Realcent.org

(shrug) Need to ask someone else why they prefer nickels. I suspect because they don't have to sort, and it's easier to cash them in if need be. I think pennies are better, myself. But I still save the nickels.

Numismatist28 wrote:I see what you're saying, but I guess I just don't fully understand why people would go for 5 cent nickels right now that MIGHT go up in value later on versus the pre-1982 pennies, which ALREADY are worth 2.5 times their nominal value. If one were to hoard a US coin right now wouldn't the penny clearly win over the nickel?

I think for people who cannot get as many cents as they want for face right now, nickels are nice alternative. Certainly if it were a choice between nickels and cents I would go for the pre-1982 cents every time.

Silver_Stampede wrote:Here in Southern California i find 2009 nickels all the time!!! I am jealous of all the people who find the 1938 and 1950-D nickels! Southern CA has a huge influx of new coins, so all you people in the rural small towns may not be getting 2009 nickels, but you guys have so many more old coins, not to mention much better copper percentages! haha : )

You aren't kidding about the coins found in So Cal. My copper percentage for cents is around 18% which is way below what is being reported in other parts of the country. Lately, there have been lots of 2011 shield pennies in my rolls too. It probably isn't worth it for me to switch to sorting nickels.

Consider diversification into the nickel market. Also, I think most people hold some money for unforeseen expenses/opportunities. I know a piece of paper with Ben Franklin's picture on it is easier to store, but a box of nickels has the potential to increase in value depending on the metal markets. There's just no downside, in my opinion. The current melt-ban notwithstanding.

We should band together in so cal and take me for all the copper the got

Numismatist28 wrote:I see what you're saying, but I guess I just don't fully understand why people would go for 5 cent nickels right now that MIGHT go up in value later on versus the pre-1982 pennies, which ALREADY are worth 2.5 times their nominal value. If one were to hoard a US coin right now wouldn't the penny clearly win over the nickel?

Although I don't hoard many nickels (I only keep pre-60's, or BUs for my sets), I imagine some of the appeal to hoarding nickels is that they require absolutely no sorting (and dumping). Just buy, stack, and repeat.

Canadians usually do nickels, because we still have the 99% nickels from 1981, which is the same cutoff year for US people and copper pennies.

Up in the north here - we tend to not bother with copper pennies (yet) because the percentages are still very high as we did copper pennies all the way until 1996.

Technically there were two years where Canada had awesomesauce pennies, 1978 and 1979. 3.2 grams of goodnes with 1.75% tin content (tin being worth at least 10x what zinc is worth on average, even in a small percentage its impressive.)

All of the 2.5 gram 1982 to 1996 Canadian copper pennies are instantly recognizable becuase they have 12-sides. If you roll up those seperately, you can determine if the whole roll is copper just by quickly looking at the edges.

US pennies are painful for me

tractorman wrote:Consider diversification into the nickel market. Also, I think most people hold some money for unforeseen expenses/opportunities. I know a piece of paper with Ben Franklin's picture on it is easier to store, but a box of nickels has the potential to increase in value depending on the metal markets. There's just no downside, in my opinion. The current melt-ban notwithstanding.

Nickels can be used as forced emergency savings also. It's harder to put a 22 pound box in your pocket to go out for pizza, than a portrait of Mr. Franklin.

pir8football wrote:I am still missing the 38D, 38S, and 39D. Everything else I pulled out of circulation. Good luck finding that 44S

My first post. Been reading posts and started picking up boxes about 2 months ago.

Would like to say Thank You to everyone who posts here as I have learned a great deal ( along with my 14 yr old son, its helped give him something productive to do instead of playing x box)

I live in St Louis area and sorted $1500 in nickels, after reading this post I looked back at my pre war pulls and my post war pulls (only up to 1959) and found 2 1950D and 1 1939D. I put them in my sleeve with the 11 warnicks.

Thanks Again! Ted

tedandcam wrote: ( along with my 14 yr old son, its helped give him something productive to do instead of playing x box)

Getting the poor kid into bad habits, eh? tsk tsk tsk

Actually, great idea. Kids like to have something productive to do, and some parents try to kill that instead of nurturing it.

If you have a good place to lock them up, a nickel stash is a great alternative to a bank's savings account. Right now the banks are offering interest rates way less than inflation, so I rather have physical coin. Nickels require no sorting to still give a metal value of at least its face value. If I suddenly needed $100 cash, I would use a box of nickels before I'd use four boxes of my sorted copper cents. If I never have to use my nickels, they will likely give me a good return.

nickels: no sorting effort required but metal value barely greater than face value
copper cents: moderate sorting efforts for a moderate return on metal value above face value
silver coins in circulation: large sorting effort for a large return

That's why I include some nickels in my stash.

I collect nickels above pennies because Im Canadian with access to .999 Ni and I feel there are many more sources for scrap Cu, and the common scrap is useually .999 Cu, than there is for scrap Ni.

