# I had no idea tin was this valuable! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591 "2008-06-03T05:06:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/1 "2008-06-03T05:06:50Z")
[Wow!](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7408165.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/2 "2008-06-03T11:18:39Z")
Yup, as non-precious metals go, it’s about the leader, about $25k per ton. [cite](http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/05/29/tin039s-skyrocketing-price-indonesian-success-story.html0) ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/3 "2008-06-03T15:13:47Z")
I really have Sn’othing else to say. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/4 "2008-06-03T15:22:32Z")
Copper is getting expensive, too. People steal wires from street lights to sell to recyclers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/5 "2008-06-04T05:01:07Z")
I have an evil plan fr moneymaking that might not get me (and any companions) thrown in jail! Taking AmTrak to Chicago, I noticed that, along the right-of-way, are LOOONG abandonded phone lines, on little poles that almost look like jokes. Nobody is looking after these, so it’s just possible that they could be removed without anyone caring. I even sideways queried a conductor on the train about this, and he kind of said it wouldn’t much matter, until he realized what I was _really_ asking and dummied up. Hundreds of pounds of copper @ $3/pound…mmmm Organized groups of thieves have been hitting around here, stealing all the copper pipes from vacant or foreclosed homes, causing some serious damage. It pays enough to be worth it, apparently. Sometimes they even steal heat pumps and air conditioners from _occupied_ homes! But these old phone lines are _abandoned_, and look like they have been for…decades. Forty, fifty years, maybe more. And I don’t think the crime gangs have noticed yet. ---
**Author:** ![krisolov](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krisolov/32/3724_2.png) [@krisolov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krisolov)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/6 "2008-06-04T13:43:46Z")
copper theft is a real pain in the telecom field. I have had HVAC units ripped apart for the copper piping, ground busses stolen, and attendant damage to doors and fences in gaining access. We’re putting cameras at some sites, but it’s really only to deter thefts, as these folks almost never get caught. They do some pretty expensive damage for the small amounts of copper they get. I seem to recall that there have been some deaths in the past year from people going into substations to try to steal live electrical wires. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/7 "2008-06-04T13:51:43Z")
Just about every week there is an item or two in the local police blotter about copper rain gutters and downspouts being stolen from buildings, often older churches. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/8 "2008-06-04T14:16:06Z")
If they crucified the thieves on the street corners, this kind of theft would vanish overnight. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/9 "2008-06-04T14:21:59Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] If they crucified the thieves on the street corners, this kind of theft would vanish overnight. [/QUOTE] Depends on what the pegs were made of… ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/10 "2008-06-04T14:38:55Z")
In the past years in the Netherlands, quite a few bronze statues, have been ripped at night from their pedestals in parcs and streets, apparently to be melted. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, so the two priciest metals mentioned in this thread. To make a quick buck, these statues are apparently worth more to thieves to melt, then to sell on the black market as art-object. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/11 "2008-06-04T15:22:49Z")
When tin mining is made a crime, only criminals will mine tin. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-had-no-idea-tin-was-this-valuable/451591/12 "2008-06-04T16:25:13Z")
I’ve heard od people trying to steal electric-train wires: ZAP!