Hoarding Nickels

[Argentum]

I didn't see a nickel thread yet, so here goes nothing.

Who else hoards nickels? At coinflation.com, it states they are worth 6 cents apiece today - bringing my investment/hoard value up 20%.

I like to stack nickels because they cannot become less than what I paid for them.

Thoughts? Pics? Resources? Please share.

[gpond]

I hoard them, Argentum, but only at the hobby level. I like the downside on this most straight-forward of investments.

[Fatboy]

Come on "Silver Condor", tell them how it is done!

[Junk Woody]

I hoard Canadian pre 1982 nickels, .999 Ni baby

[Silver Condor]

Ponce here..........LOL Fat Boy, the banks in general are closing down on trading nickels for paper fiat and are charging up to 10% for them.

My bank already told me that they could no longer trade me or sell me nickels, lucky for me I now have around 1,000 bricks of nickel, there is need and then there is greed.............my greed is full hahahahahahah.

Ruasell? glad to see you here even if you are no longer running the show.

[Argentum]

My bank has been really loose with them surprisingly (Chase). I don't ask for them anymore. My rule is that if they ask me if I want a box, then I buy one - but they always ask me now...I must be the only guy requesting boxes of them.

[wiper]

what is content of nickels? has it changed?

i'm all about copper pennies and silver dimes (obv), but haven't gotten into nickels...so i can just walk into a bank and ask for $100 worth of nickels?

how many are in a brick? a box?

thanks!

[Quixote2]

Asked about boxes of nickels at my two banks today, both had none. The second bank said they could order one in, I ordered two boxes to be in next week.

[Argentum]

what is content of nickels? has it changed?

i'm all about copper pennies and silver dimes (obv), but haven't gotten into nickels...so i can just walk into a bank and ask for $100 worth of nickels?

how many are in a brick? a box?

thanks!

The nickel hasn't changed in over 60 years. Still 75% copper and 25% nickel. I suspect the gov't will be messing with the content someday soon and that is why I'm stashing some away.

The box (brick) of nickels is $100 and comes with 50 $2 rolls - weighs about 22 pounds.

http://www.coinflation.com/coins/194...kel-Value.html

[Silver Condor]

Wiper? is like I tell people to do........hold a brick of nickels on your right hand (if you can) and a $100.00 dollar bill in your left hand.......now, which one feels more like real money?, now days the value of the nickel is about 6.8 cents but then you have the cost of making them, transporting and distribution.

My last load of nickels (500 bricks) came to my home on the back of a friends truck, by the time it got to where I wanted them there was a 10 inch deep hole all over my yard, from the weight of the bricks.........I now have to fill them up.

You can use nickels for a million of different things but only about four for the paper fiat.

[wiper]

i gotcha.

may try out my credit union soon. tomorrow would be optimal, but alas, i'm forcing myself to go golfing.

[AGgressive Metal]

Suppose that sometime in the future, it was legal to melt them and you decided that was a good idea - is it difficult for a refiner to separate the Cu from the Ni? Would you be paid less because of this?

Why not just buy $100 of silver or $100 of gold - much easier to deal with. I'm not saying nickels are a horrible idea, just probing you guys for your thoughts on these issues.

[ssbn642blue]

There is no downside to purchasing something that the value of will never go below the purchase price.

ie. 5 cents will always be worth 5 cents or more. You buy Gold/Silver at spot, and the value can and does go below your purchase price. Not so with a Nickle or Pre 1982 Cents. Hoard now, think 1963 with "junk silver".

[Argentum]

Suppose that sometime in the future, it was legal to melt them and you decided that was a good idea - is it difficult for a refiner to separate the Cu from the Ni? Would you be paid less because of this?

I have never really been able to find good info on the refining of the coins of this composition. There are many maritime applications for this alloy, so there is at least a market for it. I would think that if the refining process is difficult, then if the time comes that people are actively trying to melt nickels for their metal someone will find a process to do it efficiently. Necessity is the mother of invention. My basis for collecting is pretty much what ssbn642blue said about the lack of a downside to the investment.

