Poll: Saving Jefferson 5c vs. .999 nickels

[Recyclersteve]

There was a poll on this site years ago asking people about whether or not they save 75% copper/25% nickel Jefferson nickels. The poll was done in December, 2010- almost 9 years ago. Silver was in the midst of that big move that took it up to $49+. Lots else has changed since then- for instance Cryptocurrency didn’t really exist back then- not to any big degree.

So it is time to revive the poll. I will say that my own personal answers are different now from what they would have been in 2010. Comments below (and your votes, of course) are much appreciated.

[68Camaro]

The poll might be interesting, but it's more interesting when there is a definitive argument to be made. The argument for US nickels is far weaker now.

The utility of saving US nickels really all depends on two things - the price of elemental nickel, and the relative state of the economy. In 2010 the US nickel was the second of only two coins (with the copper cent, which was a minority coin, having to be sorted for) that was worth more in constituent value than it's face, and the only one that was still available at face without sorting. Together with the significant risk of economic collapse during the 2008-2012 period especially, stocking some boxes of nickels made at least a little sense. I personally stored 18 $100 boxes for a number of years.

Now, the price of nickel is depressed - which makes other risk reduction choices arguably better. Several years ago I opened the boxes I had saved and sorted them for war nicks and buffs and just for the heck of it to fill out a modern nickel circulating coin collection, and then dumped the rest and bought gold and silver instead at a time when both had bottomed. I'm ahead for having done that. I can always go back and buy a few more boxes if I hear the US is changing or eliminating the nickel.

[John Reich]

I also saved US nickels in the 2008 to 2015 period and had about $2000 face when I started cashing them in. I cashed them all in in 2015 and converted the money into gold and silver. I'm happy I did--both to eliminate the bulk and because of the increase in PM prices. I still hang on to my .999 Canadian nickels, but only find one or two a year since I quit sorting nickels.

I'm not sure if I would save them in the future even if the metal value exceeded the face value again for a couple reasons. First, If the melt ban is lifted what kind of discount to metal value will you have to accept because of the copper-nickel alloy? Second, I would rather have 5 copper pennies for face rather than one nickel.

I'm still hand sorting a few dollars face in pennies each week because I find it relaxing and enjoyable, but I'm definitely not doing it for profit! For insurance against an economic collapse or for a "wealth insurance policy" I find gold and silver to be more suited to my needs at this time.

[coppernickel]

I'm a bit more careful about saving change recently. I am not actively sorting, just what I get in change.

Copper cents and Jefferson nickels all get saved.
Zinc cents in uncirculated condition get saved. Right now they was nearly as valuable, percentage wise, as nickels.
Better quarters also get rolled and saved. Mostly for their copper content, but also change of all kinds are getting scarce.

Everything else is put into the bin, the plan is to cash it in, sometime?

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

Only the older Canadian nickels and French Francs for me. Gotta be around 50-60lbs of them in total.

[Silver4face]

I felt compelled to revive this old thread because a lot has changed since the last post which was three years ago. Melt values of both the Jefferson and the .999 nickels have gone up significantly. Melt value of a Jefferson is now almost 8 cents while the Melt value of a .999 is now 15 cents. Also, .999 nickels were scarce three years ago, but are much scarcer now. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., you have banks ACTIVELY participating in the so called coin shortage. Therefore, you have people hoarding large quantities without any preference either way. You can go to a bank and invest a 20 bill and instantly have 400 Jeffersons in a few minutes. Would take a long time to accumulate 400 .999 nickels. As for me, I would prefer buying .999 for face (obviously!), but Jeffersons are much more practical. Also I am wondering if the poll should be reopened.

