What about Nickels?
 

I was reading on a website (www.coinflation.com) that the intrinsic metal value of nickels (nickel and copper) had exceeded the mint value of 5 cents. What's this all about? Any comments from the group? Anybody have a huge nickel hoard saved up?

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Huge? -- no.

Saving? -- yes.

What reason is there not to save? None. What reason is there to save? Plenty.

For every nickel saved, are you saving 7, 8, 9 cents worth of metal? Yes, pretty much. Probably more, as time goes forth. Will USGovt stop issuing nickel-containing nickels down the line because they are losing too much on each nickel? Yes. Why then not collect (if not hoard) nickels? No reason. No reason not to collect 'em.

They are cool and they are real. People will make fun of you for doing so, until they suddenly stop making fun of you. Can you think of WHY they will suddenly stop? I know why.

(PS. They are making fun of me NOW. But they will stop. Tell me why.)

Re: What about Nickels?
 

I'll assume that your question wasn't merely rhetorical...

What do you suppose the numismatic possibilities are for the 5 cent piece? When changes in coins take place (as it seems will take place with the nickel) the older type gains numismatic appeal.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Better start saving now.....there's about 45,000,000,000 to gather up!!!

http://www.homestead.com/furlip/file...ages-final.pdf

Re: What about Nickels?
 

It wasn't rhetorical, indeed! Nor, was it numismatic!

Think commodities.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Gpond....I'm not making fun........

Investment Of The Century: U.S. Minted Nickels

Lee Rogers

For anyone who wants to make an immediate 80% return on your investment, go to your local bank with your worthless Federal Reserve Notes and tell them that you'd like to exchange them for rolls of nickels. On its face this might seem ridiculous and absurd and the bank teller might even look at you like you have three heads, but by exchanging your Federal Reserve Notes for nickels you will have made a risk free investment with an immediate positive return of 80%.

I've briefly mentioned this in previous articles, but what we are now seeing with pennies and nickels is similar to what took place in the late 1960's. In the late 1960's the melt value of circulating silver coins began to exceed the face value of the coins themselves. As people began to realize that the coin melt value was worth more than the face value, people began to keep these coins which ended their circulation. I believe that the same thing will happen to pennies and nickels. Currently the melt value of copper pennies is over twice the face value and the melt value of zinc pennies is almost equal to their face value. Each nickel now has a melt value of approximately 9 cents. This means that if you go into a bank and buy $1,000 worth of nickels those nickels are actually worth $1,800.

The bottom line is that the coinage that is produced by the U.S. Mint is the only honest money left in circulation. The coins themselves store value because of their metal content where as Federal Reserve Notes store no value. Federal Reserve Notes are a dishonest fraud because nothing can be redeemed for them at the Federal Reserve banks. As the Federal Reserve continues to create additional money, coins like pennies and nickels will emerge as another form of protection against inflation because regardless of how much money is created the coins will always have some intrinsic value.

The U.S. Mint continues to baffle me though. This is an organization that has attempted to smear the people at NORFED who produce the Liberty Dollar and have issued an edict stating that melting down pennies and nickels or taking pennies and nickels out of the country is some sort of crime. The actions of the U.S. Mint as I've mentioned before has been incredibly ridiculous if not idiotic.

The fact that the U.S. Mint has stated that melting down pennies and nickels amounts to some sort of crime is insane on its face. The U.S. Mint should talk to the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury and tell them that we need to start producing honest money again so the Mint won't lose money by creating pennies and nickels. It is the dishonest money coming from the Federal Reserve and the inflation created from it that is the real issue here. This means that the U.S. Treasury should either start printing interest free legal tender or better yet certificates that are backed by gold and silver bullion. Another words, abolish the Federal Reserve. They are the real cause of why the U.S. Mint is now losing money with each nickel they make. If the Federal Reserve is allowed to continue to operate in this fashion, the U.S. Mint will continue to lose even more money on coins and will probably be forced to change the metal content of pennies and nickels or find a way to discontinue them entirely.

On the Liberty Dollar situation, if the U.S. Mint has such a problem with private currencies all they need to do is come up with a legitimate product to compete with them. If the U.S. Mint created a $1,000 legal tender gold piece and a $20 legal tender silver piece, they'd easily be able to compete with NORFED. Why does the U.S. Mint create legal tender $1 one ounce silver coins and legal tender $50 one ounce gold silver coins when they could increase the face value to something that fairly reflects the true price of gold and silver? If the Federal Reserve can put a $1 value and a $100 value on the same worthless piece of paper, why can't the U.S. Mint create $1,000 legal tender gold pieces and $20 legal tender silver pieces?

