Why should I "invest" in copper pennies?

[Hawkeye]

I just figure it's an investment with a floor of 100% of the amount invested. Possibility of a decent return, and it will never be worth less than I paid for it. Not a bad investment in my book. Plus, it gives me something to do while I watch TV.

[scyther]

If you can't find room in your to fit all your silver, buy a bigger house...

It's not that easy though; and you can't justify buying an entirely new house solely based on the need for silver/copper storage space.

Anyway, the "storage" issue for copper pennies may be overblown somewhat, but it does hold some bearing when you live in a house with multiple other occupants besides yourself. It's not so much a problem of actual, physical storage space, it's more of a problem of inconvenience and immobility.

The problem also manifests itself on your carpet or wood flooring after a while -- have you seen the kind of indentations those massive copper tubs make?! Which is why, if you have an unfinished basement, I highly suggest storing them in there as many here probably do.

I agree for copper, but for silver, that was my point. If you have such an overwhelmingly large hoard of silver that you can't fit it in your house, you can probably afford a bigger house!

[slvrbck]

I agree with the above statement 100%

[barrytrot]

If you can't find room in your to fit all your silver, buy a bigger house...

It's not that easy though; and you can't justify buying an entirely new house solely based on the need for silver/copper storage space.

Anyway, the "storage" issue for copper pennies may be overblown somewhat, but it does hold some bearing when you live in a house with multiple other occupants besides yourself. It's not so much a problem of actual, physical storage space, it's more of a problem of inconvenience and immobility.

The problem also manifests itself on your carpet or wood flooring after a while -- have you seen the kind of indentations those massive copper tubs make?! Which is why, if you have an unfinished basement, I highly suggest storing them in there as many here probably do.

I agree for copper, but for silver, that was my point. If you have such an overwhelmingly large hoard of silver that you can't fit it in your house, you can probably afford a bigger house!

The system is simple:

Hoard copper until it fills up your house, then sell 50% of it and buy silver.

Then when your house is again full with 50% copper and 50% silver sell 50% of your silver and buy gold.

Then when your house is again full with 50% copper, 25% silver and 25% gold you sell your original 50% copper and buy more silver.

Then when your house is full with 75% silver and 25% gold you sell half your silver and buy gold.

Then when your house is full with 37.5% silver and 62.5% gold you sell the remainder of your silver.

Then and ONLY THEN when you have a house filled 100% with gold do you even consider buying a new house! Be conservative people!

[scyther]

The system is simple:

Hoard copper until it fills up your house, then sell 50% of it and buy silver.

Then when your house is again full with 50% copper and 50% silver sell 50% of your silver and buy gold.

Then when your house is again full with 50% copper, 25% silver and 25% gold you sell your original 50% copper and buy more silver.

Then when your house is full with 75% silver and 25% gold you sell half your silver and buy gold.

Then when your house is full with 37.5% silver and 62.5% gold you sell the remainder of your silver.

Then and ONLY THEN when you have a house filled 100% with gold do you even consider buying a new house! Be conservative people!

When my house is full of gold, I'll sell it and by an island. With a mine

[John_doe]

The system is simple:

Hoard copper until it fills up your house, then sell 50% of it and buy silver.

Then when your house is again full with 50% copper and 50% silver sell 50% of your silver and buy gold.

Then when your house is again full with 50% copper, 25% silver and 25% gold you sell your original 50% copper and buy more silver.

Then when your house is full with 75% silver and 25% gold you sell half your silver and buy gold.

Then when your house is full with 37.5% silver and 62.5% gold you sell the remainder of your silver.

Then and ONLY THEN when you have a house filled 100% with gold do you even consider buying a new house! Be conservative people!

When my house is full of gold, I'll sell it and by an island. With a mine

hoard copper until it BECOMES your house.

http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2013/0 ... loor?lite=

[Romalae]

The system is simple:

Hoard copper until it fills up your house, then sell 50% of it and buy silver.

Then when your house is again full with 50% copper and 50% silver sell 50% of your silver and buy gold.

Then when your house is again full with 50% copper, 25% silver and 25% gold you sell your original 50% copper and buy more silver.

Then when your house is full with 75% silver and 25% gold you sell half your silver and buy gold.

Then when your house is full with 37.5% silver and 62.5% gold you sell the remainder of your silver.

