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As opposed to copper which has been used as coinage since the dawn of times, pure nickel has only been used in the last 150 years or so. In fact, Switzerland pioneered the nickel billon coinage in 1850. Canada introduced its .999 bullion-like coin in 1922.

The way I figure it, we are living the last years (probably 5-10) of stacking .999 nickels directly from circulation. In 2020, the last remaining nickels, not harvested by the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) Alloy Recovery Program (ARP), will be so diluted in the sea of steel coinage that their recovery will not be economically feasible. By that time, % of recovery will be below 5%.

In the mean time, I personnally go slow and steady. So far, I am at about 320,000 nickels sorted. What about you?

I buy them at shows when I can. I swap for them when I have stuff I want to get rid of.

Yes we do and all other we can find the coin shop saves us all the nickel coin they get. See http://currencydebasement.com/high-nickel for a list.

nu by henrysmedford, on Flickr

I'm surprised there are so many left still. 10 more years before it even falls below 5%? The ARP isn't doing it's job...

when i can get them. I've bought some and pick up the occasional one from the bank magnet. hardly ever get them in the US bank rolls because they clearly are pulling out anything magnetic before they roll them. only find cuni ones in those rolls.

I keep every .999 Ni Canuk-A-Nickle I find, as well as all other Canuk-A-Coins that are .999 Ni.

I keep the 75/25, Cu/Ni Canuk-A-Nickles, too.

I bought about $500 Face Value from a LCS about 6 months ago @ scrap value (at the time it was $6.50/#). I threw them in the safe and have to get around to going thru them. I need those little books so the kids can fill them up.

Im still stacking
Much slower now because Im going for pennies before they are gone.

frugalcanuck wrote:Im still stacking
Much slower now because Im going for pennies before they are gone.

Are they not already?

I get them when I can. Sadly though, I haven't been to any LCS for quite a while now.

Bills and responsibilities....*sigh*

However, a trip could be in the near future......

scyther wrote:

frugalcanuck wrote:Im still stacking
Much slower now because Im going for pennies before they are gone.

Are they not already?

My credit union still gets occassional pennies people bring in which they'll let me
buy, though it's been a few weeks since someone last brought some in. I also
have a backlog of "to be sorted" pennies to work through.

If frugalcanuck is sourcing from multiple places he might be getting a steadier
stream than me.

fansubs_ca wrote:

scyther wrote:

frugalcanuck wrote:Im still stacking
Much slower now because Im going for pennies before they are gone.

Are they not already?

My credit union still gets occassional pennies people bring in which they'll let me
buy, though it's been a few weeks since someone last brought some in. I also
have a backlog of "to be sorted" pennies to work through.

If frugalcanuck is sourcing from multiple places he might be getting a steadier
stream than me.

That's good. I wonder how long it will last...

I can only wish I was up north. Around here I might get a roll or two every year. I would like to have about 10 or 20 more boxes of various dates but just not willing to pay so much for them. But, at $0.0618754 if it keeps falling I might get lucky one day.

Computer Jones wrote:I keep every .999 Ni Canuk-A-Nickle I find, as well as all other Canuk-A-Coins that are .999 Ni.
<snipped>.

Ditto!

I found a few of these today at my LCS, in addition to some Canadian copper pennies at FV!

I sent a request Under the ''Access to Information Act'' to the Canadian Mint, to get the numbers of nickels that were withdrawn so fa by the Alloy recovery Program (ARP).

We'll see what they answer.

This will give an approximation on when sorting will yield .999 nickels below let's say 5%.

Cheers,

mtalbot_ca wrote:I sent a request Under the ''Access to Information Act'' to the Canadian Mint, to get the numbers of nickels that were withdrawn so fa by the Alloy recovery Program (ARP).

We'll see what they answer.

This will give an approximation on when sorting will yield .999 nickels below let's say 5%.

Cheers,

Do you fell like Woodward and Bernstein ?

Also could you find out what foundry they use. The mints website states that it is in the US.

[/quote]Do you fell like Woodward and Bernstein ? [/quote]

Yeah, let's call it the Nickelgate!

It's been about 4 years since this thread was active.

I'm curious about who is still buying/collecting/hoarding .999 Canadian nickels. I have two local dealers who save their .999 nickels for me, but I usually only get 100-200 coins from each about 4-5 times a year.

I was in Canada each of the last two summers. Based on the commentary I've seen in this site and the poor results I got from a small sample size, I didn't even ask Canadian banks for many rolls of nickels. Oh well, slow and steady...

I have to admit that it seems like lots of people in the U.S. aren't aware that our nickels are only 25% nickel.

What about everyone else? Still stacking .999 Canadians?

Won't be getting rid of any that I have but it's increasingly harder to accumulate more at a reasonable price. When you can do, do it!

I am selling.

I still can get some at face value at my LCS, but the quantities have reduced greatly.

We occasionally sell a 10 lb or 50 lb lot on eBay, it seems like a slow moving but "evergreen" product in that there are always new people discovering the "base metal bullion" potential of them.

Since I bought in at about 10c per nickel I won't sell at face value, but I'm not actively looking.

I think there may come some practical science or experiment use later that will give them a local value higher than melt

No clue when melt will get back above $10/lb.

In hindsight....I wish I had never bought any 999nickel or 95% copper(or 97% Cu).
The sorting I did was a good experience.....but not the 'investment/speculation' in base metals.

Maybe if I had a farm and had a waterproof cellar and could stack 50 buckets of base metals and forget about them for 20-50 years. But as is....ugh.