The U.S. Mint in all likelihood probably does not want to admit that the Federal Reserve has caused inflation to spiral out of control so they put a low face value on their gold and silver coins. Not only that, but by putting a low face value on these gold and silver coins it allows them to more easily confiscate these gold and silver coins in the case of a financial collapse. The people running our financial system are very devious and diabolical individuals, so I would not put any of this past them.

With that said, nickels are the most honest form of money currently available from the Federal Reserve or the U.S. Mint. I firmly believe that sometime in the near future, we will no longer see these nickels circulate freely. People will begin hoarding them for the same reason that silver coins were hoarded in the late 1960's. Nickels not only store value but their melt value provides an immediate return on your investment. How many investment vehicles can provide an immediate 80% return on investment? There aren't very many, and quite frankly the only one that I know that is a sure bet are nickels from the U.S. Mint.

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials...ers052607.html

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Oh, I'm certainly aware of the melting possibility if the base metals reach a certain point. Someone would be foolish to use a silver dime for 10 cents rather than the near 1 dollar in silver.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

I just don't spend them, same with pennies. They go in a sack for the future. Same thing people did in the 60's with silver.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Pre 1981 Canadian nickels are .999 Ni.

Attachment 34229

They sell for around double face value right now.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

So who has the biggest US nickel hoard around here?

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Not me !

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Why do you want to know??
You a Fed?? Writing a book??
Whom do you work for.....KAOS???

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Sorry, that was a bad statement for a noob to make...

Let me try again... what would some of you consider a large hoard?

Re: What about Nickels?
 

I think I see someone with BRAINS MY GOD THIS CAN'T BE :D
consider a large hoard YES YES AND YES :wink: Canadian nickels OR American Nickels it's all good

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Junk silver of the future.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

fasTTcar, do you happen to know if there are any rules about US smelters not melting Canadian coins?

Re: What about Nickels?
 

The rule is the same in Canada and the US. You can not melt native coins without a license.

However, the US mint made it explicitly illegal to export or melt pennies and nickels.

So far, Canada has not banned export of any currency. And nickel users are melting them directly in the US. No law against recycling stateside.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

There are previous nickel threads on GIM, if you want to search.

Some GIMers claimed to be hoarding nickels by the brick. A brick is $100 worth, or 50 rolls, which is 2000 nickels. So I would consider a large hoard to be $500+, which is 10,000+ nickels.

I take gpond's route: Save 'em as they come along. May not ever make a darn bit of difference, if in a few years they're worth 15 cents, when 15 cents will be worth 5 cents, if you catch my drift. It will be a moral victory if they become worth a dollar, when a dollar is worth 35 cents; you'll have made 7-fold profit, but you ain't gonna be rich on them. If the friggin' world falls apart and we're burning paper dollars for heat and using them for toilet paper, maybe the nickel thing will look ingenious. Probably not, but who knows?

Re: What about Nickels?
 

is this all nickels right up until 2007?

or is there a cut-off date like 1982 for copper pennies????

Re: What about Nickels?
 

$50,000 will buy you a "large hoard"......... One Million nickels.

Then what ?

You can't turn them into anything resembling useful or tradeable commodity form. So what's the point ?

I can just imagine trying to spend that many nickels back into circulation when their value drops.........or even before hand.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Nickels are a tradeable commodity. It's like 90%, nobody melts down their silver dimes and quarters, either.

I'm not trying to get rich off the stuff but I want an ammo can full of copper pennies and another of nickels.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

I buy and sell them every week. Some go to refiners, some go to collectors.

