Realcent.org

James Wesley, Rawles of survivalblog.com fame just said:
FWIW, I predict that the U.S. Mint will follow Canada's lead and will begin minting stainless steel "nickels" in 2013. So here in the U.S., our window of opportunity to salt away rolls of real nickels without any sorting will soon close. Stack them deep, folks!

Full article:
http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/06/letter-re-advice-on-canadian-nickels.html

Agree? Does it make you happy or do you feel like he just peed in your cornflakes?

I agree. I believe 5,10,25,50c coins will be steel in 2013 and the penny will be eliminated.

RichardPenny43 wrote:I agree. I believe 5,10,25,50c coins will be steel in 2013 and the penny will be eliminated.

I would bet on the first part, but I still think the penny will hang on for a few more years.

Tell me why again you want to hold on to nickels?

Nickels: Total Face Value: $10.00 Total melt value is $9.78.

95% Copper Pennies: Total Face Value: $10.00 Total melt value is $22.44.

http://www.coinflation.com/coins/basemetal_calc.php

Canada stopped making 99.9% nickel content dimes quarters and halves after 1999. Not enough nickel, even though we were the worlds largest producer for quite a while. We also stopped making 99.9% nickel dollars and two dollar coins this year (2012), not enough nickel.

We did make copper pennies all the way until 1996, so there actually was an abundance of copper here, compared to the US.

US dimes quarters and halves are 91.6% copper, they just look deceivingly like they are made of nickel, of which the nickel-look on the front tends to fool many into thinking its much more available than it really is. The US will no doubt have to move to steel for at the very least the 5 cent piece - not becuase of shortage or expense of copper, but shortage of nickel.

In the Euro, you will have to pay about 13 cents US to get a 10 cent euro coin which contains 3.65 grams of copper - but in order to get a few grams of nickel, you must move all the way to the 1 and 2 Euro coins.

Canada's alloy recovery program probably has melted down 4 billion or so pure nickel coins in the last 4 years to make up for the shortfall - but I can say that we are running out of room fast. The US *must* debase its currency soon, as the physical limitations are beginning to set in regardless of cost.

Geologically speaking, nickel is about 10.5x rarer than copper. Gold is about 15.5x rarer than silver.

Why is nickel so cheap? I don't know. Why did Canada give the US $1Billion worth of free softwood lumber?

shinnosuke wrote:James Wesley, Rawles of survivalblog.com fame just said:
FWIW, I predict that the U.S. Mint will follow Canada's lead and will begin minting stainless steel "nickels" in 2013. So here in the U.S., our window of opportunity to salt away rolls of real nickels without any sorting will soon close. Stack them deep, folks!

Full article:
http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/06/letter-re-advice-on-canadian-nickels.html

Agree? Does it make you happy or do you feel like he just peed in your cornflakes?

I don't know about the 2013 prediction (I think it depends on who wins in November), but I do agree with stacking nickel despite what the coinflation melt value is presently. I have been stacking nickels and will continue to do so. And yes, I stack Cu pennies too.

ZenOps wrote:Why is nickel so cheap? I don't know. Why did Canada give the US $1Billion worth of free softwood lumber?

Because Adam Young told Canada to give the lumber to the US.

Haha.

Actually if you want copper, Britain made two-pence pieces all the way until 1991. They are impressive 7.12 gram coins of Bronze (and not Brass, like most US pennies)

British one pennies (9.4 grams) from 1901 to 1970 can be found in Canada - usually for less than a dime, sometimes barely over spot.

Well, I'm a fan of nickels as well as pennies. However, the vast majority of my nickels are from the U.S.

The composition of a nickel today is 25% nickel and about 75% copper with a trace of manganese, no? Anyway, I guess my concern with holding on to all of these nickels for melt value alone would be the cost to actually separate the 2 metals from each other during the melting process. I'm guessing it's fairly expensive to do that?

Either way, I still enjoy archiving them and putting the remainder into storage for now. The buckets are getting heavy....

Copper Catcher wrote:Tell me why again you want to hold on to nickels?

Nickels: Total Face Value: $10.00 Total melt value is $9.78.

95% Copper Pennies: Total Face Value: $10.00 Total melt value is $22.44.

http://www.coinflation.com/coins/basemetal_calc.php

upside potential with no real downside risk
very liquid (for now)
no sorting necessary

I hope they pick the non-magnetic stainless, or it'll screw up my collection of Canadian coin off of the counter magnets because they'll have to redo the machine and remove that magnet!

