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Not sure the best place to put this....


Has anyone ever "scapped" (or tried to) Canadian coins at there local scrap yard in the USA?





***There have been many topics about if it is legal or not. I do NOT want this to be another one of those threads so please keep all posts related to the topic. I would like to know if anyone has ever talked to a scrap yard or tried it.***

When I tried to explain this to my local scrap yard, the response was take them to the bank. I explained to them about the metal blah blah blah, and he said they dont mess around with it

Is it even legal to do this in the US?

Derek.Sheriff wrote:Is it even legal to do this in the US?

I have not read anything that says it is illegal. Why would the U.S care what we do with another countries money?

Here's a link from the old forum:

realcent.forumco.com/topic.asp

The trouble is going to be explaining all of this to a scrapyard who will prefer to err on the side of caution. Providing them proof that it's ok will be difficult...I haven't found any written statute that permits melting foreign coinage, nor one that prohibits it.

There has been many topics about if it is legal or not. I do NOT want this to be another one of those threads. I would like to know if anyone has talked to a scrap yard or tried it.

Apologies Highroller,

I should have done a quick search. Sounds like there are no restrictions. Since I have the time and want to know myself, l'll call a few scrap yards in my area and just ask them straight up. Seems like the ideal situation might be to get someone who owns a scrap yard interested in our "hobby" and/or create some kind of "buzz" in the scrap metal industry about these strange people who have contacted them about wanting to "scrap" their Canadian coins.

Derek.Sheriff wrote:Apologies Highroller,

I should have done a quick search. Sounds like there are no restrictions. Since I have the time and want to know myself, l'll call a few scrap yards in my area and just ask them straight up. Seems like the ideal situation might be to get someone who owns a scrap yard interested in our "hobby" and/or create some kind of "buzz" in the scrap metal industry about these strange people who have contacted them about wanting to "scrap" their Canadian coins.

No need to appoligze sir. My post wasn't directed at anyone I just know there is a lot of information still "in the air" about it. I just would like people with actual experience to share their story.

After calling about 6 scrap yards in the Phoenix valley, one of them said they would accept them at their normal rate of $2.50 a pound. I had her double check with the owner and called her back 10 minutes later. She said that according to the owner, he knows of no law prohibiting it and would therefore like to do business.

Anyone have a handy calculator to figure out how much $2.50 a pound works out to per coin?

Derek.Sheriff wrote:After calling about 6 scrap yards in the Phoenix valley, one of them said they would accept them at their normal rate of $2.50 a pound. I had her double check with the owner and called her back 10 minutes later. She said that according to the owner, he knows of no law prohibiting it and would therefore like to do business.

Anyone have a handy calculator to figure out how much $2.50 a pound works out to per coin?

$2.50 a lb is extremly low!! It should be near $3.60ISH There have been a ton of numbers thrown out there but the average mix seems to be $1.74 Ca copper pennies to 1 lb.

given that copper is hovering around $4.30 lb right now, that was my impression -- very low! However, I was a little bit elated to finally talk to someone who would accept them as scrap. But here's another thought I had...If there is absolutely nothing illegal about melting or scraping Canadian coins (hope that is for sure), then why not melt them down ourselves into copper bars oneself and sell them on eBay (where people pay way too much for them) or mechanically transform them into something that any scrap yard would buy and have no issues with and pay top dollar for?

Derek.Sheriff wrote:given that copper is hovering around $4.30 lb right now, that was my impression -- very low! However, I was a little bit elated to finally talk to someone who would accept them as scrap. But here's another thought I had...If there is absolutely nothing illegal about melting or scraping Canadian coins (hope that is for sure), then why not melt them down ourselves into copper bars oneself and sell them on eBay (where people pay way too much for them) or mechanically transform them into something that any scrap yard would buy and have no issues with and pay top dollar for?

If we mechanically transformed (grinding into powder?) the Canadian coins without melting them, how would we prove content?