I forgot we had so many Canadian friends here. I was talking about US coins.

frugalcanuck wrote:I collect nickels above pennies because Im Canadian with access to .999 Ni and I feel there are many more sources for scrap Cu, and the common scrap is useually .999 Cu, than there is for scrap Ni.

I visited Toronto (the great city BTW) in August and manage to pick up about $20 in nickel and another $10 or so in pennies. They were about 10% .999 Ni and another 20% CuNi. CIBC seemed to be the most cooperative in terms of selling coins.

Of course this was the week after the U.S. credit downgrade. I was honestly wondering whether things would come a part that week. We brought along a couple hundred in cash along with $10 in silver quarters and dimes just in case.

pre 1982 pennies have to be sorted(I think there is a few ways that can be found here) nickels, ya just put aside! trust me, if you are due like 18 cents in change, politely ask for 3 nickels (18 pennies would be better, but that would be CRAZY)

i have a nice stash of nickels too, no brainer imo. this thread makes me want to go out and get a few more boxes, its been a while since ive added to the hoard.

Numismatist28 wrote:I see what you're saying, but I guess I just don't fully understand why people would go for 5 cent nickels right now that MIGHT go up in value later on versus the pre-1982 pennies, which ALREADY are worth 2.5 times their nominal value. If one were to hoard a US coin right now wouldn't the penny clearly win over the nickel?

Because with the nickel, there is no sorting. You order a roll, you get a roll of nickels, all the same composition. You order a box, you get a whole box of CuNi. You stack the rolls/boxes, and you're done. They're liquid. You can take it to the bank and exchange for cash. But it does weigh a decent amount, so it makes you stop and think before you spend it. If it goes up, you can make money. If it goes down, its worth face value. If it stays the same, well with interest rates today, you haven't really lost anything, plus you don't have to worry about your boxes going insolvent and closing down.

I got ansy with my nickels so I started to sort them by seperately by decade. I have gone thru $200 out of (what now is) a $3000 stash. I have found 15 buffalo nickels, are they more desirable than the jefferson? They are pretty worn. I was planning on dumping everything post 60's and replacing it with new stuff till I get back my $3000 stash in all pre 70 nickels. I usually sort halves and pennies so I only have alotted 1 hour a night to the nickels. Any suggestions to help with my plan?
*edited

mtldealer wrote:I got ansy with my nickels so I started to sort them by decade. I have gone thru $200 out of (what now is) a $3000 stash. I have found 15 buffalo nickels, are they more desirable than the jefferson? They are pretty worn. I was planning on dumping everything post 60's and replacing it with new stuff till I get back my $3000 stash in all pre 70 nickels. I usually sort halves and pennies so I only have alotted 1 hour a night to the nickels. Any suggestions to help with my plan?

Personally, I would keep the 38-59 years separate from the 60's. Mintages were a lot lower prior to the 60's and from what I see, we're kind of on the cusp of a new market for pre-60 nickels. If you want to keep nickels as bullion, I would say the 60's years are best suited for that because they made a TON of them, but the pre-60 coins will probably have more numismatic value soon if not already. (And definitely be sure to separate out the silver nickels and buffalo nickels).

Numismatist28 wrote:I see what you're saying, but I guess I just don't fully understand why people would go for 5 cent nickels right now that MIGHT go up in value later on versus the pre-1982 pennies, which ALREADY are worth 2.5 times their nominal value. If one were to hoard a US coin right now wouldn't the penny clearly win over the nickel?

You are right. Hoard both.

Numismatist28 wrote:http://www.coinflation.com/coins/194...kel-Value.html

According to this, a nickel is worth pretty much the 5 face value cents that it is. So, why do people still collect/hoard them?

Canadians are worth nearly 10 cent a piece, These days it's near impossible to crack something open and get 100% returns. I urge everyone to stop hoarding nickels, more for me.

Numismatist28, here's the reason you should start saving nickels:

http://www.survivalblog.com/nickels.html

Of course, it's a very good idea to have silver and (if you're so inclined--I'm not, as I prefer silver) gold. Nickels will be a better way to barter for small-ticket items after Federal Reserve Notes become worth less than the paper they're printed on.

Next week, once my current bank account goes down to zero but my roof is paid off (which is what I've been throwing all of my money at for the past five months, with no money to put toward metals), I'm going to start buying $100-200 a week in nickels, to get my base metal stash built up again and to have money in savings. Not sure how long it will be before I have time to actually sort nickels, but I'll keep you g

im too lazy to search just throw the boxes in my basement

wartime nickels, buffalo nickels, pre 81 canadian nickels, foreign coins, errors, key dates

(look in red book for key dates)

getdong wrote:im too lazy to search just throw the boxes in my basement

they stack a lot nicer this way