Looking for copper cents?

[Dick]

check this link:
http://portlandmint.com/products.php

[smed]

Since they can't legally be melted down, what's the sense of buying?

[eagames]

Maybe when they stop making cents then it will be legal to melt them. Maybe holding onto a hoard for 3-4 years will pay back 300-400%.

The question is when will that happen and how many do you want to keep.

I try to spend them, keep them working.

[Dick]

When I first joined the forum, I was buying a box of cents every week. Later I slowed down and only got two a month. Much later, I got into Canadian small cents, and needed some extra cash. There went all the zincs. I still have 40, or 50 boxes left, and Living in a mobile home, I worry about the structural strength of the flooring. I can't stick them out in the shed, because there is no gate on the park, and I don't trust some of the "folks" who come in and out, as tho they lived here. So I have a dog, and some cameras. There are at least 15 boxes that have never been checked. I'll get to them, one of these days.....so there are more that I thought.

[smed]

All I have is a $50 mint bag of 1981-P cents. I shouldn't have opened it, but I wanted to check for major errors.

I didn't find any...

[Dick]

"Curiosity killed the cat", and spoiled a "mint sealed bag"! LOL

But, then how many have actually gone , un-noticed, in un-opened bags?

[coppercoins]

There's no certainty that the law regarding not melting cents will be repealed if and when the cent is pulled from circulation.

Basically the only way to profit from these is to either break the law and have them smelted or to sell them to someone else who has the pipe dream of selling them as copper melt.

I am completely off that bus.

[mojaveblue]

Dick,
I had seen that website before and was itching to buy 60 lbs, but only partly for the copper, mostly for the idea of how many errors could be in there. I never jumped for it, and I bet the coins would be in pretty bad shape due to handling and storage.
Still....

My mobilehome has lots of room underneath the floor, but is a pain to access, and then again even in So Cal the weather wouldnt be good without real good packaging.

Phil

[smed]

[Dick]

O.T. Phil, that is right. Then take the leakls that happen under the 'Trailer'. They can be nasty. then if one had a false floor in the mobilehome, (can't be seen haukling boxes of coins all over the yard), then it might be easier. Just load the boxes on the metal frame, between the floor jiosts, and you are done. I wonder how many "false floors" would be necessary? HMMMMM?
Regarding the box of 68 lbs. of cents, I wonder if they are 'unsearched"? From some of those i have gotten in the past, it might be worth the risk. if not, they can always be turned into the bank, (preferably, not your regular bank)! I imagine they would be shipped UPS, or FEDEX/ I'd hate to thing of that littl gal that delivers my mail, trying to handle a box that heavy!

[supaplums]

Smed, about a year ago, I sold about $150 worth of unc 1980, 1981, and 1982 pennies on eBay and got about two times face value. You should have seen the post office when I came in with 3 heavily taped $10.35 flat rate boxes that weighed about 69 lbs each. "up to 70lbs. If it fits, it ships". Haha! Got my money's worth there.

[supaplums]

Sorry it was about $300 face value by the way.

[coop]

I had a box of 150 rolls shipped before the 70 LB limit. It was very heavy. A large number of the tubes were broken and I had to sort them back into tubes.

[Dick]

I have put three boxes of cents in a flat rate box, and yes, lots of tape.
That's how I used to get my "P" cents. only thing bad, is that half og the boxes incoming, were "D", so i gave up on that.