Saving US Nickels?

[John Reich]

Wanted to see if anyone is still hoarding US nickels. I started cashing mine in to buy more silver and gold. What are you all doing?

[highroller4321]

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=34898

[fasteddy]

gonna go home and count mine to see if it rates for an Adam Youngs type shipment.

[John Reich]

I meant the post-1961 nickels. I had quite a few of them put away and have been cashing them back in. I've been saving the pre-1960's since 1979! I'm glad to see highroller is making a market for them. I thought after the design change in 2006 that the pre 60's would take off, but it never happened.

[hobo finds]

I guess I will dump out my 3 gal jug and see as well...

[InfleXion]

I still save all my nickels along with my copper pennies as well as quarters since there's no point paying the 10% fee at a CoinStar for quarters which spend easily enough.

I feel like nickels are probably the best investment you can make, because there is no cost involved due to also being money. The biggest drawbacks are storage and whether that money could have been better invested elsewhere, but with the face value you really can't lose with nickels so I don't see any safer place to be. But no, I'm not collecting nickels at the expense of giving up ongoing investment in gold and silver, nor would I. In a risk vs. reward scenario, I like some element of risk.

Still no sign of the elusive 2009 nickel, but I don't buy rolls either, which maybe I should. At one point I did go and buy 30 lbs of Canadian nickels which are pure nickel, not copper like the US nickels in case the metal value of nickel ever amounts to something, even a few older style.. but otherwise just sitting on a tin of random US nickels.

I hadn't realized the mintage variance for nickels before vs. after 1961 though. May have to go filter through mine too.

[InfleXion]

The rarest one I found was a 1959 P if no mint mark means Philadelphia. 27,248,000 minted. The only other pre-1960 I found was a 1941 P (blank) which has a higher mintage of 203,265,000. Also found a 1961 P (blank), 1962 P (blank), and 1968 D at less than 100 million minted. There were others that were semi rare like a 1970 S, some 2010s, and others in the 1960s but nothing major. That was out of however many nickels fit in your average sized fruit canning jar, whatever spare change I collected the last few years. I'd already pre-screened for war nickels, never found one of those in the wild.

[Pachucko]

If anyone is having trouble dumping Nickels, let me know and maybe we can work something out.

I have a decent stash and I'd like to add some more. I don't hoard them, I just like Nickels, and need them for me and my son to hunt.

Thanks....Pachucko

[Recyclersteve]

Even though I'm from the U.S.- I like the Canadian nickel nickels better because the are almost pure nickel vs. just 25% for ours.

But with metals prices being so depressed, the Canadian nickels now have a bit less than 5 cents of intrinsic (melt) value to them. At one time around 4 years or so ago, nickel was worth (very briefly) something like $23/lb. But it wasn't above $12/lb. for long so that shows you how wildly it spiked.

Also, per kitco.com the LME (London Metals Exchange) stockpiles of nickel have gone from less than 90,000 tons in late 2011 to over 450,000 tons now (more than 5 times what existed in storage 3 1/2 years ago).

I know that Kyle Bass (famous hedge fund guy) bought $1 million in U.S. nickels around 2011. I wonder if he knows about the Canadian nickels and if he owns any of them...

[InfleXion]

I know that Kyle Bass (famous hedge fund guy) bought $1 million in U.S. nickels around 2011. I wonder if he knows about the Canadian nickels and if he owns any of them...

As far as I know it was US only, at least I didn't see any mention of Candians. The logic behind it was that you can't lose money because of face value, but you could gain money if melt value rises. So it's a safe play albeit not necessarily a high payoff type play, but the face value protection was a key factor.

I have a few bags of Canadian nickels for the same reason you pointed out, 99% pure nickel which means they are easy to melt (no refinery fee) in addition to being legal to melt in the US. I didn't buy enough of them to be too concerned about short term price movements. Just happy to have diversification in metals.

[AGgressive Metal]

I think the sorting involved for Canada nickels would be a deal-breaker for Bass. Also, there is no where you could possibly get $1 million in pre-82s unless you had a direct deal with Canadian govenment. Now I am not in the refiner loop, so I could just be in the dark here, but the biggest hoards of Canada nickel I have personally known of were in the 1-2 ton range which is at most $40,000 market value at $10/lb. I'm sure there have been rail-cars full at some point for the alloy recovery program but that was not something available for purchase by private citizens.

[silverflake]

I have been saving every nickel I get just out of my residual daily change plus if I searched pennies and had, say $7.50 in zinc to turn in I get the 50 cents in nickels. By just doing that since 2003 (12 years) I have accumulated $140 in nicks. Not mind blowing but come on, who says saving money is hard? Given a long enough time horizon.....

