Advice for a Newcomer to roll/bullion hoarding

[mrbill]

So...I have been lurking here for awhile.....and have learned alot...but would like some advice/input on a couple of things:

1) Regarding copper pennies.....it appears I would have to "tie up" about $750 to get $150 worth of copper which has a "value" of about $450....in addition to the time and trouble to sort......it also appears that I could buy and have delivered $150 face of copper for between $240 to $270......I would still "control" the $450 copper value....and still have a nice unrealized profit. Seems like a no-brainer.....what am I missing?

2) Seems like silver has dried up....from the numbers I see your chances of finding any type of silver in rolls is between 0% and 2%....I just went to a local coin shop and picked up a roll for silver quarters for $245......my investment in time and money to acquire that amount of silver from rolls....Im not even sure I want to do the math. Am I missing anything here?

3) US Nickles look to hold the most promise...I can buy and hold....or if I want to sort for the "needles in the haystack".....but how long before I could expect to get $150 for a $100 box?....Looks like no risk.....but how long for the reward?

So I guess my main question is this....How would you allot spending $500....today...with an eye toward the future? As well as fun for today!

Thanks in advance for your input/advice

[fasteddy]

whaddup mrbill good to hear you are still around,,,,SNL has been very hard on you in the past Welcome to the crazy world of PM's and CU pennie hoarding....

Your numbers are pretty good. If I had a fixed amount of dollars to invest into the Cu pennie I would purchase here...ask for some twice sorted cents...and if you want to look for wheats make sure you ask that they are not sorted out. But know this, the wheats have been cherry picked for over 100 years so the chance of you finding the 1909 S VDB or a no D '22 is extremely slim. There is a fairly active secondary market for the Cu pennie. But you wont see 3x face value profit any time soon. I believe this is the time to stock up on the Cu pennie.

Silver, is still out there, but it is allot of time to find it....many here search rolls but also buy on the silver dips...up to you, dont search for quarters they are mostly gone....in order halves, dimes, nickels....dimes and nick are less than 0.1% finds.

On Nickels, I have some....there are lots of them. Get from the bank and hold...Nothing in the secondary market for Cupro-nics, some on REal Cent have many but IMO its a buy and hold and for how long who knows...10 years maybe? But it is comforting to know, if you have bricks of nics and you needed cash fast it is ready to go....like Libya, freezing the banks funds and the atm's no longer work. But we have boxes of nics, but they are bulky and heavy.

Let us know what you decide..

Cheers!

[rainsonme]

In addition to whatever you decide to do with silver, why not keep a $50 bag of pennies on hand to sort slowly as time permits. While you are waiting in the car for someone (kids, wife, whoever) you can sort pennies. If you watch TV, you can certainly sort pennies and not miss anything. At the end of the year, you will have a bag of copper pennies (68lb = $100 face value) and a stack of wheat pennies. I see it as no incremental effort, because I do it slowly over time; no hurry to get the rejects back, I can carry $50 for for awhile. You won't get rich, but you will slowly build a copper inventory at very little cost or effort.

[beauanderos]

Face it.. despite fair prospects of price run-ups given hyperinflation, all three metals provide at best a chance to recoup some of the costs of the hobby, if you're lucky it will be "free." The question is, is it enjoyable? Don't let it become work.

[barrytrot]

In addition to whatever you decide to do with silver, why not keep a $50 bag of pennies on hand to sort slowly as time permits. While you are waiting in the car for someone (kids, wife, whoever) you can sort pennies. If you watch TV, you can certainly sort pennies and not miss anything. At the end of the year, you will have a bag of copper pennies (68lb = $100 face value) and a stack of wheat pennies. I see it as no incremental effort, because I do it slowly over time; no hurry to get the rejects back, I can carry $50 for for awhile. You won't get rich, but you will slowly build a copper inventory at very little cost or effort.

Sorry rainsonme, you must not have the kind of cents I get. If you sort 1 roll you need to wash your hands for 2 minutes. So doing so when you can take a bathroom break is not advisable by me anyway


Regarding the OP:

For $500 - I would still get the cents. You can just stick it in the garage if you don't want to sort now. And then as rainsonme says, you can break out a roll or two when you are watching TV (and have a bathroom readily available!)

When you get $25 in rejects you take them back to the bank and get another $25 to replace it.

Even at a slow pace in a few months you probably have the original $500 sorted and have a supply of $150 or so copper bought at face value and without using up "real time".

[Rosco]

For A buy of $500.00 I would buy 90% as close to Spot as you can I was able to buy some under spot at a Rock Show. Be in first thing at coin show an find some one for dimes under spot. buying loose coin buy 64 halves an quarters first then dimes. Or watch the buy sell here $500 is often available on the 90%. Stay away from 40% as you will loose selling to dealer, I sort an have 2 rolls of 40% that I'm holding for $50/ oz before I sell them

[scrapper2010]

I strongly agree with what beauanderos said about not letting it become work. If you enjoy sorting then the rest doesn't matter. Find what you like to do best by trying everything. I kind of stumbled upon this hobby myself a few months back, what led me to this forum is that I collect and recycle scrap metal and joined this forum for the scrap metal section. I just happened to start clicking on the precious metals section at first and upon lurking for a while became very interested in the subject. Since then I have sorted out about 15 boxes of pennies looking for wheats, errors, and of course copper. Then I started going to the banks and getting halves after reading the tracking threads and silver threads. Since November I have accumulated a good starter hoard of copper and about $8.00 face value in 90% silver and $15 face value in 40% silver. Since then I've been to the local coin shop several times and am looking out for upcoming coin shows to attend. I've also purchased a small amount of gold from someone here on realcent. I've enjoyed every minute of it so far and have never thought of it as work. Good luck and happy hunting.

[BamaJoe]

Face it.. despite fair prospects of price run-ups given hyperinflation, all three metals provide at best a chance to recoup some of the costs of the hobby, if you're lucky it will be "free." The question is, is it enjoyable? Don't let it become work.

That's the key - have fun with it. If it's work sorting boxes then find something else that works for you. I've bought monthly for a decade now. Have been sorting for just around a year. Started with pennies until I reached my goal and now sort halves for the silver. As much as a like to complain at times when I'm on a down streak I still enjoy it. The wife calls it my "therapy" after a long day at the office and when I come home worn out she'll tell me to go sort while she gets dinner ready.