Circulating coin whose melt value > face value

[cupronickel]

I am interested to know if there has ever been a circulating US coin whose melt value exceeded face value. For example in 1964 was the melt value of the 90% silver quarter greater than $0.25 or did it only exceed 25 cents after the change to copper/nickel.

[cupronickel]

Foreign examples would be appreciated as well.

[hobo finds]

http://currencydebasement.com/

[daviscfad]

i know when nickel was high the US nickel was worth more at melt than at face

[cupronickel]

That's a great website. I know the nickel's melt value exceeded the face value recently. Yet they continue to produce them. I was trying to find out if this has happened in the past, or has happened in other countries. I just don't understand why they would keep producing them at a loss. The copper penny wouldn't count b/c they stopped making them before the melt exceeded the face.

[68Camaro]

From http://www.silverinstitute.org/19601965.php

For decades, the Treasury had been a net buyer of silver. By 1960, it had become a net seller. In 1960, the Treasury sold 22 million ounces of silver in bullion form, and used another 46 million ounces in coinage. The next year the Treasury had to sell 63 million ounces of bullion and use another 56 million ounces to replace silver coins that had been taken out of circulation by investors. That year, 1961, the Treasury realized that it would run out of silver for use in coinage and as a reserve against silver certificates unless it took drastic measures to begin phasing silver out of currency. In 1961, the Treasury ordered $5 and $10 silver certificates out of circulation, freeing silver reserves held against these bills and reducing the public’s call on Treasury silver. In November 1961 the government also suspended silver bullion sales by the Treasury at the formerly fixed price of 91 cents.

Once the Treasury stopped selling at that price, market quotes for silver quickly rose. In June 1963 the Treasury also replaced the $1 silver certificate with Federal Reserve notes. By 1963, silver prices reached $1.29, the monetary value of silver in coinage. At prices above this level, holders of silver certificates would have been able to redeem them for more valuable silver, under the now-defunct silver certificate legislation. (The other trigger price the Treasury worried about was $1.38, at which level it was profitable to recycle coinage for its silver content.)

[dpwozney]

I know the nickel's melt value exceeded the face value recently. Yet they continue to produce them. I was trying to find out if this has happened in the past, or has happened in other countries. I just don't understand why they would keep producing them at a loss.

Maybe they think cupronickel alloy serves so well as, and is such a good choice for, a monetary standard for setting the value of “Federal” Reserve Notes, that it’s worth the cost.

[frugi]

I can sum it up in 1 word.

think about it: how much does it cost to make a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, a half dollar, a susan b. anthony, and all the damn presidential dollars? All of them cost less than $0.25 to make,....think about how much it costs to make a one dollar bill or a one hundred dollar bill. The costs absolutely do not matter. When they spend $0.12 to make a quarter, evry time they do so they just made $0.13 profit out of thin air. do it again, lets do it, and do it, and do it again, lets do it some more, let's do it, and do it again, and do it some more, until we do it again and again and again........do you see where I am going here. It does not matter how much it costs to make the coin or bill. it is instant profit, in a weird way very similar to sorting copper cents,(instant profit).