Is anyone saving copper pennies?

[Owen Lucas]

With copper prices so high, it's starting to seem, IMHO, that it might be worth starting to hoard copper pennies. In the precious metals community, some people think that pennies will stop being minted and the law (that was previously repealed and now reenacted) prohibiting melting pennies and nickels will be repealed.

There is even a machine to sort the copper, pre 1982 pennies from the modern zinc ones:

Coin Sorting Machines | Ryedale Coin

The Model 300-AL the Apprentice Legend Sorter is the latest coin sorter model by Ryedale Coin. This machine is able to sort pennies or nickels at over 300 coins per minute with amazing accuracy.

www.pennysorter.com

Looks like about 25% of pennies out there are copper, so hopefully a $100 from the bank will get you $25 in copper pennies.

145 copper pennies in a pound.

$25 in pennies = 17.2 lbs

17.2lbs x $4 copper price = $68.8

The price of copper is only going to increase in the future so at $8/lb $25 in copper pennies will be worth $137.6. Beats the S&P 500 lol.

I'm contemplating getting one of these sorting machines. Maybe even find a few rare date wheat pennies. I'm not sure what the best source of old copper pennies might be though, a small local bank or a big name branch? IDK maybe they get all their coinage from the same sorting place?

What do you guys think, worthwhile investment?

 

[JohnnyG]

Gave mine all away last year. About 10 # worth.

 

[atikovi]

prohibiting melting pennies

It's not like anyone can tell melted pennies from melted plumbing pipe.

 

[ecotourist]

We don't use pennies in Canada as coins any more but I've kept a few dozen. Really cheap copper blanks for who knows what purpose.

I used a stack of them to level a bird bath top for example.

 

[Owen Lucas]

It's not like anyone can tell melted pennies from melted plumbing pipe.

True, I'd rather stack them for now. The whole mess of getting a furnace and making my own copper bars seems too much for me. One day when it's legal and I have a ton or so sitting around.

 

[dareo]

cool machine but $500 is nuts. You can sort them yourself and getting bulk pennies will entail mostly newer coins. Stashing a few bags of copper pennies for a hobby / end game hedge is something you can do without that.

 

[Vercingetorix]

I only need them when the fuse blows.

 

[Kestas]

It's not like anyone can tell melted pennies from melted plumbing pipe.

Plumbing copper (essentially pure copper) commands a higher price than does alloyed copper (5% Zinc for pre-1982 pennies). Scrap buyers like to see what they're buying, and not just a melted mass.

 

[MParr]

Worthwhile investment? Probably not.

 

[Lubener]

I have been saving pre 1982 pennies for many years now.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Plumbing copper (essentially pure copper) commands a higher price than does alloyed copper (5% Zinc for pre-1982 pennies). Scrap buyers like to see what they're buying, and not just a melted mass.

Looks like separating zinc from copper is a PITA. Maybe when the day comes to turn the pennies in, the price would obviously be lower but still worthwhile due to the 5x or 10x from current value. This is just a planning phase for me, not sure if I would go for it though. I guess I can do it manually like @dareo says.

 

[simple_gifts]

This guy is going to get rich working for pennies.

 

[PimTac]

A waste of time.

 

[ATex7239]

Worthwhile investment, no. But as hobby, go for it.

 

[Kestas]

Looks like separating zinc from copper is a PITA. Maybe when the day comes to turn the pennies in, the price would obviously be lower but still worthwhile due to the 5x or 10x from current value.

When you are looking at the metal value, are you looking at what the scrap yards are paying out or are you looking at spot prices? Don't expect spot prices from the scrap yard.

Separating zinc from copper is not an easy process, and not commercially done. As best as I know this is done via an electrowinning process when manufactured from ore. Scrap is usually separated and remelted to achieve an acceptable alloy. I used to do these calculations in our laboratory foundry.

 

[Owen Lucas]

When you are looking at the metal value, are you looking at what the scrap yards are paying out or are you looking at spot prices? Don't expect spot prices from the scrap yard.

Separating zinc from copper is not an easy process, and not commercially done. As best as I know this is done via an electrowinning process when manufactured from ore. Scrap is usually separated and remelted to achieve an acceptable alloy. I used to do these calculations in our laboratory foundry.

I would probably be dealing with scrap yards or who ever is going to accept pennies if the law ever changes where scrapping them becomes legal.

 

[funflyer]

I use copper pennies to make gas checks for my shooting hobby. I run them through a jewelry roller then punch them out from a die. Commercial checks cost about $50-$60 per thou, but I make them for under $1 per thou. They also make great shims for many different applications. I used them when I trammed my mill not long ago.

 

[jonnied1]

I have coffee cans full of copper pennies. I metal detect as a hobby. After cleaning the coins in a tumbler, I sort them out. Most of the Zink pennies are so corroded that they are easy to identify.

 

[SeaJay]

If I understand the OP correctly, you can purchase 10,000 pennies for $100. 00 --25% of those pennies will yield you $68.80. Then you take the remaining 7,500 pennies back to the bank to get $75. Meaning you end up with close to a net return of $44 on a short term investment of $100.

Fantastic results if it was a passive investment. But the hours of work involved buying, sorting, selling copper and returning zinc coins to the bank means you will not likely earn even a minimum wage for those hours of work. Besides that, all this math makes my head hurt. Gotta run to see if there are any aspirin left in the medicine chest.

 

[PandaBear]

Space to me has a lot of value. Pennies even if appreciating against inflation if you melt the real copper ones, would not yield enough for me to reclaim its space.