# Investing In Copper?



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Here's your chance to own 1 million pre 1983 copper pennies, face value - $10,000, for only $25,000. 

Yes, copper will probably increase in value. But 1 million pennies? :scratch


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Umm ... no.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

The per-ounce value of copper present in copper pennies is $0.0192296.

One-million copper pennies are worth $19229.60 for the copper value. Not a good deal! Even with the zinc value added in they would be worth only $19493.40. Still not a good deal. (Unless you're selling them at that price.)

http://www.coinflation.com/coins/1909-1982-Lincoln-Cent-Penny-Value.html


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

He won't ship! That alone would be a nightmare.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Dean said:


> He won't ship! That alone would be a nightmare.


Ain't that the truth. 7000 lbs.


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## kyfarmer (Feb 22, 2009)

I have invested in a lot of copper, but it's wrapped around a lead core.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

kyfarmer said:


> I have invested in a lot of copper, but it's wrapped around a lead core.


Right on!!!!!:2thumb::2thumb:


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## allen_idaho (Oct 21, 2009)

No teflon tip?


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

I like copper, it is used in the mfg. of bronze. I sell bronze for a living and have done quite well at it. I am a commissioned salesman so I make more money for less or the same ammount of work when the price is up. I do question the ammount of copper in a penny,:scratch several years ago they began adding zinc to the alloy in an effort to drive the cost down.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

sailaway said:


> I like copper, it is used in the mfg. of bronze. I sell bronze for a living and have done quite well at it. I am a commissioned salesman so I make more money for less or the same ammount of work when the price is up. I do question the ammount of copper in a penny,:scratch several years ago they began adding zinc to the alloy in an effort to drive the cost down.


These amounts were for "Lincoln" pennies made between 1909 - 1982. I believe the copper content was higher then.


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## kyfarmer (Feb 22, 2009)

allen_idaho said:


> No teflon tip?


There are tips for Sunday,Monday,Tuesday some for every day of the week. One must dress properly to do a job well. :2thumb:


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

mosquitomountainman said:


> These amounts were for "Lincoln" pennies made between 1909 - 1982. I believe the copper content was higher then.


Yea, I bought my 1909 S VDB penny in 1977 for $300.00 and sold it in 2003 for $1,700.00. There was alot more copper in pennies back then. I'd still have that penny today if I didn't get a wife in 2002.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

No kidding!?

I have one of those penny "books" that run from 1909-1958. It's completely filled except for the 1909 S VDB. Guess I know why now.


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

UncleJoe said:


> No kidding!?
> 
> I have one of those penny "books" that run from 1909-1958. It's completely filled except for the 1909 S VDB. Guess I know why now.


Uncle Joe, you can get one for alot less than that at a coin show, but in my youth I was a good adult child of an alcohalic and mine had to be perfect. I mowed lawns, did odd jobs and delivered newspapers all summer to get that penny.


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## dnsnthegrdn (Jun 29, 2011)

Not all 1982 pennies are solid copper. The copper pennies will weigh 3.1 grams while the zinc cored pennies weigh 2.5 grams.


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## Cahri (Feb 18, 2011)

UncleJoe said:


> Here's your chance to own 1 million pre 1983 copper pennies, face value - $10,000, for only $25,000.
> 
> Yes, copper will probably increase in value. But 1 million pennies? :scratch


Here copper is always a target for thieves, I think I'll pass


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## slick (Apr 11, 2011)

I bought a 5 kilo bar from tacoma copper just for the heck of it, its polished up nice and on a stand.. Cya Slick


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## efbjr (Oct 20, 2008)

*Good buy...*



sailaway said:


> Yea, I bought my 1909 S VDB penny in 1977 for $300.00 and sold it in 2003 for $1,700.00. There was alot more copper in pennies back then. I'd still have that penny today if I didn't get a wife in 2002.


You bought a wife for a penny! Wow...What a deal! :2thumb: I got married 30 years ago and I'm still paying!


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## efbjr (Oct 20, 2008)

Cahri said:


> Here copper is always a target for thieves, I think I'll pass


So is aluminum. Came home to my apartment building and saw two techs working in the cell phone equipment building attached to the main building (we have 3 cell systems operating off of the roof...no problem with signal strength here! :2thumb: ) Seems that some low-lifes stole all the aluminum ground wire attached to the structure. Couldn't have been more than 15-20 pounds worth, but a major pain to replace! :gaah:


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## power (May 7, 2011)

Seems like investing in copper would not be a winning investment. The price isn't high enough. It takes quite a bit of room to keep enough to make it worth while. Any amount not mounting to tons would not be worth the effort. With tons you would need a safe place to store it.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

I invested in copper several years ago. Currently I have in stock 1 – 3’ x 8’ sheet of .032 and one 3’ x 8’ of 16 gauge which is… .021? Also 1 - 2’ x 2’ piece of I believe 1/8” (or 3/16” maybe) sheet and one that is cut into a 24” circle. 1 – 50’ roll of ½” OD copper tubing, a few pieces of 3” rigid tubing and enough assorted copper and brass accessories to have fun with it all. To back them up I have 6 or 7 pounds of 95/5 silver solder, pail of flux and a couple boxes (pound each) of 1/8” x ¼” copper rivets. I did have another sheet of .032 but found it more useful being in the form it is now. One of the better investments I made so far in life.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

when I was working construction I would collect all the wire remnants & 'scrap', then during the evening strip the insulation off while watching whatever bad sci-fi movie of the week was on, cut the wire into 1" pieces & put them into 5 gallon buckets...

those buckets weighed 300+ lbs each when full! 

