Who else is keeping their pennies hoping it would be worth something someday?

[arreat89]

My mom wants to roll up $6 worth of pennies :|

[007craft]

They are so numerous and easy to obtain, that it will literately take about 80 years after they cut the penny for a single penny to be worth maybe the price of a 2090's chocolate bar. Not worth it. The fact that the US penny is staying, and our pennies will continue to circulate mixed in theirs, enforces this even further. Also, they are coins, not bills, so they physical wont get wrecked, just idling someplace carelessly.

You also need high denomination to make it worth something. If anything, invest in a crisp new $1000 bill now. In 40 years, those will probably be worth a ton of money.

[bman77]

They are already worth 1.5 cents

[chinesedevil]

trying to get rid of mine, waste of space and matter.

[Kasakato]

They are so numerous and easy to obtain, that it will literately take about 80 years after they cut the penny for a single penny to be worth maybe the price of a 2090's chocolate bar. Not worth it. The fact that the US penny is staying, and our pennies will continue to circulate mixed in theirs, enforces this even further. Also, they are coins, not bills, so they physical wont get wrecked, just idling someplace carelessly.

You also need high denomination to make it worth something. If anything, invest in a crisp new $1000 bill now. In 40 years, those will probably be worth a ton of money.

$1000 bills have not been printed for the last 12 years. A $1000 bill from the 1950s (ie 60 years later), may be worth $2000 in an un-circulated state.

[007craft]

$1000 bills have not been printed for the last 12 years. A $1000 bill from the 1950s (ie 60 years later), may be worth $2000 in an un-circulated state.

That 60 year old bill only doubled because in that 60 years, the $1000 bill has only been out of circulation for 12. 12 years ago, that 1950s bill was worth only $1000. 60 years after circulation end, a bill as rare as the $1000 then will surley be worth at least $10 000

[aaronl3e7]

I wanted to do something like this,

https://www.floorstoyourhome.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/1.jpg
http://manolohome.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/penny-floor-2.jpg
http://manolohome.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/paul-smith-penny-wall.jpg

I should probably head to the bank and get a couple hundred or so dollars worth of pennies, think they'd give me them?

[nalababe]

No...

Been there done that....

I have a whack of Hockey and Baseball cards from the 90's. Coins from the 80's and 90's...

I have sliver coins from the year of my birth (72).....and many from just before and after.

They are great souvenirs...but not more than that.

[ZenOps]

They are yours to keep if you wish. Every person in Canada should have $8 in nickels and $9 in pennies, that is the 150 year legacy that has been passed down to you to decide if you wish to keep a handful of it, otherwise it goes to Britain and the Crown, and they will surely re-sell it to China.

Every person back in 1963 had about 10 ounces of silver in dime, quarter, half dollar and dollar form. Some people kept less, some people kept more. Those who kept more than a couple shoeboxes of the old coins, could have retired on them easily. Each Canadian penny is worth about 2 to 2.5 cents.

http://www.coinflation.com/canada/

Which does not sound like much until you realize that copper is $8,500 per ton, and a ton of copper in solid block form being 47 cm x 47 cm x 47 cm. Nickel topped out at $46,000 per ton just a few years ago.

I mention nickel, because we also are producing the last nickel this year. The 2012 loonie and toonie are the last nickel coins that Canada will ever produce (the last pure nickel 5-cent nickel that Canada produced was in 1981) It is far too expensive to make a $1 and $2 coin with pure nickel at the current rate of inflation.

One should never forget the fact that a $100 box of nickel back in 1970 was trade equivalent to 40 barrels of oil (trade equivalent today to over $4,000) If we as a country or a global society ever decide to go back onto a metal standard, you would be very wise to keep some metals of any sort stashed away. If you are obsessive, even a bathtub or footstool sized block would be a serious investment that would rival a house. Personally I think its a much better investment than a house as well. The absolute worst investment is a car, which is basically a shiny painted, moveabale one ton brick of iron (Iron being $13 a ton back in 2002) that breaks down and needs to be replaced every 7 years or so.

http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/new-1-and-2-6800002

Save your nickels!

[appleb]

There must be billions of pennies out there, it is unlikely they will be worth anything more than their melt value.

I remember when I started collecting coins back in the early 90's, I would sort through all my pennies to look for the pointed 1985 variation. I found a few and they were worth $20 at the time, lol. Now... they are worthless (at least the circulated ones are).

http://www.coinsandcanada.com/coins-prices.php?coin=1-cent-1985&years=1-cent-1965-2012

[ZenOps]

Numismatic value is very low in Canada. We tend to be realists. So yes, melt value, but don't count out the melt value opportunity. Who knows, maybe you might need the one ton of nickel for some future application (like people need a ton of iron for a car frame).

US coins are the ones that go for insane amounts, because they arbitrarily print money (electronic money having no real value)

$1.38 million for a 1793 US penny: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/07/a-pretty-penny-1793-coin-fetches-1-38-million-at-florida-auction/

[anyasok]

I'll sell my piggybank of pennies for a bargain $1 million.

Any takers?

[a-tree]

I'll sell my piggybank of pennies for a bargain $1 million.

Any takers?

That's just silly.

[ZenOps]

I'll sell my piggybank of pennies for a bargain $1 million.

Any takers?