[slv>gld]

Suppose that sometime in the future, it was legal to melt them and you decided that was a good idea - is it difficult for a refiner to separate the Cu from the Ni? Would you be paid less because of this?

Why not just buy $100 of silver or $100 of gold - much easier to deal with. I'm not saying nickels are a horrible idea, just probing you guys for your thoughts on these issues.

The refiners are not interested in separating the alloy. Most likely they would be adjusting the ratio to achieve a specific purpose nickel alloy.

[Silver Condor]

Very good blue.........you can always chage the nickels back to dollar, if you have to, but in the future where the dollar is going down in value the nickels will be going up.

Like I wrote before, in what is to come the loose coins will be more valuable than the paper fiat.........and even when there is a paper fiat change where one of the new one equal to three of the old one all coins will retain its proper value...........remember my words.

Ponce

[AGRO]

Great thread addition to out little base metals sub AG,

What old nickels are people interested in? Buffalo? War? Etc?

Just trying to get an idea what most like, I will be adding some to buy and sell in the VERY near future.

Personally I like buffalos, yet I am not a nickel hoarder.

[Twisted Avatar]

1964 all over again.............

T

[Bottom Feeder]

Ya know stockpiling up a big hoard of nickles just don't seem like an effective plan to me. Reminds me of the old SF story about "The never ending penny"

bf

[Argentum]

Ya know stockpiling up a big hoard of nickles just don't seem like an effective plan to me. Reminds me of the old SF story about "The never ending penny"

bf

Please elaborate, I am not familiar with the story...

[Bottom Feeder]

Please elaborate, I am not familiar with the story...

Sorry Argentum, its an obscure story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Wolfe

I guess you gotta be a die-hard SF fan.

bf

[TheMadHatter]

You have $100k in nickels in your basement?????

Ponce here..........LOL Fat Boy, the banks in general are closing down on trading nickels for paper fiat and are charging up to 10% for them.

My bank already told me that they could no longer trade me or sell me nickels, lucky for me I now have around 1,000 bricks of nickel, there is need and then there is greed.............my greed is full hahahahahahah.

Ruasell? glad to see you here even if you are no longer running the show.

[Pyramid]

There is no downside to purchasing something that the value of will never go below the purchase price.

ie. 5 cents will always be worth 5 cents or more. You buy Gold/Silver at spot, and the value can and does go below your purchase price. Not so with a Nickle or Pre 1982 Cents. Hoard now, think 1963 with "junk silver".

I disagree with that reasoning due to inflation. A few nickels actually used to buy something, say a soda. Now you need a handful or 2 to buy the same soda.

I'm not hoarding nickels, just keeping ones in my change. Cu cents are the coins to hoard, 2.5 Cents in value right not, 150% gain (in theory) compared to 20% for nickels.

[Sparky]

[Quixote2]

Cu cents are the coins to hoard, 2.5 Cents in value right not, 150% gain (in theory) compared to 20% for nickels.

Yes, but every nickel is a keeper. The pure copper pennies are getting scarce and you have to sort thru a lot to get that 1.5 cents.

[minimus]

There is no downside to purchasing something that the value of will never go below the purchase price.

ie. 5 cents will always be worth 5 cents or more.

There's a logical flaw. "5 cents" doesn't always buy "5 cents" worth of the same goods the next year.

Think about that.

"Purchasing price" is an illusion, purchasing power is the cold reality.

[ssbn642blue]

It's not about what you can pay for this year. It's a hedge against inflation. If you could go back to 1963 and hoard all the dimes, quarters and halfs you could, would you not have? If not, why?

Do you really trust the Fed Reserve with our monetary supply?

Sorry, The US Government became insolvent in 1913.

[Silver Condor]

Not 100 K, 1,000 bricks equal to $10,000.........be nice to have 100 K in nickels.

You know amigos? stop thinking what was yesterday and think of what tomorrow will be like.......nickel power.

Why would you want to melt nickels? as the dollar goes down the nickel will retain its value.....meaning that it will go up the same as silver and gold, if for nothing else then for the metal content.

What you do today will be what your tomorrow will be like.

[ssbn642blue]

Not 100 K, 1,000 bricks equal to $10,000.........be nice to have 100 K in nickels.

