Hoarding Nickels! (cash, investment, buy, sell)

[Arushan]

Yes, those sometimes annoying coins you see all the time. They contain nickel and copper....for now! I've heard rumors that 2013 Nickels will use different materials so this year may be a good time to hoard those buggers. That would save yourself some sorting.

They may just lift the melt ban for them in future years if history is any indication. Nickels can also be a spectacular investment for a possible hyper-inflationary event.

The cons - The sheer weight of them and the space required to store them.

[mortimer]

Looking at Current Melt Value Of Coins - How Much Is Your Coin Worth?
the value of a nickel ( at this writing ) is $0.059.

Do you have some reason to believe that the value of copper ( 75% ) and
nickel ( 25% ) are going to rise substantiall faster than, say, silver or gold?

If so, knock yourself out.

If not, and you are willing to bet on metals, then why not spend $1,800 or so
on a 1-ounce gold coin instead of spending that money to buy 30,522 nickels?

Note that 30,522 nickels would only cost you $1,526, so you have to decide if
storing 336 pounds of nickels somewhere in your house is worth the ≈$275 profit.

That is a stack 195 ft tall. The most compact form would be a "cube" measuring ≈11.8 inches on a side.
( note that a cube of solid 75% Cu & 25% Ni alloy would weigh 530 lbs. )

[KayAnn246]

Where do you sell them? That's interesting. I didn't know they contained copper as well.

[a34dadsf]

Originally Posted by Singlelady10

Where do you sell them? That's interesting. I didn't know they contained copper as well.

yup. At the moment not many people buy them in bulk. You save them up for the future. However you never know in 20-30 years they could be worth alot especially if the value of the dollar degrades which is pretty much a guarantee.

[Arushan]

Here's a place you could buy them in bulk: Portland Mint - Product List

I've been stopping by the bank to exchange my spare cash for some rolls of nickels lately and will continue to do so.

It's good to diversify between metals. Copper is probably less manipulated than gold and silver.

[MountainMen]

Warren Buffett once said, "The worst investment you can have is cash."

[Retroit]

^ Agreed. I never heard of someone getting rich from nickels.

[mortimer]

I just read an article that a congresscritter wants to change the alloy in both
the nickel and penny to steel and just dip them in copper/nickel to finish the
coin. It currently costs more than 2x the face value to produce these coins.

Of course, a better alternative would be to back the dollar with gold and
re-value the whole lot based on gold. The amount of stuff one cent buys
used to be well over 20x what it buys today. Pocket change used to be
"real money" in the 1920's. -- that's an off-topic rant though.