PRICE OF COPPER KEEPS RISING

[wavysteps2003]

I do not know how many of you saw that it now takes 0.0126 to make a cent and that is not the only denomination that is in trouble; the nickel now cost more than it is worth to make.

With copper prices in the $3.85 range (went up to over $4.00 a pound for a bit) how long will it take before some whippersnapper of a young congress person decides to draft a bill to stop the production of the Lincoln cent because it cost to much to make !!!!!!

Also, another scarey thought is that if copper prices go up another $0.50, the Lincoln cent dated before 1982 (yes and also some in that year) will have a melt down value of $0.03. Do I hear thunder in the distances or is it the roar of bellowing furances being heated up to do the penny in?

You all have a good one

WAVYSTEPS2003

[rollmeupabe]

That is why I am sitting on 100,000 wheaties waiting to sell. Some fools will start to pay 10 cents per penny in the hysteria that may follow soon.

[murphy]

It seems to me like the mint is putting out a lot of pennies this year, but the only indications of this is the amount of new cents that I've been getting from local banks. In 2005, it was April before I saw a new cent from the banks and supply was very thin until about July, when cents suddenly became plentiful. This year 2006 cents became readily available here in early January and since then the supply has been rather constant. If this continues until the end of November*, we could have a record number of pennies produced this year.
I'm wondering if the people at the Mint have been thinking and are producing more pennies now in case there is a run to melt those pre-1982 cents in the near future.

*-Banks get in a lot of rolled cents from customers starting around Thanksgiving and don't need to order pennies from the Fed, so I don't think the Mint produces cents during the Christmas season.

[Gabe]

I have been saving all my 1982 copper and pre 1982 memorial cents for the past months. I have about 10 in face value, I know it is not much, but it is a start. I wish I would have started saving these copper cents a couple of years ago.

[coop]

Go ahead and melt those crappy, scratched, green what ever on them, dirty and just plain ugly Cents. It drives the price on BU coins with a reduction of the CRAPP (double load) that makes them even more desireable.

[smed]

I've got about a bag of wheaties (almost no MM prior to 1950 and almost no coins dated before 1930) and a bag of UNC 1981 memorials... 70 pounds of copper waiting to be sold.

Plus I've got about 70-80 pounds of world junk, I bet half of that is bronze/brass...

[Earwig]

Wow i gunna sit on mine i got 17 mint sewn bag pre 82 6 50.00 bags og wheats and thousands of bu rolls. Guess sittin on them aint a bad idea and i will have years worth of searchin lol

Eric