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

I felt compelled to revive this old thread because a lot has changed since the last post which was three years ago. Melt values of both the Jefferson and the .999 nickels have gone up significantly. Melt value of a Jefferson is now almost 8 cents while the Melt value of a .999 is now 15 cents. Also, .999 nickels were scarce three years ago, but are much scarcer now. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., you have banks ACTIVELY participating in the so called coin shortage. Therefore, you have people hoarding large quantities without any preference either way. You can go to a bank and invest a 20 bill and instantly have 400 Jeffersons in a few minutes. Would take a long time to accumulate 400 .999 nickels. As for me, I would prefer buying .999 for face (obviously!), but Jeffersons are much more practical. Also I am wondering if the poll should be reopened.

I wished I had be able to get more CA .999 while they were available, but I was concentrating more on pennies and silver at that time.

Most of the big banks (BoA, Wells, TD) are hesitant to give you more than a few rolls of coin. My credit union has NEVER given me any type of pushback requesting penny or nickels, but I'm paying $7 extra per box. Periodic donut visits help a lot

[JerrySpringer]

For value:weight ratio, the nickel beats out the cent. A 1980 nickel weighs 5 grams and has about 8 cents metal value as 4/15/22. That is a 1.6:1 ratio. A 1980 cent coincidentally has about 3.11 cents worth of copper ( zinc value is negligible) for a 3.11 gram weighted coin. So almost a perfect 1:1 ratio. The nickel beats out the cent if you are considering weight to haul around. Cost-wise with face value, the cent is right now beating the nickel by almost a 2 to 1 amount ( 311% vs. 160 % via coinflation data). If you have unlimited storage space and carrying ability to haul coins from one spot to another, the cent beats out the nickel.

I don't what it is, but the fact that these base metal coins are a screaming hoarder bargain doesn't exactly not bother me. Maybe it is because people see real estate and crypto as the things to chase du jour. I am bothered that if some tik tok generation influencer starts blabbing about copper and nickel being where it is at, that will create a bank run of ruinous results.

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

I don't what it is, but the fact that these base metal coins are a screaming hoarder bargain doesn't exactly not bother me. Maybe it is because people see real estate and crypto as the things to chase du jour. I am bothered that if some tik tok generation influencer starts blabbing about copper and nickel being where it is at, that will create a bank run of ruinous results.

Real estate prices will begin to sag due to increasing interest rates and high inflation.

The "get rich quick" FOMO period for cryptos is basically over. If/when the government hands out more free cash, maybe crypto speculation will ramp up again. Cryptos main drawback is it cannot exist without the internet and electricity.

I'm actually glad the price of nickel came back down (via LME fraud) because it gives us more time to accumulate without increased competition. I'll need a forklift to move all of it

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

It's been about 1 year since I've greatly increased my nickel hoarding efforts.

I've gone through close to 80 boxes thus far...

Plenty of pre-60's, war and buffalo's, but not one 999 Canadian nickel. Lots of post-1982s though.

Isn't that weird.

[Recyclersteve]

I didn’t want to skew the results of the poll when I created this thread, but I can say it now. I had $1,700 in face value in Jefferson nickels in storage that I took to the bank in 2017 or perhaps earlier. Then I found another container perhaps a few months ago that was sealed shut which I finally was able to open. It had another $90 in nickels. Again, back to the bank.

Don’t worry, I checked all the coins for war nickels, Buffalos and good dates.

I still have a bunch of .999 nickels, mostly Canadian, but also from the Netherlands, France, So. Africa, etc.

[cwgii]

I really have no idea how much I have.
I sort all my keepers, pre 63 to the date and mint mark.

That said.I have boxes and boxes that are not full. Denver's in this box, Phillies over there.

Since most of the s.f. are lower mintages. That box is somewhat less.

The wars...reside in the house.

My CDN...I keep in the house also..leaving the steel out in my travel trailer/ man cave, sorting area as ,,,bait,,,.

