Copper, Nickel and Zinc spiking again!

[gedis3]

Dunno why, but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that my 4 2-liter bottles of pre-82 Cents are worth almost 2X face value.

 

...and I almost don't want to spend the Nickels in my pocket -- why would I trade them for 5 cents worth of something when the Nickel itself is worth 7.8 cents?

 

Seems a bit on the insane side, don't it?

 

http://www.coinflation.com/

[bigmanSAM88]

I have been trying to set aside all of my pre 82 pennies because they are no longer worth just one penny, and I might even try with nickels because they are worth more that face value

[gedis3]

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Pre-1982 U.S. Pennies a Unique Investment, According to Editor of Gold and Energy Advisor; May Soon Grow to 5 Cents as Copper Prices Rise

 

BOCA RATON, Fla., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The rising price of copper could mean those U.S. pennies in your piggy bank and hidden under your couch cushions may soon be worth up to five times their face value, says an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

 

Rising metals prices are making the copper in U.S. pennies worth much more than their face value, tempting speculators to melt and sell them for a profit.

 

In response, the U.S. Treasury has limited melting and exporting nickels and pennies, and made it a felony to melt them for their intrinsic metal value.

 

Francois Velde, a senior economist at the Chicago Fed, argues Treasury prohibitions won't prevent speculators from melting coins. His solution: "rebase" the penny, making it worth five cents, rather than one.

 

"History shows when coins are worth melting, they disappear," Velde wrote. "Rebasing the penny and making it officially worth five cents will keep the billions and billions of pennies now in circulation safely away from melting pots."

 

The price of copper skyrocketed recently, sending it to a record high of $4.16 a pound in May. It's now trading for about $2.54 cents a pound. It takes 154 U.S. pennies to equal a pound of copper. So every $1.54 of pennies can be worth as much as $2.54, a full $1 over their face value.

 

While the price of copper is off its recent high the rapidly growing world economy and copper consumption is very likely to push the price well over the recent high sometime over the next few years, according to Velde.

 

Since 1982, the Mint has made copper-coated zinc pennies to prevent speculators from taking advantage of lofty base metal prices. Investors should, therefore, focus on pre-1982 U.S. Pennies.