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So I haven't done any significant copper penny searching/accumulating in years. It was fun when my boys were young and we did it together and got excited over the wheats, foreigns etc. They are older now and effectively gone from my home to form their lives as adults. But now I have these boxes of copper pennies, sitting, taking up space, doing nothing. It's only $400 face value. I know because I am obsessive-compulsive and I rolled all the coppers and put them back in their Brinks boxes and taped them up and CLEARLY labelled them as copper cents.

Sooooo.....I understand why I pulled them from circulation - their copper value was (and still is) more than their face value. This would be truly a great deal as kind of an arbitrage deal if I could somehow turn them in or realistically sell them for close to their copper value. But it's not easy, it's not economically enriching and it takes up a lot of space not to mention opportunity cost of the money sitting there in boxes.

My question: I am leaning heavily toward cashing them in at the bank and using the cash to buy some silver at a price that I feel is low right now. Whats your opinion? Keep them or cash them (effectively trade for silver)?

All constructive thoughts, ideas and opinions are welcome.

Of note: over the course of years of hand sorting these with my boys we found hundreds upon hundreds of wheats, hundreds of Canadians including 2 King George the 5th and one Indian Head cent not to mention tons of other oddities and foreigns. Dimes! My gosh, dozens of dimes. So we had fun for sure.

Keep stacking. Just decide what to stack.

I understand the dilemma. But 400 face is a relatively small amount. I had more than 10x that. As I've said on here before several years ago I finally decided (after I had to move them and decided I didn't want to do that again) that I needed a draw down but that I wouldn't get rid of all. I would keep only the "clean" coin (a subjective term, but I was pretty strict on my definition). I ended up taking two thirds back and keeping the best of them which was about one third. So I still have about 1500 face - all bagged in 50 face bags. But that is a manageable amount. I still accumulate at a very low level, but I keep only the same clean coin.

For me the copper is the third wing of metal collection.

Right now is the "hold" time.

If worst case comes copper has many uses.

I'm not going to try and understand OCD, but here are some comments:

1) My dad has a spotless home and he'd be the kind that would just get rid of them. I personally don't agree with that, but there are those types out there who are control freaks about their environments, and he is one of them.
2) $400 face isn't very much, unless you absolutely must get cash (for medical bills, to avoid having utilities shut off, to avoid bankruptcy, etc.).
3) $400 face doesn't really take up much space unless you have a small place like a trailer or apartment (or have a spouse who keeps nagging about those boxes that have been sitting there "doing nothing for a long time").

One other thing, and this is a bit complicated. What do you do when kids ask you "Hey dad, what did you do with those old pennies we looked through?" If you can say something like "I parlayed it into silver, which has since gone up much more than the copper", then they will likely be impressed. If you say I took it back to the bank and turned it in for face value, they may wonder why you wasted the time. Be sure to have a good answer for this. I, for instance, would tell my daughter that nobody gets everything right and would remind her of other investments we made that turned out fine.

Good luck in coming to your final decision.

I am going to hold. Its not very big size or dollar value wise. No, I don't need the money. Frankly it's the price of silver that making me itch to buy some. And with 2 boys in college, spare money for silver takes some time and effort to scrape together. But I am good. Will hold the pennies. The day I turn them in you can guarantee that the next day the powers that be will lift the melt ban and copper cents will take off.

I read some posts here about penny storage and when i actually stop and think about the size of some of your hoards it blows my mind, and I mean that as a compliment. You guys have more dedication, drive and frankly, room than i have. More power to all of you. Thanks for any and all advice.

And for crying out loud, keep stacking!

Just wanted to clarify. Copper remains a part of my plan, but currently I am moving only very slowly. There are a few other factors in play. Coin has become very difficult to source, and I have been coerced to return to school working on a bachelor’s degree which will mean I can do the same job I’ve done for almost thirty years.

I have a stack which is equivalent to yours, my goal has been 10% past your stack. I too have experienced the time when my kids helped and then became disillusioned, as they passed through the teen years and now all are in college, three girls. Having been strictly a stacker, having never learned how to sell or trade them. For now, my plan is to get a few rolls as I pass each bank, school keeps my busy enough there is no time to sort. My goal is to finish school before Christmas and then take some time to sort what I have. It is a goal for me to work toward and I should be able to complete it this year or early next.

The fundamentals which set my mind toward copper cents have remained the same. Those beveled disks are still available for one cent, and have a copper value of two cents. Even the zinc cents have almost a full cent of value, meaning the unsorted are not a loss. During the frenzy, there was more urgency and more support on RealCent and currently we are in a calm period. The swings in the stock market, war mongering on many sides and recent jump in gas lead me to believe the fundamentals are still there and worth following.