[frugi]

I was actively buying over a 1000 dollars a month in canadian .999 nickels from a dealer in the midwest and reselling them on ebay for 5x my investment. I was selling them here too to several long time friends/members. the bottom fell out while i still was holding a bunch. i probably still have several thousand dollars in canadian nickels. i have piles of .999 and also all those I sorted out that were not .999 nickel, i never sold any of those, just pile em up, i probably have several hundred pounds of wartime steel. The deal i had with the guy was I was buying his leftovers after he pulled out all the King George V, and earlier. He sold me everything else, which frequently was pre1981, so for the most part I rarely had to sort any of it, and the only reason i did was to seperate out the King VI's, young queens, old queens, steelies, etc. That is all in my past. I no longer have a relationship with that dealer. I was buying cents and nickels from him, he was a national dealer, and our relationship lasted a good 15-20 years before he caught on and realized what I was doing. He still deals in major volume, but now he sells all that canadian cents and nickels online himself, he cut me off around 2021. Pity actually. But is what it is. No worries. Ive moved on to bigger and better things and honestly I have not time for sorting anymore and nowhere to put it all. Im stuffed to the rafters.

[Recyclersteve]

I was actively buying over a 1000 dollars a month in canadian .999 nickels from a dealer in the midwest and reselling them on ebay for 5x my investment. I was selling them here too to several long time friends/members. the bottom fell out while i still was holding a bunch. i probably still have several thousand dollars in canadian nickels. i have piles of .999 and also all those I sorted out that were not .999 nickel, i never sold any of those, just pile em up, i probably have several hundred pounds of wartime steel. The deal i had with the guy was I was buying his leftovers after he pulled out all the King George V, and earlier. He sold me everything else, which frequently was pre1981, so for the most part I rarely had to sort any of it, and the only reason i did was to seperate out the King VI's, young queens, old queens, steelies, etc. That is all in my past. I no longer have a relationship with that dealer. I was buying cents and nickels from him, he was a national dealer, and our relationship lasted a good 15-20 years before he caught on and realized what I was doing. He still deals in major volume, but now he sells all that canadian cents and nickels online himself, he cut me off around 2021. Pity actually. But is what it is. No worries. Ive moved on to bigger and better things and honestly I have not time for sorting anymore and nowhere to put it all. Im stuffed to the rafters.

Frugi:

What year(s) were you buying and what were you paying back then?

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

I was actively buying over a 1000 dollars a month in canadian .999 nickels from a dealer in the midwest and reselling them on ebay for 5x my investment. I was selling them here too to several long time friends/members. the bottom fell out while i still was holding a bunch. i probably still have several thousand dollars in canadian nickels. i have piles of .999 and also all those I sorted out that were not .999 nickel, i never sold any of those, just pile em up, i probably have several hundred pounds of wartime steel. The deal i had with the guy was I was buying his leftovers after he pulled out all the King George V, and earlier. He sold me everything else, which frequently was pre1981, so for the most part I rarely had to sort any of it, and the only reason i did was to seperate out the King VI's, young queens, old queens, steelies, etc. That is all in my past. I no longer have a relationship with that dealer. I was buying cents and nickels from him, he was a national dealer, and our relationship lasted a good 15-20 years before he caught on and realized what I was doing. He still deals in major volume, but now he sells all that canadian cents and nickels online himself, he cut me off around 2021. Pity actually. But is what it is. No worries. Ive moved on to bigger and better things and honestly I have not time for sorting anymore and nowhere to put it all. Im stuffed to the rafters.

My local LCS guy did the same thing to me. I wasn't buying .999 Ca nickels in your size, but it definitely sucks when your LCS cuts
long-time customer relationship in order to squeeze out every penny of profit he can from others. That's just business I guess.

The same thing happened to me buying older foreign copper coins. I have about 75bs of old British and Mexican coppers... all culled from LCS junk bins.

[Doctor Steuss]

The same thing happened to me buying older foreign copper coins. I have about 75bs of old British and Mexican coppers... all culled from LCS junk bins.

I love those old (big) British coppers. Such beautiful coins.

[Silver4face]

The same thing happened to me buying older foreign copper coins. I have about 75bs of old British and Mexican coppers... all culled from LCS junk bins.

