Melting wheats

[scyther]

I've been hearing lately that wheat pennies from the '40s and '50s aren't worth very much at all (like 3 cents at the most). So if that's the case, if the melt ban is lifted, would people just melt those as well? If the price of copper rose significantly (but not tremendously), they could be worth more as metal than as coins. I think that's pretty likely to happen eventually. So will they be melted?

And if people don't melt them and keep hoarding them, and other copper pennies are melted, could non-wheat coppers eventually become rarer than wheats? It just seems to me that despite the fact that everyone saves wheats, they're actually not really rare at all, if you consider that most have already been removed from circulation and hoarded somewhere.

[db23]

I've been hearing lately that wheat pennies from the '40s and '50s aren't worth very much at all (like 3 cents at the most). So if that's the case, if the melt ban is lifted, would people just melt those as well?

This is why I don't bother searching my coppers for wheats. Cent sorting is done in spare time, which I have very little of. That time is worth more than the value of pulling the wheats could bring.

I have been keeping the wheats rejected by the sorter when doing a copper compare separate. There are a bunch of 40s & 50s, but also a lot of 30s and earlier - I only glance at them, don't actually look through them all. Once I fill up a SFR box it'll be sold here to someone that cares more about wheats than I do.

I know there's a lot of wheats in the 5 gallon copper buckets, I just find way too much silver searching halves and dimes to justify the extra time on cents. If I couldn't find a collector interested in giving me the same value that the junk yard would for the opportunity to buy and search the bags, I wouldn't think twice about melting everything once the ban is lifted.

[ceddy2]

Just like what happened with common date silver, the common date wheats will get melted.

[scyther]

Just like what happened with common date silver, the common date wheats will get melted.

Do people actually melt junk silver though? Seems to me they just sell it as such.

[m21221]

I don't see the value in melting a coin with a known weight and history. If and when copper trading is main stream many people will pay more than melt value just because it is a wheat cent. Check out Ebay and what people routinely pay for common date junk silver. If you don't have the time to sort the wheat's out then you advertise "unsorted" copper. If you have the time to sort then you sell the wheat's separately for a premium. Additionally, there's always the chance at the "home run" coin. .02

[ceddy2]

Scyther & m21221, back when silver prices skyrocketed in the late '70's, people sold their common date silver to those who would melt them into bars or ingots for resale. Bars and ingots are seen as easier to transport & account for, as opposed to thousands of common & well worn dimes and quarters. Now, whether that meltdown was wise or not is subject to debate, but so long as the bullion value of a given coin exceeds the numistimatic value of the coin, that coin will be at risk for getting tossed in to the melt.

[m21221]

I agree the sheer volume could be a hassle but your loosing a substantial portion of your potential profit to sell to the refiner. The bottom line for anyone involved in moving hundreds or even tons of copper is going to be how much sweat equity they wish to invest. No doubt trailering your tons of copper the the scrapper is much easier than shipping 70 lbs boxes one at a time.

[PMLurker]

Just like what happened with common date silver, the common date wheats will get melted.

Do people actually melt junk silver though? Seems to me they just sell it as such.

Only the slicks and culls.

The rest gets resold as junk on eBay and forums like this one.