Not all Base Metals are Doing Lousy- Check out Nickel

I know that scrap yards aren't paying a lot for aluminum, copper, brass and steel and many are blaming it on the tariff situation with China.

But there is another base metal that is doing fine and that is nickel. Admittedly it is hard to find a lot of nickel when scrapping. However, Canadian nickels through 1981 (with the exception of some war related dates in the 1940's and 1950's) were made of 99.9% nickel. This compares with the Jefferson nickel in the U.S., which is only 25% nickel- the other 75% is copper.

So I have been accumulating the Canadian nickel nickels. I have gotten them from coin dealers at home and while traveling. Also, I've seen them at some coin shows. I have mostly been paying 4-5 cents each for them and have even gotten some for a little over 3.5 cents each.

As nickel closed at $7.23/lb. yesterday and it takes 100 Canadian nickels to make a pound, that means they are each worth 7.23 cents. In early June it was about $5.30/lb. (per Kitcometals.com). So this is quite a nice return in just a few months.

Also, if you go back a ways, you will see that nickel was at one time over $20/lb. So it is only a little more than 1/3 of the price it sported around 10-12 years ago.

It is not like you would sell nickel coins to a scrapyard. But I do know of coin collectors who buy Canadian nickels just like they buy silver and gold. I used to save the U.S. nickels as well, but had about $800 in face value that I just took to the bank after pulling out the good dates. I couldn't justify the U.S. nickel as an investment nearly as easily as the nickels which came from our neighbor to the north.

So it isn't all doom and gloom in the metals space. Good luck to all.

P.S. No I am NOT selling my Canadian nickels unless of course someone wants to pay a really high price. In fact, I just got through buying even more and am looking to keep adding to the stack.

Nickel has now been over $8/lb. for a few days, so it is still acting very, very well. I know that nickel doesn't get the attention that copper, aluminum, brass and steel get, but there is still money to be made. This topic has over 700 views and nobody responded. Amazing how quiet this site is now.

Originally Posted by recyclersteve

Nickel has now been over $8/lb. for a few days, so it is still acting very, very well. I know that nickel doesn't get the attention that copper, aluminum, brass and steel get, but there is still money to be made. This topic has over 700 views and nobody responded. Amazing how quiet this site is now.

That's because the site is down a good part of the time.

Just curious- does anyone else have any .999 Canadian nickels? Price is back down in the $5.65/lb. range. The Canadian govt. has been actively removing these since 2004 through their Alloy Recovery Program.