Interesting facts about Pennies, the US CURRENCY - Page 2

I have a good friend in a state somewhere around mine that melts pennies. Yes, it's wrong, blah blah blah. He's not selling the copper, just hoarding it. He's a tinkerer. He built a "smelter" by using mirrors and the sun (basically).

Id never do it. I raise enough hell around here that i don't need to add destroying currency to the list lol. But it is interesting to watch him work. I have a hoard of pennies now, just fun to check your dates at the end of the day and throw the pre-'82 in a bucket. I used to purchase them by the $25 box from the bank. It worked at first because they would get their money from, basically, a huge building that all the "Money trucks" would go to if that makes sense. All the armored trucks that collect money from business's drop the money off at this place. They then redistribute the money to banks and other places. Don't know exactly how it works, that's just my guess. Anyway, i was buying from the bank, and it was great. Simply because all the pennies were circulated pennies. But something happened and they switched to all new pennies. Bought 3 boxes and they were all new.

Was fun while it lasted haha.

Here is the Rule (not Law - the U.S. Mint does not have the authority to write laws, only Congress can do that) http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/cons...sterNotice.pdf

Basically, it is legal to do whatever you want with U.S. coins - any U.S. coins - unless you are attempting to commit fraud. You can melt them, deface them, mark on them, poop on them - anything. There is just one exception, as spelled out in the rule listed above. You can't melt pennies or nickels for their metal value. 5 years in prison and/or $10,000 fine for doing so. You cannot carry on your person more than $5 of pennies or nickels out of the country. You can't ship more than $100 of pennies or nickels out of the country unless doing so for bona fide reasons (not melting).

Personally, I hoard pre-1982 pennies and silver nickels from World War II. I don't believe in all the end-of-the-world TSHTF garbage - but I do believe that our monetary system will collapse. The U.S. debt is so high the only way we'll ever be able to repay it is if our currency goes through hyperinflation.

145 pennies to a pound. Based on current price of copper, you will make a nice profit for each pound of pennies you set aside. The last year for copper pennies was 1982. About 75% of them were copper, the other 25% zinc. You can tell the difference by using a cheap digital scale. Copper pennies weigh around 3.11 grams whereas zinc pennies weigh around 2. 56 grams.

I have one 5 gallon bucket full so far. For each $100 of pennies I go through, I set aside around $20 - $30 in copper pennies. The day will come when coins are no longer minted and you can cash in.

There are machines out there that can sort 10,000 pennies an hour. The difference in conductivity ( I think) separates the zinc pennies from the copper ones. There are two limitations however. The machine costs over $500 though. It doesnt take long to sort through a $25 box of pennies. I have found two Indian head pennies and wheat cents also.

There are certainly people hoarding (by the ton) nickels. Not sure about international laws covering currency protection, but a friend of a friend has taken pennies (UK) to France and had them bought as scrap.

I know a few countries have replaced their coinage to avoid this, I was in NZ when they converted. Hell, in NZ the smallest coin is now 10c.