And I thought U.S. Pennies were worthless...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

…well, more worthless than they already are, considering the overall depressed value of the American Dollar standard (I hope it doesn’t go the way of the Altarian Dollar, or the Triganic Ningi/Pu)

It turns out the base metal melt value of $100 in copper pennies (1909-1982 minting, 95% copper) is $223.52

the same $100 worth of “new” pennies (97.5% Zinc) is $61.90

All values from Coinflation dot com

NOTE melting down U.S. coinage for their base metal content is illegal, this is an informational post only

Just a breakdown of melt value for $1000 in each coin denomination

Copper Penny; $2,235.24
Zinc Penny; $619.03
Nickel '46-2010; $1,113.35
Dime '65-2010; $196.68
Quarter '65-2010; $196.68
Half Dollar '71-2010; $196.68
Dollar '71-78; $196.68
Dollar (Susan B. Anthony) '79-81; $70.24
Dollar (Sacagawea) 2000-2010; $58.83
Dollar (Presidential) 2007-2010; $58.83

Looks like it’s time to go through my change jar and separate out the copper pennies from the zinc pennies, and set up a nickel jar, the rest of the coinage isn’t worth storing, just spending

2

I’m a coin collector, and frequent several coin-collecting forums. There are a decent number of collectors who are hoarding pre-82 cents, in anticipation of the law being changed at some point in the future.

Joe

3

Technically we haven’t had a copper cent since 1863; it was struck in bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc to impruve durability) from 1864 until 1982. (Large cents, 1793-1857, were essentially pure copper; the initial flying eagle and early Indian head small cents were copper-nickel (88:12 ratio).)

4

Tell me about it. I’d love to find a buyer for the ones I have. Or at least some reasonable storage space.

5

The problem is that Triganic Ningi/Pu have a halfway decent melt value, but I haven’t figured out how to melt one yet.