Then and ONLY THEN when you have a house filled 100% with gold do you even consider buying a new house! Be conservative people!

When my house is full of gold, I'll sell it and by an island. With a mine

hoard copper until it BECOMES your house.

http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2013/0 ... loor?lite=

Heck, there's so much copper wiring in houses that people are hoarding mass quantities of copper and oftentimes not knowing it.

[cupronickel]

I would look at it as what can I get for below its melt value. You might find some silver below spot, but you're not going to find silver at 30% below spot. If you bought one ctu for $140 (with shipping), you just paid 42% below the spot price. IMHO copper pennies are the best deal out there, even paying 1.4 or 1.5 times face value.

[jacer333]

Some days I sit down at the ryedale and view it as a chore and it starts to become work, but reading through this thread revitalizes my motives to sort and keep stacking the hoard even higher! The future is bright sitting on a pile of copper Abes.

[GGerrands]

That article says they found a 1944 Steel Penny. I'm not sure, but it looks like those are worth $70 grand. Wow, if that's true.

[highroller4321]

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=20807

One of many reasons why you should.

[adagirl]

Who says the melt ban must be lifted before the full intrinsic value is realized? As more and more look for tangible investments, perhaps Cu will trade like junk silver does now. Just a thought.

[barrytrot]

Who says the melt ban must be lifted before the full intrinsic value is realized? As more and more look for tangible investments, perhaps Cu will trade like junk silver does now. Just a thought.

Everyone that looks at history.

Prior to the melt ban being lifted some coin shops were buying 90% silver for face or not much over. Those guys were paid off like a slot machine of course

Even after the melt ban, 90% was routinely bought at 2x or so multiples even while silver was working its way up to close to $50/ounce.


The cent will never gain parity with it's metal value until the melt ban is lifted and that is a fact based on history.


Once the melt ban is lifted: sure cents will trade similar to 90% junk silver. But until then, nope, there will be a severe negative premium.

[scyther]

Even after the melt ban, 90% was routinely bought at 2x or so multiples even while silver was working its way up to close to $50/ounce.

Wow, that's really ridiculous. Do you have any idea why that was, or why it changed?

[cupronickel]

I believe the melt ban on 90% silver coins was lifted before the melt value exceeded the face value. So they always sold at around melt value.

[scyther]

Maybe I misinterpreted what he said, but if the price of silver was anywhere near $50 an ounce while it was selling for 2x face that's... very odd.

[barrytrot]

Even after the melt ban, 90% was routinely bought at 2x or so multiples even while silver was working its way up to close to $50/ounce.

Wow, that's really ridiculous. Do you have any idea why that was, or why it changed?

Because people are ignorant. And when you can get more than face value for your pocket change most people take it.

Just find someone that was a coin dealer back then and they will tell you it was the best time to be a coin dealer ever

[scyther]

Even after the melt ban, 90% was routinely bought at 2x or so multiples even while silver was working its way up to close to $50/ounce.

Wow, that's really ridiculous. Do you have any idea why that was, or why it changed?

Because people are ignorant. And when you can get more than face value for your pocket change most people take it.

Just find someone that was a coin dealer back then and they will tell you it was the best time to be a coin dealer ever

Oh, ignorant people. That I can understand. But 90% could be sold for much closer to spot, right?

[barrytrot]

Because people are ignorant. And when you can get more than face value for your pocket change most people take it.

Just find someone that was a coin dealer back then and they will tell you it was the best time to be a coin dealer ever

Oh, ignorant people. That I can understand. But 90% could be sold for much closer to spot, right?

I believe that it was primarily a process of:

- Buy 90%
- Melt it into .999
- Then sell

I don't believe that the market for 90% was like today where it trades non-stop. I'm sure it traded at "fair" values, but not like today where it is very fluid. The lack of fluidity aided the coin dealers who had the time to translate it into a more fluid medium.

[Doctor Steuss]

For me, it's a nice little retirement savings account. I don't miss the $5-$10 I end up setting aside from handsorting each week. When I'm old and gray, I'll either have an extra little cash, or I'll have a nice little bit of metal to sell. Or, I'll have something to leave my nieces and nephews. Either way, I enjoy sorting (it is extremely relaxing to me), so it's basically a hobby that costs me absolutely nothing. Having a coin-sorting hobby that costs nothing (other than time and gas) is a lot cheaper than taking up another hobby like golf.