I love those old (big) British coppers. Such beautiful coins.

I have over 1000 of those. I love 'em too.

[Silver4face]

I was actively buying over a 1000 dollars a month in canadian .999 nickels from a dealer in the midwest and reselling them on ebay for 5x my investment. I was selling them here too to several long time friends/members. the bottom fell out while i still was holding a bunch. i probably still have several thousand dollars in canadian nickels. i have piles of .999 and also all those I sorted out that were not .999 nickel, i never sold any of those, just pile em up, i probably have several hundred pounds of wartime steel. The deal i had with the guy was I was buying his leftovers after he pulled out all the King George V, and earlier. He sold me everything else, which frequently was pre1981, so for the most part I rarely had to sort any of it, and the only reason i did was to seperate out the King VI's, young queens, old queens, steelies, etc. That is all in my past. I no longer have a relationship with that dealer. I was buying cents and nickels from him, he was a national dealer, and our relationship lasted a good 15-20 years before he caught on and realized what I was doing. He still deals in major volume, but now he sells all that canadian cents and nickels online himself, he cut me off around 2021. Pity actually. But is what it is. No worries. Ive moved on to bigger and better things and honestly I have not time for sorting anymore and nowhere to put it all. Im stuffed to the rafters.

My local LCS guy did the same thing to me. I wasn't buying .999 Ca nickels in your size, but it definitely sucks when your LCS cuts
long-time customer relationship in order to squeeze out every penny of profit he can from others. That's just business I guess.

The same thing happened to me buying older foreign copper coins. I have about 75bs of old British and Mexican coppers... all culled from LCS junk bins.

You were wise to cull them. Keep in mind that the old British ones, especially 1952 and back ARE WORTH FAR MORE THAN MELT. Keep them separate from your copper hoard.

[frugi]

I was actively buying over a 1000 dollars a month in canadian .999 nickels from a dealer in the midwest and reselling them on ebay for 5x my investment. I was selling them here too to several long time friends/members. the bottom fell out while i still was holding a bunch. i probably still have several thousand dollars in canadian nickels. i have piles of .999 and also all those I sorted out that were not .999 nickel, i never sold any of those, just pile em up, i probably have several hundred pounds of wartime steel. The deal i had with the guy was I was buying his leftovers after he pulled out all the King George V, and earlier. He sold me everything else, which frequently was pre1981, so for the most part I rarely had to sort any of it, and the only reason i did was to seperate out the King VI's, young queens, old queens, steelies, etc. That is all in my past. I no longer have a relationship with that dealer. I was buying cents and nickels from him, he was a national dealer, and our relationship lasted a good 15-20 years before he caught on and realized what I was doing. He still deals in major volume, but now he sells all that canadian cents and nickels online himself, he cut me off around 2021. Pity actually. But is what it is. No worries. Ive moved on to bigger and better things and honestly I have not time for sorting anymore and nowhere to put it all. Im stuffed to the rafters.

Frugi:

What year(s) were you buying and what were you paying back then?

I was buying whatever he had for sale (being under the assumption they were 1936 and later), while some were pre 1936, and some were dated in the 2000's, the vast majority were pre 1981. I was paying $1.00 in US dollars for $1.00 in Canadian face (20 five cent coins). He owns a coin and currency exchange and gets large amounts of coinage. He was buying huge amounts everyday of all nation's coins and currencies and paying his standard exchange rate., SO he was making money anyway selling to me at face. I was also buying Canadian one cent coins, at one point he started telling me he wanted $2.00/lb for the Canadian cents. In the beginning the one cent coins were unsearched and I was getting King V ones, and rare dates, and great stuff, then he started searching them and pulling out all the King V ones, and then at some point told me to expedite the process and cover additional costs he wanted $2.00/lb. which at the time I thought was fair, it didnt amount to much more over face, so I obliged. Then after a couple years of that he (secretly) started removing the young King ones and after awhile I began to notice there was substantially less of those and confronted him about it, and he denies removing them, but he doesnt know I know his eBay seller ID, and see that he now sells them on eBay. That was the beginning of my mistrust in him. Over time he began to call me less and less to tell me he has stuff for me. At present he calls me about twice a year to shoot the bull and mentions he is setting stuff aside for me, but is always too busy to meet up.