If Obey-me gets a second term nothing will happen for another 4 years, pennies included. After that, the cent & half dollar go away...JFK gets his mug on (yet) another revamped $1 coin which will be half- dollar sized & weighted. Paper $1 notes disappear over a couple years.

Look for a $5 coin in the not so distant.

Copper Catcher wrote:Tell me why again you want to hold on to nickels?

Nickels: Total Face Value: $10.00 Total melt value is $9.78.

95% Copper Pennies: Total Face Value: $10.00 Total melt value is $22.44.

http://www.coinflation.com/coins/basemetal_calc.php

Nice CC! Just saw this post and it made me smile

~JobIII

JobIII wrote:

Copper Catcher wrote:Tell me why again you want to hold on to nickels?

Nickels: Total Face Value: $10.00 Total melt value is $9.78.

95% Copper Pennies: Total Face Value: $10.00 Total melt value is $22.44.

http://www.coinflation.com/coins/basemetal_calc.php

Nice CC! Just saw this post and it made me smile

~JobIII

I say this even though I sort...

Let's finish the story, and do it at my typical Cu yield of 20% for a single bank pickup of $100 face, to be sold and shipped as part of a conventional CTU for the generally accepted price of $150 (now a generous offer by today's RC prices)

Nickels:
Total Face Value: $100.00
Current net street value: $100.00
Time value of acqusition: zero (essentially)
Current net worth: $100.00

95% Copper Pennies, after unwrapping, double sorting, returning of dumps:
Total Face Value: $20.00
Net street value after costs of acquisition, S&H: $27.60 plus $80 dumps = $107.60
Time value of acquisition: Estimated 2-1/2 hours at minimum wage of $8.00 = $20
(If you figure your time is worth more than $8.00/hour then the loss is even more.)
Current net worth: $87.60

You can work this many different ways to arrive at different answers, but if you're doing a true business analysis it would have to conform to something much like the above, or worse. It doesn't cover the cost of gas or larger issue of vehicle expenses, machine sorter amoritzation, etc. Quite frankly I'm losing money big-time on cents, myself, and do this mostly as a hobby for the short-term, with some possible positive side benefits (rare coin sales, dump counter pickups, etc) that may or may not make up some of the loss, along with some promise of longer-term payoffs, hoped for but not yet realizable.

i guess buying copper cents that someone else sorted is another option.

i do this too.

some downsides are that they take up more space and can't just be cashed in at the bank for what you paid for them.

it depends on your situation. stacking nickels seems better than nothing.

I have been stacking bricks for several months now, to avoid sorting in the future. I will probably still sort some, but it is much more convenient to do it now.

I think they will get rid of the dollar bill first, force all of the 1$ coins on us & make a cent out of steel for now!

hobo finds wrote:I think they will get rid of the dollar bill first, force all of the 1$ coins on us & make a cent out of steel for now!

to do something like this would make too much sense. don't count on washington to use logic.
they quit making the $1 coin as far as I know, so they may have aborted this idea with it.

I do expect them to chase canada with the cent though. further debasement until they completely do away with them.

hobo finds wrote:I think they will get rid of the dollar bill first, force all of the 1$ coins on us & make a cent out of steel for now!

im still sticking to my guns on a trade in program with the mint for the presidential dollar coins they have sitting on their shelves. I would be glad to swap coppers for them, at a rate of my choosing of course.

copper for zinc garbage, it is a win win for both parties, but once again this would make sense.

abandon all logic, ye who enter here.

I believe that regardless of the election outcome in Nov, the cent in its current form is doomed. The argument will be made that "Surveys have been taken and the public wants to keep its one cent coin. Rather than cease production like Canada has done in 2012, we'll continue production in another metal. They'll look the same and may, in fact, even look shinier. This is a way we can shave some much-needed money off of the national debt."

Cent will be first then others will follow in 6 month intervals. The circulating (a misnomer even long ago) half buck will be retired to the graveyard of the 20 cent piece and others. Besides, 2013 will be the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's asassination. "We've honored President Kennedy's memory for 50 years and it's time to retire this coin in November, 2013."

Further debasement of the US coinage isn't very possible unless one goes to a token-like system composed of recycled milk jug plastic.

The glory days of coin collecting are being gnawed away by current economic forces. Actual collectors have already assumed a Do-Do Bird presence as the massive shift has been made to bullion investors and speculators. Coin shops I know usually don't bother putting collectable coins in their showcases anymore. It's all bullion all the time.