By content, I mean .999 pure or whatever.

shinnosuke,

What do you mean by "prove content"? I was actually thinking of rolling them flat somehow and then combining them into some kind of sheet or coil. Something that artists might want to buy or would require minimal time and effort to sell as scrap for full price.

BTW, is it legal for Canadians to export their copper pennies to the US? And is it legal for us to import them? I've already found a few Canadian eBay sellers who will. Not sure they're offering it at a reasonable price or not though.

Got your PM shinnosuke, thanks!

That's a great question...one I was already wondering about when I spoke to the scrap dealer, who said they'd take Canadian copper pennies as scrap. I don't have any experience here. I just always assumed that they determined purity by sight. In other words, I always figured they'd look at the copper you were offering them and place it in a certain category (copper pipes, stripped wire, unstripped wire etc.), for which they had already determined a rough estimate of purity and a corresponding price.

Can anyone help with this question?

Very interested to see if anyone has actually gone through with this.

Derek.Sheriff wrote:BTW, is it legal for Canadians to export their copper pennies to the US? And is it legal for us to import them? I've already found a few Canadian eBay sellers who will. Not sure they're offering it at a reasonable price or not though.

Yes, yes, depends on the price.

highroller4321 wrote:

Derek.Sheriff wrote:After calling about 6 scrap yards in the Phoenix valley, one of them said they would accept them at their normal rate of $2.50 a pound. I had her double check with the owner and called her back 10 minutes later. She said that according to the owner, he knows of no law prohibiting it and would therefore like to do business.

Anyone have a handy calculator to figure out how much $2.50 a pound works out to per coin?

$2.50 a lb is extremly low!! It should be near $3.60ISH There have been a ton of numbers thrown out there but the average mix seems to be $1.74 Ca copper pennies to 1 lb.

Not for brass, and that is what you have with one cent pieces. If you want real 99.9% copper bullion, you must refine out the zinc.

According to Wikipedia, Canadian copper cents have been 98% copper since 1942:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_penny

I found the following statement regarding copper scrap grades:

No. 2 Copper wire nodules provide a 97% minimum copper content in the re-melt recovery rate. This category consists of No. 2 copper wire nodules that are unalloyed and are from a shredding or chopping operation.

(http://www.scrapcopperprices.net/types- ... opper.html)

I'm thinking Canadian copper cents should scrap as #2 copper?

Yeah that is a low ball offer. It would be grade 2 scrap. Here is a chart of the grade 2 scrap price. If there is an industry started someday melting pennies they would use them as feed to make brass. Take pennies and add zinc.
http://scraptimes.com/

Wow, that is really interesting to have found a dealer who would be willing to melt it down... I wonder if he knows the composition of a Canadian coin? Could it be that he thinks they are 95% (or is not completely honest and this is his way of saying that he is willing to take US copper?)

The absolute worst that you could do is melting 100% pennies minted between '82 and '96. (If my math is off, somebody, please correct me.) I recall they weighed 2.5 grams. There are 453 grams to a pound. So, at worst, you would be melting around $1.81 to get back $2.50 (provided he does not bump his price up based on the higher purity.) Not too bad, considering that you don't need to ship them, there is a ready buyer for as much as you can find and you should be within the boundaries of the law.

Adam,

I tried to take some US coppers to my local scrap yard as an experiment. They would not accept them, period. The one guy in the office kept saying "it's illegal! it's illegal!" and the other gal corrected him. She said it's not illegal to melt foreign coin per se, BUT they do not accept currency of any type as a company policy. I tried to get further justification, but there was none to be had. The office staff were overall very ignorant.

On my way out, she mumbled something about "melt them down yourself" or something...

I know a business that would deffinately melt American coins here in Canada. Ill bring it up and see how much it would cost to melt.

frugalcanuck wrote:I know a business that would deffinately melt American coins here in Canada. Ill bring it up and see how much it would cost to melt.

Hmmm, I assume that is somewhere in the East? You will have to post their going rate for US copper...

but how would you get the US cents to Canada? You just can't mail them. So now were talking about smuggling too lol!