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With the end of the Canadian Penny, what are Canadian Coppers worth - and what will they be worth?

Assume we can soon melt them. What would you value them at in the form of:

a) Copper Trade Unit - $100 face of mixed dates
b) by the pound in bulk

How old does the circulated Canadian penny need to be before it is worth more than bullion value in bulk? (like Wheat cents) 1952? Some other date?

You can already melt them in the USA.


They will be sold by the pound in bulk.

From what I know of CN pennies only the king's have any value over melt. (talking regular circulated coin)

I would think that they would have to go by the pound because the weight for 98% varies from 3.24g to 2.5g so a CTU (10,000 coins) could be anywhere from 71.4 lbs to 55.1 lbs!

My question is- do you think they will be traded at or close to melt like 90% silver, or at their scrap value?
#1 copper in my area is currently being bought at $2.85/lb, that's only 73%

I don't believe that we will be able to melt them. The penny is being discontinued, but not demonitized. Unless you are licensed by the RCM, you cannot deface (melt) pre-67 80% silver coins even though they've been out of circulation for over 40 years.

Nickelmeister wrote:I don't believe that we will be able to melt them. The penny is being discontinued, but not demonitized. Unless you are licensed by the RCM, you cannot deface (melt) pre-67 80% silver coins even though they've been out of circulation for over 40 years.

You can ship to a smelter over the border, if of course you really wanted spot price. If I was North of the border, I would have been doing it a long time ago.

Ditto on the being sold in bulk by the pound.

I scrapped over 210 pounds of them last fall. The scrap dealer tested them with a Niton. Canadian cents are silicon bronze. Not #1, or even #2 copper. Silicon bronze. That is what I sold and was the price I got for them at the time. It didn't matter if they were .955 or .980 pure, it was all bronze.

This notion of pennies being #1 or #2 copper is false. When is silicon bronze (or red brass) ever #1 or #2 copper? By that line of thought all bronze and brass is #1 or #2 copper.

melt,melt,melt thats all I hear,I believe this for both us and canadian cents they will be traded at a times fv just like 90% coins. why melt them when they are allready a minted coin of known purity and value.

jasmatk wrote:melt,melt,melt thats all I hear,I believe this for both us and canadian cents they will be traded at a times fv just like 90% coins. why melt them when they are allready a minted coin of known purity and value.

The weight to size ratio is to large for them to trade on an average basis for regular joes. There may by brokerage type places like you can trade them at though.

highroller4321 wrote:

jasmatk wrote:melt,melt,melt thats all I hear,I believe this for both us and canadian cents they will be traded at a times fv just like 90% coins. why melt them when they are allready a minted coin of known purity and value.

The weight to value ratio is to large for them to trade on an average basis for regular joes. There may by brokerage type places like you can trade them at though.

yes that is a good point,not everyone has room for a couple tons of pennies.

highroller4321 wrote:From what I know of CN pennies only the king's have any value over melt. (talking regular circulated coin)

Does that apply to just King George V (1911 - 1936) Or does it also include King Geroge VI (1937 - 1952)?

Geroge VI seems pretty common in my searching.

exbingoaddict wrote:Does that apply to just King George V (1911 - 1936) Or does it also include King Geroge VI (1937 - 1952)?

Geroge VI seems pretty common in my searching.

It depends on who you talk to, opinions vary. On a whole the GVI's sometimes get a small premium. I would imagine location could play a large part of that.

I personally won't pay it.

I find them almost as often as post war wheats here in the Metro Detroit area. I have put together the whole series several times over just from sorting. I even found 2 of the '48 "points to small denticles".

jasmatk wrote:

highroller4321 wrote:

jasmatk wrote:melt,melt,melt thats all I hear,I believe this for both us and canadian cents they will be traded at a times fv just like 90% coins. why melt them when they are allready a minted coin of known purity and value.

The weight to value ratio is to large for them to trade on an average basis for regular joes. There may by brokerage type places like you can trade them at though.

yes that is a good point,not everyone has room for a couple tons of pennies.

A couple tons is not that much space. But ya, it's heavy.

So what are we thinking here for a "x face" value on copper canucks? 1.6-1.7? Or does it jump higher?

jacer333 wrote:So what are we thinking here for a "x face" value on copper canucks? 1.6-1.7? Or does it jump higher?

Ill pay 75% of melt for all you can get.

Interesting...so you say the market is around 1.9x right now?

exbingoaddict wrote:

highroller4321 wrote:From what I know of CN pennies only the king's have any value over melt. (talking regular circulated coin)

Does that apply to just King George V (1911 - 1936) Or does it also include King Geroge VI (1937 - 1952)?

Geroge VI seems pretty common in my searching.

King George V (1911 - 1920) are Large cents Coins weigh 5.67 grams with a diameter of 25.4 mm and have a composition of .955 copper, .030 tin, .015 zinc.

jacer333 wrote:Interesting...so you say the market is around 1.9x right now?

I believe that it is only the beginning....

I do too...just trying to gauge what we are jumping to right now after the news and whether or not it is worth buying up a large amount of canucks!

Sounds good, I have @ $70 FV right now and my % of canadian's have been going up lately.