If you want to get rid of some copper, try it here. I’m not in the market, but I last time I looked there were none available. Just make sure you sell them at sufficient profit to make it worth it including postage.

silverflake wrote:I am going to hold. Its not very big size or dollar value wise. No, I don't need the money. Frankly it's the price of silver that making me itch to buy some. And with 2 boys in college, spare money for silver takes some time and effort to scrape together. But I am good. Will hold the pennies. The day I turn them in you can guarantee that the next day the powers that be will lift the melt ban and copper cents will take off.

I read some posts here about penny storage and when i actually stop and think about the size of some of your hoards it blows my mind, and I mean that as a compliment. You guys have more dedication, drive and frankly, room than i have. More power to all of you. Thanks for any and all advice.

And for crying out loud, keep stacking!

I think it is a good decision to hold on to what you have. Unless there is a financial need, you went thru too much work to send them back to the bank. Yes, if you got the caash for your coppers, and if you invest in something like silver, and if silver goes thru the roof................................................... the good ole -- should've, could've, would've.

I know I don't the answers - in fact I tried to sell come coppers recently - and I was not able to get a price that made it worth while. So, holding is what I am doing.

I am a buyer if you are looking to get out.

silverflake wrote: Frankly it's the price of silver that making me itch to buy some.

Aluminum and nickel are both moving now and both have triggered technical breakouts. Silver isn't even close to a technical breakout of any significance.

Aluminum was just below 90 cents a pound earlier this month and right now is $1.14. That is a move of 26%+ in less than 3 weeks. This is also the highest aluminum has been since Spring, 2011. A significant amount of aluminum comes from Russia. See below for explanation.

Nickel was above $7 a pound today for the first time since late 14/very early 15- so at least a 3+ year high. Current quote on nickel is $6.89. All-time high was over $27/lb. in May, 2007 (per tradingeconomics.com) I LOVE this breakout, although I wish I had a few tons of Canadian .999 sitting around.

Keep in mind that lots of nickel comes from Russia and the U.S. has talked about imposing trading sanctions on the Russian oligarchs (think billionaires). Oleg Deripaska is one of the 7 oligarchs that have been mentioned as targets of sanctions. One of his companies is Rusal, which owns what appears to be a roughly 25% stake in Norilsk Nickel (Symbol: NILSY). Norilsk is the largest producer of nickel in the world, and the stock has gotten hit lately. On April 2nd, NILSY traded as high as $19.06. One week later it was as low as $14.66 as the panic set in. It has since rebounded to $17.23. Not a recommendation, but I've had good luck with this stock over the years. You need to have a seat belt on while trading it, however.

I feel the pain of holding brass pennies, my collection is over $1000 again. I had put $500 into roll/boxed up and then figured ehh, just fill buckets instead. And, to think I could just convert that now into 1 little oz. of gold makes me wonder. But, I don't stack them quickly either, I go to my bank each week and they usually give me a box, so I'm only adding up to $25 a month tops into the brass savings account. I am also picky, sloughing away the dirty ugly, although I used to put them back into circulation, more are dirty than ever, I just clean them cheaply with some vinegar, and don't mix them back in with regular circulated.

I ended up getting a box of pennies for Christmas. Interesting present from my stepdaughter....

So I spent today sorting through them and found 8 wheats, 3 Canadian coppers, and about 20% of the box was copper. I am holding on to what
coppers that I find in change, but haven't really had the urge to sort more. I moved recently and I remember just how heavy these things can get!

Some of these pennies were quite filthy. It makes you wonder where they've been....

SilverDragon - a box of pennies for Christmas! Awesome! If only my mother-in-law would listen to me. She spends money she shouldn't be spending on me every Christmas and buys me thoughtful, but not very useful things. I say, take $10, get me 20 rolls of pennies, let me go through them and I would even give back the zincolns! Oh well, enjoy the thoughtful gift.

On another note that helps me realize my kids may have actually listened to me, my 21 year old son who works at local supermarket will come home after a shift and drop coins on the table and announce them to me. "Hey dad, check this out....". He found a 1936 Buffalo nickel 2 weeks ago. He gets very many wheats and he even brought me what he thought was a 1969-s penny (I need a 1969-s penny in my collection). Turns out it was a 69-D, not an S. Oh well, I was happy anyway hearing coin talk come out of his mouth.

Keep stacking and Happy New Year!

SilverDragon72 wrote:I ended up getting a box of pennies for Christmas. Interesting present from my stepdaughter....

A box of pennies for Christmas, would be great.

I like to give the nieces and nephews a roll half dollars for a birthday. If they are one who likes a little box I wrap the roll in duct tape. If they are a curious type then a wrap it in a little box inside a big box. It rattles really good, and makes them wonder. It works best when they are about twelve.