[frugi]

edit,,, 1937 & later. lol

[Recyclersteve]

Frugi, thx much for the detailed response. I too was paying.05 cents U.S. for .999 Canadian nickels and got several hundred pounds worth. Occasionally I got an even better deal. I remember an out-of-state dealer (may have bought by the pound) who sold a bunch to me at about 3.6 cents each.

[frugi]

3.6 cents each is a great deal. honestly i wouldnt buy at this point myself even at that killer price. like i said im stuffed to my ceilings literally. i regret not continuing my relationship with my guy but, just the same, i have nowhere to put the stuff. i should call him and ask to start buying again. the prices were fair. i really dont want him to find someone else to unload his "crap" on. I liked being his crap guy. I got some other great deals from him over the years as well. One time I got about 5 pounds of chinese cash coins from him for around $100.00, and some of them turned out to be really rare, and a few were silver. Another time he offered me a pile of "junk" he called it which weighed over 10 lbs. and was full of colonial coppers and medieval coins, i still have a bunch of those coins from that deal in my personal collection. He was good to me. In some ways he did me wrong, but for the most part he did me good, and we are friends. Lately though I have been so busy being an auctioneer and buying entire estates (full houses), that I just dont have time to do anything else. Im in the middle of cleaning out a big house full of hand tools that i bought for practically nothing, and I'm going to go bid on another house full this week. there is a surplus at the moment of people needing to get rid of stuff, and few buyers, so Im just stacking everything in my house. its got to the point in my house where almost every inch of my space is packed with stuff, under tables, under couches, behind bookcases, shelves full in front of shelves full, curio cabinets full in front of full curio cabinets, full tool boxes stacked on top of each other to the ceiling, piles of cast iron skillets, piles of fishing tackle boxes, and on and on and on.... my cars in the driveway are packed full, even in the drivers seat, i dont evcen drive them, my backyard is getting packed full too..... its getting very much out of control.... Im actually getting a second house soon so, Ill have more room to move the best stuff and run some in person auctions at my current house and get rid of a bunch of stuff so I can narrow everything down and just focus on a few things..

[Recyclersteve]

Frugi: it sounds like you have an abundance of all kinds of stuff. I personally would be either having a garage sale or making lots of trips to Goodwill. I do remember settling out an estate ca. 2010. I filled up a U-Haul truck twice and the local Goodwill finally told me they couldn’t take anymore. So I had the truck sit in the street in front of the house with the back open and a sign which said “Free”. You should have seen the people who came out of the woodwork to get the freebies. Even an old floor standing tube style TV was disassembled for parts. It was really a sight to see!

[frugi]

when i buy the contents of a home, the first thing I do is get a 40 yard dumpster delivered. that is where i put all the stuff that would go to goodwill if that was to be the case. i dont take home junk or stuff that I would EVER give away for free. I also typically dont take any furniture, I send it all to the dump or sell it outright from the house, it never comes home to me. I buy the contents of homes before there was ever an estate sale or such. I buy this stuff with the intention of reselling to make profit. The bulk of what I have in my home is coins, tools, fishing gear, scrap metal, weapons, (good) books, military and camping gear, cast iron, medical equipment, musical instruments. Everything I brought home was meticulously planned out in advance. Im not a junk hauler. If a house doesnt have stuff I want, I dont make an offer. I walk away from 90% of the houses I go see. Pretty much my rule is if there isnt guns, gold or silver, im not interested. Im not one of those folks who someone would pay to haul away stuff, in fact I have people I occasionally pay to haul away junk from these homes after I have removed all the "good" stuff.