/ni). They get destroyed by the issuer and whatever is left behind is destroyed by smaller users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuldFartte Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 Interesting information and speculation from everyone. I have two or three bags of UNC rolls of early Lincoln Memorial cents and one bag (5,000) UNC 1974 cents. Wonder what they'd bring? I just sold 24 bags of wheat cents for $110 per bag to a local coin dealer. I was disappointed because six months ago he paid $125. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiffibunny Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 1974 is a good year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuldFartte Posted April 18, 2006 Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 1974 is a good year. Gee, I wonder why Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiffibunny Posted April 18, 2006 Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 Gee, I wonder why Um... no you don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostDutchman Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 I have several bags of copper cents just sitting around.... I think that silver is bringing up ALL metals right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bahabully Posted April 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 I thougt it may be the price of gas and associated cost of extracting the copper ore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28Plain Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Actually, the rise in metals prices reflects a fall in the dollar. Get used to it. We have the world's reserve currency for just so long as the Chinese allow it. When they stop buying our debt, hyperinflation will follow. We'll all long for the days of $15 silver then. Try $100,000 loaves of bread for an image of the coming inflation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtryka Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Funny you mention hyperinflation, last week I picked up a German 50 Billion Riechsmark note from 1923! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cladking Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Actually, the rise in metals prices reflects a fall in the dollar. Get used to it. We have the world's reserve currency for just so long as the Chinese allow it. When they stop buying our debt, hyperinflation will follow. We'll all long for the days of $15 silver then. Try $100,000 loaves of bread for an image of the coming inflation. It's been a certainty for many years that we'd have inflation. We would have had it in 1979 when it got up to 12% if the FED hadn't artificially killed it by choking the money supply. Since then the debt and other causes of inflation have been building up pressure like a pressure cooker. Holding back money supply is no longer an option since this would tip us into a serious recession. So some of our problems are going to inflate themselves away. This is no panacea because inflation causes problems also. Good companies are destroyed because they can't raise prices and poor companies can prosper. Inflation always shows up unequally throughout the economy and it can be devastating on some segments. $15 silver may well be a distant memory one of these days but bread may get up to only $20. Hyperinflation is a possibility but it's probably a remote one. There is a huge amount of wealth and talent in this country. Efficiency and productivity are advancing at a breakneck pace. New wealth will flood the world from China and India. It is wise to protect oneself from the ravages of inflation but it is foolhardy to insulate oneself from the explosion in wealth that can also arise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlueke Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 Actually, the rise in metals prices reflects a fall in the dollar. Get used to it. We have the world's reserve currency for just so long as the Chinese allow it. When they stop buying our debt, hyperinflation will follow. We'll all long for the days of $15 silver then. Try $100,000 loaves of bread for an image of the coming inflation. Since metals are rising against all currencies, are we to expect hyperinflation on a globabl scale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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