Pennies

[Acala]

I have a friend

I have a friend, who is not me, who wants to melt down his copper pennies and get rid of any pesky zinc or other alloying materials. I warned him that this is expressly against the law, but he just will not listen.

So, anyone know HOW to remove any alloying metals while melting pennies?

 

[JSutter]

Don't burn down your house.

Most people don't even smelt copper anymore, they use an electric plating method to make plates or ingots.

 

[Gideon]

I like pennies

1959-1982 95% Copper Lincoln pennies for sale by the roll , box, or by the pound. PM me for more info.

How were they sorted?

I am currently sitting on a few thousand unsorted pennies, and sorting by hand can be not only laborious, but heavy-metal toxic.

Thanks,

Gideon

 

[adam1mc]

Uhhhh. nickels are the only coins currently being made that have a melt value equal or greater than face value. the old copper pennies' melt value is twice face. Smart people realize these as a great value and save them or actively convert there FRN's into these. Why do you think the mint has issued a ban on melting or exporting only pennies and nickels.

Sure I might disparage them to the public but I hope to save as many as possible before everyone else gets on board. So go ahead and hate on them, while I collect them. Very soon the mint will put a stop to this. Get them while you can. They already changed the penny and will soon change the nickel.

Yeah pennies and nickels SUCK (the government says). down with the penny and nickel. don't make them for us any more! WE don't want them.

sarcasm mode off.

seriously folks get to hoarding. uhhh, no don't as that will mean more for me!

Oh yeah, you will have to hold onto them until the melt ban is lifted, but that time wiil come eventually. You just have to be patient.

and its a can't lose proposition. They will not likely ever be worth less than 0.01 or 0.05.

Please explain about the nickels. I didn't think nickels contained any silver.

 

[seapilot]

A pre 1982 penny (2 cents copper) has the same intrinsic value as a 2005 100 dollar bill(2 cents paper and ink production cost). The nickles intrinsic value is worth twice as much. www.coinflation.com

Wont be long before we see a 500 dollar bill. A 50 is easy to make change nowadays with most stores and soon the 100 will be too by summer 2009. A 500 dollar bill will be the greeting sign that says welcome to hyperinflation!

 

[JSutter]

How were they sorted?''

I have an electronic coin comparator that checks each coin for it's electronic signature and either accepts or rejects it. 95% copper pennies conduct electricity way better than the zinc ones so the signatures are totally different. It runs through them at the rate of about 300 coins per minute or roughly 10 minutes to sort a box. I can sort $400 in a day easy. The hard part is collecting that many to sort then taking the zincs back to the bank. Lucky for me I found a bank that lets me use their coinstar for free as long as I have my checking account with them.

 

[JSutter]

Please explain about the nickels. I didn't think nickels contained any silver.

Nickels from 1946-present are 75% copper and 25% nickel both of which are steadily going up in value. a nickel is worth 6.6 cents in metal right now. if you're going to buy boxes of nickels find a bank that gets new nickels straight from the mint and buy those. Every once in a while the mint messes up and error coins get released and you might get lucky and have some in your boxes.

Also the "War Nickels" from 1942-1945 were 35% silver, 56% copper, 9% manganese and are worth $1.01 each now. They have rather large mintmarks above the dome of Monticello on the back.