I averaged about 2 buckets a month in 'scrap'


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## IrritatedWithUS (Jan 9, 2011)

I only have 33 ounces of .999 copper


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## kevinp (Aug 17, 2011)

My partner is a jeweler and looking at the trent of how the value for this stuff are going, it still is best to invest on gold. They do not offer that big of a return in a short time but you will get the fruit if your learn to wait.

If you are a bit of a gambler and would want to give something that will yield higher return but not on a stable state, you can try looking at platinum or even silver.


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## Clarice (Aug 19, 2010)

DH and I have had the opportunity to tear down several old houses and salvaged the copper wire as well as the lumber, doors and windows. We burn the insulation off the wire and take it to the scrap yard. It is hard and dirty work. We have made several hundred dollars at this. We use this money along with any other money made on the side, so to speak, to fund our charities.


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## BlueShoe (Aug 7, 2010)

UncleJoe said:


> No kidding!?
> 
> I have one of those penny "books" that run from 1909-1958. It's completely filled except for the 1909 S VDB. Guess I know why now.


_dude, psst, i think i know who stole your penny._


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## kyhoti (Nov 16, 2008)

While the idea of "investing" in copper might not be so solid, what about post-fan? I hear about people with rolls of dimes and quarters, plus some of the fractional gold coins etc. But what is smaller than the dime? It might seem like a trivial issue in our current economic situation, where some folks won't even bother to bend over and pick up a debased modern dime, but ask someone who was alive in the earlier part of last century what a dime meant. Post-fan, if money gets to be a part of trade again (which it should, eventually) the whole concept of two loaves for a dime would be back in play. While I'm not that old, I was blessed to live with someone who was born in 1910. It was not uncommon during his childhood to have items 3-for-a-penny (mostly candy or straight pins etc). A bucket of beer was a nickel. A pound of ground beef was 7 cents. A dime was pretty potent small money back then, and finding a penny was a pretty happy event.

Just something to ponder for all you theorist types: if the going price for an item is three for a dime, and I want to sell the one I have, do I barter around until I get my price (1/3 of the going rate)? Do I find a larger volume seller for my item, and work out a trade with him? Or do I sell it for real pennies? Based on the current prices of metals, pennies to dimes does not equal a 10:1 price. But as the bronze seller above mentioned, the metal does have intrinsic value. Now, considering that the dollar is the base value currency in our current system, what is to stop the dime from taking over that spot post-fan? For those of you who ever played the old role playing games, 100 copper to one silver was an often-used money formula. Is that "silver piece" the dime, the quarter or the silver dollar? How many silver ounces equal the value of one ounce of gold? Since spot prices go out the window in a Situation, the current ratio will not play.

I go back to a value comparison heard one day when discussing intrinsic vs. extrinsic value: In the late 1800's, a $20 double eagle (about an ounce of gold) would buy a "nice" hand-tailored suit, something a true gentleman would wear. Take that coin's value forward, and at the going price, that same ounce will buy a similar suit today. That has stayed fairly static. A one-ounce silver dollar would buy a really good meal. At 40-ish dollars to the ounce today, that would be some feast at Applebee's. Copper ain't in that ball park. But would it be after the Event?:scratch


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## BlueShoe (Aug 7, 2010)

I considered selling some copper scrap I have, but decided to hold half of it for now. It'll be worth something more than fiat currency if I'm alive when "the bottom" has turned into a black hole.

Ever watch an old game show like Let's Make a Deal with Monte Hall? You watch as they open a curtain to show a brand new shiny Chevy Chevette or Ford Pinto. The winner goes nuts for what is now a POC. That's how I imagine our currency is going to be viewed. When I see Antiques Roadshow and they value everything in Dollars the people pretend to be breathless sometimes. Meh, how about valuing the items in something like silver, gold or even electrical units instead of paper?


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

I think pre-1982 pennies are worth 3 cents while a 90% silver dime is worth almost $3.00 with silver at $42 an ounce. I understand that there's a need for change in a barter economy because silver dimes will be worth so much. I think checking the date of each penny and counting out a hundred or more of them just isn't practical from a time standpoint. Maybe individual sellers will hand write amounts that they owe in change and they could use them towards future purchases. Or maybe people will make tokens that represent currency at their place of business.


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