Is your real name "Kyle Bass"?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/297527-looking-for-an-alternative-to-gold-and-silver

"Bass has purchased $1 million worth of nickels. Bass took physical delivery of these 20 million five cent nickels. Bass’ thesis is relatively simple in that the U.S. mint will eventually change the composition of the five cent nickel due to the rising cost of materials. Bass, seeing money printing and currency debasement as a major issue, believes that physical nickels could provide a store of value. At a time when gold and silver remain pricey and volatile, investing in five cent nickels could provide an inflation hedge (with an embedded floor)"

Its an interesting investment choice. Really a no lose proposition for him, the nickels will always be mandated by the government to be at least $1 million, but they have the potential to be worth much much more. Gold and silver do not protect against deflation.

20 million nickels is a lot more compact than I think most people realize, it would be the size of about 5 refridgerators.

[feidailo]

Is your real name "Kyle Bass"?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/297527-looking-for-an-alternative-to-gold-and-silver

"Bass has purchased $1 million worth of nickels. Bass took physical delivery of these 20 million five cent nickels. Bass’ thesis is relatively simple in that the U.S. mint will eventually change the composition of the five cent nickel due to the rising cost of materials. Bass, seeing money printing and currency debasement as a major issue, believes that physical nickels could provide a store of value. At a time when gold and silver remain pricey and volatile, investing in five cent nickels could provide an inflation hedge (with an embedded floor)"

Its an interesting investment choice. Really a no lose proposition for him, the nickels will always be mandated by the government to be at least $1 million, but they have the potential to be worth much much more. Gold and silver do not protect against deflation.

20 million nickels is a lot more compact than I think most people realize, it would be the size of about 5 refridgerators.

thats not a bad idea...if u had $1,000,000 to throw around.

[ZenOps]

thats not a bad idea...if u had $1,000,000 to throw around.

Amazingly, pennies and nickels are accessable to everyone.

Just like silver dimes back in 1966 (Canada). If you had saved two boxes of silver dimes ($500 face value) it would be worth $10,000 today.

A 50 cent roll of copper pennies is about 5 troy ounces of copper, which is an amazing bargain from my viewpoint.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fETAG61wV4k

[dragon_drift]

my work place has a crapload of pennies...i guess they're gonna be rich by selling them to china :cheesygri

[ZenOps]

my work place has a crapload of pennies...i guess they're gonna be rich by selling them to china :cheesygri

You bet they are.

Really, a $25 box of pennies has about $65 worth of copper at todays spot values. What is lesser known, is that China allows levered borrowing against copper. Any larger bank understands fractional reserves, and usually lends at a 13:1 to 16:1 ratio.

Making that $25 box of pennies, be worth about $1,000 worth of lending power because it is a physical, fungible, fractionally lendable asset.

[stuntman]

You bet they are.

Really, a $25 box of pennies has about $65 worth of copper at todays spot values. What is lesser known, is that China allows levered borrowing against copper. Any larger bank understands fractional reserves, and usually lends at a 13:1 to 16:1 ratio.

Making that $25 box of pennies, be worth about $1,000 worth of lending power because it is a physical, fungible, fractionally lendable asset.

I was thinking BS! So I looked into it. I think this is about right:

Pennies made after 1996 are very little copper in them (<%5) so they are not worth looking at.
Pennies made between 1982-1996 were 98% copper and weighed 2.5grams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_%28Canadian_coin%29

2.5g/penny x 2500 pennies = 7000g = 15.4lbs

scrap copper is about $3.6/lbs

$25 of pennies = 15.4 x .98 x 3.6US dollars = $54.33 US Dollars

Seems a bit strange.....are people selling old Canadian pennies for scrap?

[ZenOps]

US pre-82 pennies are 3.11 grams, Canadian pre-79 pennies are 3.24 grams

In general though, its easiest to just go with 5 troy ounces per 50 cent roll if they are all copper (10 penniesx3.11g=31.1 grams, exactly one troy ounce)

So, about $40 of pure profit per box is definitely possible right now. There is even a chance you might find a "1909 S VDB" US penny (usually worth about $350) or the infamous Canadian 1936 "dot", worth maybe a few hundred thousand. But otherwise there are still plenty of pickers that are worth anywhere between a dime and a dollar to a collector.

[MrKap]

Apparently people sell coin cleaning kits along with bundles of ancient roman coins for about 100.00

http://www.dirtyoldcoins.com/shop/Uncleaned-Roman-Coins.html

Haven't bought a pack before, but they claim you might end up cleaning one which is worth more than what they handed over.

[DVDManiac]

I have about $500 worth of pennies, all sorted by year (I have OCD)...heavy, heavy, heavy!

[ZenOps]

Keep on stacking. As I mentioned before, each person in Canada should have about 900 pennies per person (27 billion pennies for 30 million Canadians)

While that might sound like a *lot* to some, remember.. Its only $9 per person worth of copper, zinc, and even a little bit of worthless iron. That might be enough to make *one* copper cooking pan.

Canadian pure nickels are even better, only 1.85 billion of those produced over a period of 50 years (which would work out to be one nickel for every person in China, if you had to pay them with something physical instead of imaginary electronic dollars)

For the entire of human history, metal has been used as money (pretty much right up until 1971) and even at that, coins have never been truely uprooted as a means of value storage and exchange.

[WildWolf]

I'm going to try to keep what I can. I loved the penny, it was a good saving currency. Only a Conservative can destroy things.