once the melt ban is canceled

[lance]

Do you think people will buy copper pennies for spot?

[inflationhawk]

Not as long as percentages are where they are in circulation.

[lance]

How do u find out approx how many are still out there?

[inflationhawk]

That's the million dollar question. Percentages vary all around the country. No one really knows.

[cesariojpn]

Plus add in the unknown factors like hidden hoards ranging from some random joes jar of pocket change to some unknown hoarder with barrels of what cents stashed in some old abandoned shed, and you have a myriad of factors.

[John_doe]

Do you think people will buy copper pennies for spot?

we will probably be able to gather a premium over spot one day, question is when will that day come?

[inflationhawk]

I seriously doubt there will ever be a premium over spot as pennies are not pure copper. The cost to purify the copper will likely prevent the penny from carrying a premium over spot.

[highroller4321]

I seriously doubt there will ever be a premium over spot as pennies are not pure copper. The cost to purify the copper will likely prevent the penny from carrying a premium over spot.

There is a premium on 90% silver, which isn't pure. The 95% copper 5% zinc mix is actually a common allow that is used in production today.




To answer the original question..I think the pennies will bring very closer to melt value once the ban is lifted.

[Bluegill]

I seriously doubt there will ever be a premium over spot as pennies are not pure copper. The cost to purify the copper will likely prevent the penny from carrying a premium over spot.

There is a premium on 90% silver, which isn't pure. The 95% copper 5% zinc mix is actually a common allow that is used in production today.




To answer the original question..I think the pennies will bring very closer to melt value once the ban is lifted.

Ag is a precious metal, Cu is an industrial metal. Not really a fair comparison.

The penny is a brass alloy. Refiners will just add more Zn to accommodate their customers who are in the market for brass. Plus, being a known alloy, as highroller brought up, they will most likely just get melted and resold as the same 95/5 alloy (if acquired in quantity). The refiners can save costs because of this and most likely be passed down as a small premium to the seller.

[Lemon Thrower]

i think there will be numi and there will be copper.

copper will be like sterling. it will be liquid but will trade at say 85% of melt. now, you might think that is too low but look at where sterling sells.

[ZenOps]

Canadian pennies will probably have a premium, the vast majority of them are 98% copper 1.75% tin 0.25% zinc.

That little 1.75% tin makes a difference. Tin is hovering around $11 pound, whereas many smelters would just "burn off" zinc.

[Robarons]

Whats more interesting is that if the Ban is lifted whats going to happen?

Are places going to be aware that they can melt them legally if the ban is lifted (will they be informed?) Are scrap yards going to buy copper pennies? If so how do they they know their not zinc mixed in?
Will refiners be ready? etc.

The Dealer market wont develop until there is something backing the price- in this case is copper. 90% silver has value to a dealer because if he buys 90% off the street he can sell it to a refiner if he cannot resell it as 90%. Like wise 90% is valuable to me because I can sell it to a refiner as well.

If a dealer buys 95% copper and cannot sell it as 95% copper, what does he do? If he does sell 95% copper back to the public- how does the public get the utility from the copper if they want to sell or use it?

A structure of demand needs to be created to make everyone 'demand' the item. Alot of copper's value comes from its 'demand' to be used in applications so the idea you can willingly sell at market prices will set that demand- with some structure to handle it.

[Lemon Thrower]

fair points Ro but the same is true of 90% - there could be clad mixed in.

[lance]

Well i guess lets just hope the time and effort was all worth it!

[strikeaxe]

Well i guess lets just hope the time and effort was all worth it!

I sure they said the same thing in 64. They keep destroying the value of the fiat and ppl will want anything real. I still think a exchange will exist in it's non-melted form after all you only need to look at the buy it now section to see it selling all day long.

[John_doe]

Do you think people will buy copper pennies for spot?

if they don't, scrap em.

[crazypennyguy]

To answer the original question..I think the pennies will bring very closer to melt value once the ban is lifted.

I agree, but it might take some time to settle on spot.

[Number21]

Simple. Just melt them down and put the bars on ebay. You'll get double spot or more....

[lance]

[shucks]....they are selling 1oz copper coins on ebay with a liberty type stamp for like 2 or 3 bucks...thats damn near the price of a pound