You know amigos? stop thinking what was yesterday and think of what tomorrow will be like.......nickel power.

Why would you want to melt nickels? as the dollar goes down the nickel will retain its value.....meaning that it will go up the same as silver and gold, if for nothing else then for the metal content.

What you do today will be what your tomorrow will be like.

+1000 Applies to anything in life.

[southfork]

I save nickles and pre 82 pennies, throw them in a 5 gallon just, on occasion I buy a few rolls of each and toss them in too.

[gpond]

It's a hedge against inflation.

Interestingly, it is also a hedge against deflation, since it's legal value is $0.05.

[Argentium]

Interestingly, it is also a hedge against deflation, since it's legal value is $0.05.

That is why I'm in favor of holding them, it is a no-lose situation. I probably wouldn't hold on a scale anywhere near Ponce's, the sheer mass of his holdings seems problematic if one needed to convert them back to FRNs (or its successor currency), IMO. They would make for good radiation shielding, though!!

I'm closer to the idea of holding somewhere ~$500-$1000 worth, with the bulk of my funds held in PMs and several thousands of FRNs as an emergency reserve. I could see coinage used as a immediate replacement for FRNs, in the case of a currency collapse as opposed to PMs, in the initial stages.

[Quixote2]

One brick/box of nickels is 50 rolls of 40 nickels ($2 per roll) or 50 rolls/2,000 nickels for $100.

100 bricks/boxes of nickels is $10,000.

1,000 bricks/boxes of nickels is $100,000.

[Fatboy]

One brick/box of nickels is 50 rolls of 40 nickels ($2 per roll) or 50 rolls/2,000 nickels for $100.

100 bricks/boxes of nickels is $10,000.

1,000 bricks/boxes of nickels is $100,000.

There you go, using that "new math" again!

[Fatboy]

Let's do a word problem:

If Ponce has his banker order him 50 bricks of nickles and a brick weighs 22 pounds. Then Ponce is finally able to coordinate the banker and his friend with his truck to move them from the bank to his house for him, how deep will the ruts in his lawn be?

Ans:

About 5 inches!

[Silver Condor]

Hahahahaah fat boy, plus the fun of hiding them and setting up the alarm..........I hope to die with all my silver and all my coins (nickels and otherwise) because that would mean that I never ran our of cash and that WTSHTF never came for a visit........I feel sorry for my X, if I die before her, because she will have a headache dealing with all that stuff............. a headache that many of you would like to have hahahahahahahah.

[Ardent Listener]

I hoard nickels too. No sorting required and I consider them to be a cash reserve that is inflation resistant, but not inflation proof. I have a good friend over at realcent (Copper Catcher) who disagrees with me and only hoards copper cents. So all I will say is to each his or her own and good luck.

[GOLD DUCK]

QWAK,Back in the 50s a very smart man told my Dad that IF he just took $1000.00 each year and bought the new issue of pennies nickels and dimes and quorters -- that in ten years they would be worth a mininum of 10x what he payed!

Dad was NOT a saver -- he died DEBT FREE but could have been WELL OFF and DEBT FREE -- if he had just listened!

the DUCK

[Silver Condor]

At my age you all could be my kids..............so...........listen to day and stockpile loose change..........in ten years I want my 10% commision.

[highroller4321]

Suppose that sometime in the future, it was legal to melt them and you decided that was a good idea - is it difficult for a refiner to separate the Cu from the Ni? Would you be paid less because of this?

Why not just buy $100 of silver or $100 of gold - much easier to deal with. I'm not saying nickels are a horrible idea, just probing you guys for your thoughts on these issues.

Because you cant easily and regularly buy silver and gold at a discounted price.

You buy $100 worth of gold and silver its worth $100.

You buy $100 worth of nickels and its at todays prices its worth $120.74

You buy $100 worth of Pre 82 copper pennies and at todays prices its worth $233.57

[Bluegill]

I see no advantage to hoarding CuNi nickels. What are they? Cu bullion coins that are .750 fine, or Ni bullion coins that are .250 fine..? If and when the melt ban gets lifted you will NEVER get the theoretical MV on these things. The cost to separate the 2 metals is just to cost prohibitive. They are a CuNi alloy. As somebody already mentioned, the refiners will amend the alloy to the more common 80/20 or 70/30 alloy. You will get scrap CuNi prices.

