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July 26, 2007
Pennies are now worth 2.4 cents
The metal content of pre-1982 pennies is now worth about 2.4 cents with copper trading around $3.50 per pound. For pennies made after 1981, most of the copper has been replaced with zinc and they're worth only about 0.9 cents. The same situation applies to nickels - there's almost 7 cents worth of nickel in a nickel. If you're curious, you can check those prices here, based on current metal prices.
This has happened before. Before 1965, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollar coins all had 90% silver content. That's why it's fairly common to find 1965 dimes and quarters in your change but it's next to impossible to find 1964 or older versions of those coins - I've only found two and I've been on the lookout for 20 years. (The trick is to listen to your change - a silver quarter sounds a lot different than those of today). The value of 1964 and older silver coins is over 10 times the face value, in part because of the silver content and in part because people hoard them.
Anyway, back to pennies. Why not collect the coins, melt them down for their metal value, and make some money? Well, in December the U.S. Mint, which closely follows the price of copper and nickel, made it illegal to melt pennies and nickels. Exporting coins for melting also is illegal. Travelers may legally carry up to $5 in 1- and 5-cent coins out of the U.S. That's right - if you're heading down to Mexico with more than 10 rolls of pennies to buy your tequila and firecrackers, be prepared to face up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
Instead of building a smelt in your backyard to melt your pocket change, you could sell them to someone else. A $50 bag of 1981 pennies went for $87 on eBay today plus $15 for shipping - after all, a $50 bag of pennies weighs about 30 pounds.
I doubt most people are going to sort their change to pull out the 1981 and older pennies, though, unless copper prices really go up. After all, those CoinStar machines I see in the supermarket that charge 7 cents for every dollar to sort change are really popular.
Posted by brian at July 26, 2007 10:05 AM
Comments
Heh heh. Now I don't have to go steal copper wire from all the new homes being built around here. Seriously, though, I never would have thought of this. Maybe I will put my kid to work rolling pennies!!
Posted by: damage at July 31, 2007 05:02 PM