[Numis Pam]

For me, it's a nice little retirement savings account. I don't miss the $5-$10 I end up setting aside from handsorting each week. When I'm old and gray, I'll either have an extra little cash, or I'll have a nice little bit of metal to sell. Or, I'll have something to leave my nieces and nephews. Either way, I enjoy sorting (it is extremely relaxing to me), so it's basically a hobby that costs me absolutely nothing. Having a coin-sorting hobby that costs nothing (other than time and gas) is a lot cheaper than taking up another hobby like golf.

+1 esp to (it is extremely relaxing to me), Also love that it costs so very little!

[frugi]

I first started hand sorting cents in 2005. In 2006, I got a boring job, that nobody ever came in the door to shop, so I quickly realized I could sit on my butt like I normally did, but by sorting pennies as well, I could make a little extra money, so I sorted $25.00 to $50.00 a day at that job for over 2 years. I eventually built up my hoard to around 1,000,000 US copper pennies before I literally got sick and tired of it, and vowed to never hand sort again. If I have a million coppers, it meant over those few years I handsorted millions of pennies.....I found lots of great stuff, foreign coins, old tokens, silver dimes, you name it. But eventually it does drag on you, so I gave it up. I never bought a Ryedale. I always liked the idea of the risk free investment aspect. I mean if copper ever tanked I could always spend it, they arent taking up too much room, it doesnt seem like too much of a hassle to own them now. IF SHTF, they would make great barter, and they could potentially be crafted into other things if the need ever arose, maybe even little arrow tips, or bullets, who knows. In any case, around 2007/8 I found a gentleman who has been selling me (at face) ALL copper bags of Canadian cents, and ALL Ni bags of Canadian nickels, so I buy those from him now, and either flip them on here for more than what I pay, or I keep them too. It is an amazing thing to buy and sell these without having to hand sort it first. If there is a market now, there will be a better market in the future whether it is US or Canadian. I am one of the first members to this forum, and I was sorting well before I joined here, when I joined I was so excited to find other people who thought this could be lucrative as well, and now look how many are members, if nothing else, there is 1000 people here who I could sell them to, so I would say it is more than just a fad or hobby, it is an investment in the future that is risk free, not too many "good" investments are 100% risk free.

[Cent1225]

by frugi » Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:48 pm

I first started hand sorting cents in 2005. In 2006, I got a boring job, that nobody ever came in the door to shop, so I quickly realized I could sit on my butt like I normally did, but by sorting pennies as well, I could make a little extra money, so I sorted $25.00 to $50.00 a day at that job for over 2 years. I eventually built up my hoard to around 1,000,000 US copper pennies before I literally got sick and tired of it, and vowed to never hand sort again. If I have a million coppers, it meant over those few years I handsorted millions of pennies.....I found lots of great stuff, foreign coins, old tokens, silver dimes, you name it. But eventually it does drag on you, so I gave it up. I never bought a Ryedale. I always liked the idea of the risk free investment aspect. I mean if copper ever tanked I could always spend it, they arent taking up too much room, it doesnt seem like too much of a hassle to own them now. IF SHTF, they would make great barter, and they could potentially be crafted into other things if the need ever arose, maybe even little arrow tips, or bullets, who knows. In any case, around 2007/8 I found a gentleman who has been selling me (at face) ALL copper bags of Canadian cents, and ALL Ni bags of Canadian nickels, so I buy those from him now, and either flip them on here for more than what I pay, or I keep them too. It is an amazing thing to buy and sell these without having to hand sort it first. If there is a market now, there will be a better market in the future whether it is US or Canadian. I am one of the first members to this forum, and I was sorting well before I joined here, when I joined I was so excited to find other people who thought this could be lucrative as well, and now look how many are members, if nothing else, there is 1000 people here who I could sell them to, so I would say it is more than just a fad or hobby, it is an investment in the future that is risk free, not too many "good" investments are 100% risk free.

Spoken like a man who has given lots of thought to this as he has sorted copper.

[SilverDragon72]

No matter what happens in the future, the worst case scenario is that I'm sitting on a pile of pennies that will not lose any value. They will always be worth at least 1 cent.
I probably won't have a huge hoard like some of us do here, but I will have a decent amount. My main focus is mostly silver.