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I see in the last few days an increase in the nickel offering which is good since I hoard nickels. The things I notice are that:

1- The qty offered is mainly in 10-20-40-60lbs format.
2- Years selected are mainly from 60-81.
3- Price overs from 11$-14$ a pound shipped, which if done from Canada is quite expensive.
4- The offers are for cash, trades are a lot rarer.

I would like insights to see if there is a demand for sorted nickel:

1. An example on the weight aspect would be for example of 5 lbs of 1960s nickels or even 1 lbs of 1962 nickels
2. An exmple on the odd size of order: 11.5 lbs
3. An example on the trade would be something like: nickel melt + shipping = silver melt + shippingfor silver coins with 35% and over purity

Any other ideas? I am entertaining the idea of doing so since I do it ''small time''. Maybe the market is not developped yet and remains good for now, on bulk offers

Cheers,

1. I doubt there is much demand for specific years. If it's circulated, it's really just bullion.
2. To me it doesn't matter what weight (odd or even) you sell as long as the price is right.
3. Some sell, some trade. To me, trading just raises the cost (there are two shipments), especially if they are both international (Canada / USA).

SoFa wrote:1. I doubt there is much demand for specific years. If it's circulated, it's really just bullion.

The US Jeffersons 1938-42 (NON-SILVER), 1946-1949 are now getting a premium in mixed rolls.

My personal insight on this, being from Canada and not being able to run for the border and do shipments because of my location is this. A pound of nickels is $5 face value for me. I go to the bank or local charity and pick up my nickels. I then ryedale sort for Pre 82's of 99.9% Nickel compostition. We don't have dumping machine for returns so i re-roll and return to the bank. And so on. Ok so for my labor of love I'm looking for $10 a pound in my pocket. 100% profit. But shipping in Canada is very expensive so $13 a pound or so shipped factors in shipping to most of the states. for me the east coast of the US is cheaper to ship but west coast and Texas (thats you Jack, and many others) it use's up all the shipping fee's plus usually a bit of the profit to get it there. There's a cost of business in doing this. Mind you i feel very lucky to be able to do this hobby with nickels on a daily basis for the last 8 years or so. So as far as i'm concerned thats my price and can't charge anything less than what i do or else it basically gets to doing this for nothing. I've been lucky enough through the years of selling nickels even before i joined this fourm to have alot of repeat customers that buy on a monthly basis. some small lots, some big lots but they keep me going. i hate selling more than i take in, the stack looks nicer as it grows. Since i've joined here i've made quite a few deals on trades and sales for nickels and supply a few members with a monthly shippments. Regardless of the price of spot, those monthly deals always stay the same and I look forward to watching the price go up so they can see the reward on the nickels. It's just a matter of time. As for CuNi's, I don't bother with them. Thats it for me, stack nickel, sell some for silver and gold deals, and hope for the best.
Nickel is a very difficult metal to extract from the earth and refine. Very high melting point, and small deposits. i mean the US choose to use silver instead of copper/nickel when crunch time came during the war. everyone here is probably aware of Canada's ARP (alloy recovery program). They're pulling all coin with nickel content , mostly quarters right now, from circulaton and sending them down to the smelters in the States. In years to come you won't be able to find these in circulation and I believe by this time nickel will be in the high teens. As any commodtities go these days it a supply and demand. NIckel wil have it's day again, but scarcity will keep the price up. IMHO

Cheers, Owen

Thanks Owen for the insight, much appreciated.

Wow! Good to know for us Nickel people!

1- The qty offered is mainly in 10-20-40-60lbs format.

Because 100 coins=$5 face=1 lb, $100 face = 20 lbs 4 boxes fit in a US flat rate box. However, Copper Cave sells smaller 1 and 5 lb lots.

2- Years selected are mainly from 60-81.

Personally I pull anything with a king or not "round" when I spot them. They should sell for more.

3- Price overs from 11$-14$ a pound shipped, which if done from Canada is quite expensive.

It was $10 a lb/2x face a year or so back. Glad to see that the price is up.

4- The offers are for cash, trades are a lot rarer.

Maybe now. I traded a lot of Ni for Silver spot for spot.

1. An example on the weight aspect would be for example of 5 lbs of 1960s nickels or even 1 lbs of 1962 nickels
See the Copper Cave link for 1 and 5 lb deals. Nate also sorts out any damaged coins and packages them pretty

Yes, nickel coinage is becoming a rare thing. After reaching my 200th pound of pure nickel (on maybe a tonne of nickel hunting)

I've come to this conclusion:

Most of the pure nickels made before 1955 are gone. Not only did Canada make steel nickels for that period in time, but I'm pretty sure they may have culled and melted a good 80-90% of the nickel nickels for the wars (WWII and Korean) leaving mostly steel nickels for circulation to 1955. They did have an constant ARP back then too, and if the US was desperate enough to switchout silver for nickel during WWII, I can imagine that the US culled quite a few of their nickels too.

Its actually much easier for me to find silver dimes and quarters than pre-1951 pure Canadian nickels. I think the reason that most people quote 1955 to 1981 as nickel - is because your chances of finding a nickel from anything earlier than that period is next to non-existant, with the occasional rarity that someone has kept a few commemorative 1951's (which is nice, because the ones you do find are usually in mint state)

Id say I find less silver dimes and quarters than I do pre 51 nickels, however i very rarely will find a pre 51 nickel that is in anything but almost circulated condition so I would guess that when they do start circulating after being pulled out of the penny jar they don't last long. I'm canadian so not talking war nickels

NickelExpress wrote:Id say I find less silver dimes and quarters than I do pre 51 nickels, however i very rarely will find a pre 51 nickel that is in anything but almost circulated condition so I would guess that when they do start circulating after being pulled out of the penny jar they don't last long. I'm canadian so not talking war nickels

Nickels: Found about 40 pre-51 nickels over around 100,000 coins. Found also only 6 x 1970.
Silver: I tried only one box (2,500 coins) and found 1 x 80% and 1 x 50%.

Thanks again for all your comments.

Now you have me curious, I have all my coins I pulled from circulation in storage from moving junk around but I swore I had found a decent number of pre 50 stuff...however I might be mistaking it with stuff in the 50's (those I find a fair number of). As for 1970's I cant remember off the top of my head but I know its a low number. Oldest Ive pulled so far is a 23 (i think 2-3 others in the 20's as well but cant be 100 percent) I do however live in an area with an aging population, so my percent of oldies from my favorite bank is quite high, Ive had 1 box that was 100 percent copper, and several boxes of pennies\nickels that were over 70 percent nickel or copper. Its not the best bank for volume I just like the treasure hunting from there, and the vault clerk holds everything "old" for me, mostly junk but who cares.