Canadian .999 Ni nickels are the way to go if you want to invest in Ni. Or any of the easily available foreign Ni coins.

[highroller4321]

I see no advantage to hoarding CuNi nickels. What are they? Cu bullion coins that are .750 fine, or Ni bullion coins that are .250 fine..? If and when the melt ban gets lifted you will NEVER get the theoretical MV on these things. The cost to separate the 2 metals is just to cost prohibitive. They are a CuNi alloy. As somebody already mentioned, the refiners will amend the alloy to the more common 80/20 or 70/30 alloy. You will get scrap CuNi prices.

Canadian .999 Ni nickels are the way to go if you want to invest in Ni. Or any of the easily available foreign Ni coins.

I see your point but 90% also not pure.


I agree that you are better of with .999 Canadian or pre 82 copper though.

[fasTT]

I see no advantage to hoarding CuNi nickels. What are they? Cu bullion coins that are .750 fine, or Ni bullion coins that are .250 fine..? If and when the melt ban gets lifted you will NEVER get the theoretical MV on these things. The cost to separate the 2 metals is just to cost prohibitive. They are a CuNi alloy. As somebody already mentioned, the refiners will amend the alloy to the more common 80/20 or 70/30 alloy. You will get scrap CuNi prices.

Canadian .999 Ni nickels are the way to go if you want to invest in Ni. Or any of the easily available foreign Ni coins.

CuNi in 80/20 or 70/30 are standard alloys that get a PREMIUM over melt from platers and end users. However, you will never get that from a scrap yard.

And since US nickels and 1982 - 2001 Canadian nickels are 75:25 you have to re-alloy them to make them work in industry.

You either have to have a large amount and sell direct or hold off until a more liquid market develops as "junk" CuNi.

In the meantime, I still agree with you Blue - .999 pre 1982 Canadians are perfect bullion. Each one is exactly 1/100th of a pound of pure nickel.

[kempeitai]

y'all should try swallowing some of these hoarded nickels one by one; later on, you can play change machine

[latemetal]

You first, but no swimming after you eat.

y'all should try swallowing some of these hoarded nickels one by one; later on, you can play change machine

[AuAgCuPb]

If you need justification for "hoarding" ( I love that word with all it's connotations) there is Gresham's Law. Pennies and nickels will have a bullion premium over the base metal value. There is no doubt as to their eventual appreciation, the only question is if the ROI is sufficient to warrant the effort. Virtually no risk is nice. I don't buy pennies and nickels in large quantities but I never pass up an opportunity to add a little to the stash.

[dirt to oil]

inconel and monel are alloys used in the petro chemical industry, aprox 66% ni 33% cu and are very expensive , if it was legal to melt them there would be a buyer

[Mined Games 2]

I'm concentrating on pre-'82 pennies for now, so I'm not buying nickels at the bank currently. But eventually I plan on having a nice stack of $100 boxes in my bunker. When the dwindling copper percentages start to make penny sorting less fruitful, then I plan on turning my attention Mr. Jefferson's way! That being said, I save all of the nickels I get in change, and have well over $100 worth stashed away already as a head start. The other thing that would change the situation, would be an announcement from the mint that they're degrading the composition of the nickel. The I'd start to salt the nickels away with a lot more conviction.

[ctrl-z]

I bought my first box of nickels the other day. I asked at the bank, and they were happy to help, there was a comment about nobody ever asking for these by the box anymore. I am not going to go crazy with it but I will be picking up a few more here and there.

I am also a very small scale copper sorter as well.

[wiper]

I bought my first box of nickels the other day. I asked at the bank, and they were happy to help, there was a comment about nobody ever asking for these by the box anymore.

might be because of the drop in nickel and copper, it's worth less than 5 cents right now?

like 4.7 or something like that now.

i'm pretty sure it'll creep back up, but just an FYI.