Interesting Argument On Killing The One Cent

I came across this video arguing the death of the penny.  There are some good points here.  Additionally, the cost of the one cent coin has risen to 2.4 cents as of 2011.

Coin Roll Hunting: 50 Roll Cent Bank Box Break # 7

I purchased a 50 roll box of cents from my bank and these are the results:

• Wheat Cents: 5
• Canadian Cents: 1
• "S" Mint Marks: 2
• Copper Lincoln Memorial Cents: 38% (5% not infected)
• Total AU - BU Coins For Albums: 12
• Key Find(s): 1959(BU), 1967(BU), 1968(BU), 1970D(BU), 1971(BU)

Verdict: For the first time picking up cent bank boxes, the teller only had customer rolled cents.  I was excited to see what they might produce.  My excitement quickly faded after I open a few of the rolls.  A large number of coins were infected with verdigris. This box would of produced the best copper results to date except most were infected and were promptly placed in the return pile.  The curse of the Canadian Small Cent folder still is going strong.  If the large amount of verdigris wasn't bad enough, there were ample quantities road pennies. My favorite cent in this box was a BU 1959.

Coin Roll Hunting Tip: Getting Rid Your Unwanted Change

What do you do after you sorted through all that change?  All of those unwanted zinc cents really add up. You could roll the coins but that would take time away from searching new rolls. Some coin roll hunters open up accounts at other banks to "dump" rolled change or take advantage of a free counting machine in the bank's lobby.  Another option is to take the coins to the Coinstar machine.  If you want to get past the 9.8% service fee these machines charge, you can opt for a gift card to merchants like Amazon.  This works well if you were already going to make purchases through these vendors.

What Are My Motives?

Not long ago, I started thinking about ways to diversify my net worth while protecting myself against inflation.  I thought about investing in gold, but I am currently priced out of that market.  I also thought about silver and did buy some, but it is not cheap and there is a premium being associated with each transaction.  I wanted to get into a metal cheaply like the silver coins being minted in the early 1960's (1964 and back).

The current silver colored coins being minted in the U.S. today are copper-nickel clad.  Given the composition, weight, and denomination the current nickel could be a good investment. The nickel currently contains between $.05-$.07 of copper-nickel clad.  Another option would be to sort though pennies and save all cents minted 1981 and older as these are 95% copper. The nice thing about saving nickels is there is no sorting required.  All nickels in circulation currently have the same composition.  This may change in the next year or so as the government is investigating alternative metals.  The US Mint spends more to create the nickel than it is worth.

I currently search rolls of cents and nickels.  These are the items I am saving from the "hunt".

Nickels - Everything!  Nickels are currently made of 75% copper & 25% Nickel (Until further notice that is!).  I am also working on 2 Jefferson 1938 - Date sets with my kids.  This has proven to be a fun activity.

Cents - I am currently saving all pre 1981 cents for the copper value, high quality cents for a couple of albums we are doing as a family, and sorting certain dates for inspection of errors.

 I plan to post my finds here and hope to here from others as they set out on this low overhead treasure hunt!

Resources I have found useful:

http://www.survivalblog.com/nickels.html

http://www.coinflation.com/

http://www.numismaster.com

Striking It Rich With Pocket Change

A Guidebook Of Lincoln Cents

Complete Guide To Buffalo And Jefferson Nickels

http://www.lincolncentresource.com/

Coin Show Radio