By the way, got a 1981 Canadian nickel while in Vermont 3 weeks ago. Canadian nicks are much prettier than U.S., no offense to Jefferson or Monicello but I prefer a beaver.

Stack what you can.

[Pachucko]

If anyone is having trouble dumping Nickels, let me know and maybe we can work something out.

I have a decent stash and I'd like to add some more. I don't hoard them, I just like Nickels, and need them for me and my son to hunt.

Thanks....Pachucko

Offer stands. May trade copper as well.

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

Not US, just the pre-'82 Canadians 99%.

[John Reich]

I've pretty much dis-hoarded my post 1960 nickels and put that money in silver and gold. I figure if U.S. nickels get back up to 4 1/2 cents or so it will be time to rebuild the hoard! When that will happen, who knows.

[Shyestsparks]

Still saving nickels, from change only though.

[agmoose]

Just saving pre-1960's and pre-82 Canadians on the rare occasion I find one down here in FL. I break the pre-60's out by year and complete rolls of solid dates just in case there is ever a market. Everything else goes back to the bank. I have accumulated about 6 rolls of 2009's via roll searching.....mostly all P mints.

[coppernickel]

Current cent percentages are so small that I am sorting just a few rolls a week. To augment, I get two rolls of nickels and two rolls of pennies to sort from three banks each week. So far I don't a full box of nickels, yet.

My high in nickels was $1500 before l cashed them ALL in.

[coolcoinz2017]

I still save any Jefferson nickel that is 1959 or older. I have noticed less coins from these years are showing up in my $100 boxes I get from the bank, so I guess other people might be doing the same. I just like to imagine what a 1938 nickel could have bought back in 1938. Can anybody tell me how to get feedback on this site.

[beauanderos]

I still save any Jefferson nickel that is 1959 or older. I have noticed less coins from these years are showing up in my $100 boxes I get from the bank, so I guess other people might be doing the same. I just like to imagine what a 1938 nickel could have bought back in 1938. Can anybody tell me how to get feedback on this site.

You have to purchase items from others, and have the transaction be successful for both parties, to win feedback. You can also sell items, but won't be able to do so until you have ten posts.
Go to the KSA's to find low-priced items for purchase.

I've been sitting on ten bricks of nickels, unsorted, for the last several years. I think the time has finally come (low silver prices, Cyber Monday) to cash in those chips and ante in for a new hand.

[68Camaro]

Surprised you held on as long as you did. I'm still keeping a goodly stock of high quality cents, but I bailed on the nickels 2-3 years ago (though I did hand sort them to pull out the wars and buffs and to plump up a decent nickel book, before dumping). If they switch out to nickel coated steels I'll pick up a couple of bricks of the heritage composition again then.

[Pachucko]

If anyone is having trouble dumping Nickels, let me know and maybe we can work something out.

I have a decent stash and I'd like to add some more. I don't hoard them, I just like Nickels, and need them for me and my son to hunt.

Thanks....Pachucko

Offer stands. May trade copper as well.

Willing to trade copper for Nickels... Maybe other stuff...

[MaxGravy]

I dumped $800 in sorted nickels last year right before we moved across the country. We plan to buy a house next year and I'll get started again. I like to keep them in old paint cans in the garage but don't tell anyone.

[johnbrickner]

I like the pre-64 nickels and Pachuko is still alive and well. Life is good. Don't sort thru them like I used to but I like the pile I have and will add to them when the notion to hand sort hits. I still think Jefferson's are still under the radar and while collecting them now may still be light years ahead of the curve, I'm ok with that. And I love the Canadian ones I find in circ here in upstate NY.

[Know Common Cents]

I've been saving nickels forever, it seems. Like many like-minded RC aficionados I've had the urge to cash them in to buy some silver. I took 2 large canvas bags to my local Chase Bank as they've always been a good dump location for loose change, etc., in whatever quantity I have. (I do have an account there.) As I hoisted my bags o' nix up to teller level, I was told, "Oh! Didn't you hear? Chase pulled out all of the coin counters out of the state!" People sometimes accuse me of being dumbfounded from time to time, but this time I know my expression must've convinced the teller of it right away. I said, "WHAT?"

I left with my 2 full canvas bags in hand. Now what? BTW, Chase did say they'd take the nickels and any other change if it was rolled. I feel like we've been bombed back to the era of Fred Flintstone. It's bitter cold here, so perhaps in between trying to shovel my driveway and working, I'll roll a few during my "idle moments." Yes. I'm still dumbfounded, I guess.