The market is there. Read all about it: http://realcent.forumco.com/

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Meh, they're not really worth as much as they were a few months back (.06 cents as of yesterday). Im still saving every nickel I get though.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Has anyone here actually SOLD nickels in nickel form for more than 5 cents each, CASH MONEY ? "Tradeable commodity form" for the value of the metal is quite different than "spendable cash form". Figure in the time involved in accumulation, handling, storage, shipping, discounted market buying prices, and refining or separation fees, and I just have a hard time believing this is a viable pursuit, not to mention the illegality of melting them to use in some other form. Even considering the slim possibility of making 2 cents per coin, you would have to handle something like 1000 coins per hour to equal a decent $20 per hour wage working a real job.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

The problem with nickles drewfu, is it is very difficult to drill and fill them, you know, with the price of lead these days? But maybe you could melt them down with some cheap filler and pour them into ingots and sell them on ebay as pure nickle? Right up your alley, buddy.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Yes, but I trade in Canadian ones which are pure. Getting over double face value for the .999 ones currently. Did sell some as high at .16 each in May.

And the handling is a lot easier than you would expect. I have a machine that sorts at 300/minute. SLV was big into this before the ban. He was setup on a much larger scale.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Do you relize how much these will weigh and what kind of space is required! Wow!

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Ryedale is a GIM member.

These machines kick butt for sorting coins.

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Re: What about Nickels?
 

For a U.S. american, it is simply not time yet to figure out the selling part. They have metal value more than 5 cents. That is enough for now.

I don't look at it as a "turning $50,000 into $100,000" type of venture.

More like a "turning $500 into $1200 with ZERO RISK" type of a venture. If that doesn't spark your imagination, then no harm no foul. But I am not above earning $700 the veeeeeery easy way.

That's about all this means to me. It's like looking down, seeing a shiny penny, and picking it up and putting it in my pocket.

If a penny were worth what a penny used to be worth -- why wouldn't you do that? It is a no brainer.

Just my 2 cents. Or 5. Or 10. You get the idea.

Why not? A little hobby.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

The Federal Reserve will have no competitors.

An honest $1000 face value legal tender gold coin the size of the old double eagle and a $20 silver dollar sized coin in circulation would put them out of buisness.

Picture them raising rates and creating inflation. Gold and Silver in circulation would force them to be honest. It levels the playing field. They want to incourage us to spend our paper or create more when rates are low. So it would go down something like this for us:

1. Take paper trade for legal tender gold and silver
2. Repeat as needed

The paper becomes worthless while the banks run out of gold and silver coinage. The FED is exposed for the fraud it really is to sheeple everywhere.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Has anybody sold a wheat penny for more than face value? We're early in the game, that's the best time to buy. When the market is well established(no more real nickels) then it is a good time to sell.

I suspect buffalo nickels, the new ones and the originals, will prove worthwhile to hoard over the next couple years. I've see the originals in circulated condition as low as twenty five cents each. Well over metal value but I expect the numismatic premium will climb considerably after real nickels cease to be made.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Separating the copper from the nickel in US nickels might be difficult, even if there weren't a penny/nickel melt ban right now.

I have two bricks right now, not accumulating more at this time.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Many metal plating applications use 70:30 nickel:copper. Adding some copper to the melting 70:25 nickels gets you that mix.

The NI price is still too low for US nickels to be a big deal yet. The Canadian ones are .999, so that market works.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread111836/pg1

...The trail begins at the Federal Reserve building in East Rutherford, N.J.. In mid-December, a large tractor-trailer is loaded up and heads south, bound for the Fed in New Orleans. Sealed in back of the truck is $180,000 worth of newly minted U.S. nickels. They are in 900 bags and weigh nearly 23 tons. That's 3.6 million nickels � and soon they would just disappear.

"Somebody actually went out and stole 3.6 million nickels," says FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela. "I mean, who would ever think that would happen?"

FBI agents and police are baffled over how it happened. The driver, Angel Ricardo Mendoza, a private trucker from Miami, has also disappeared. "He's either a victim or a suspect," says Sgt. Richard Mestre of the Miami-Dade Police Cargo Theft Task Force. "We're not really sure."
So, if someone steals 3.6 million nickels, how does he cash them in without attracting attention? Police say it would have to be done very slowly, in small amounts and at many different places, like grocery store counting machines. And even if he were able to cash in $500 worth of nickels every day, it would still take an entire year....

Re: What about Nickels?
 

I like the westward journey series and collected p and d rolls of each. I got the new nickel too with the offset face. Man that is a handsome portrait of Mr Jefferson, lots better than the one of him with the pigtail wig.

Otherwise I dont pull em out. I save change up and bank it in the interest bearing savings account.

Re: What about Nickels?
 

Just throw 'em in a bucket and fuhgetabout it! :wink: