its illegal to melt us currency. If you melt them they can figure it out, all they have to do is test the bar. 95% copper, 5% zinc. only pennies have that ratio of metal, so they would know. Also, If you melted them, you could melt them into a bar. but if your scrapping the bar it would pay the same price as if you brought them in whole.... minus your t/m for melting. So "IF" they ever legalize it, just bring in the pennies. no point melting them down.