Pennies & Nickels

I spent a bunch of old silver dollars my dad gave me a few years back. I didn't know how much they were actually worth.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
I spent a bunch of old silver dollars my dad gave me a few years back. I didn't knt ow how much they were actually worth.

Ugh - that sucks. On rare occasions you can find pre-65 silver quarters & dimes. Silver is down right now but the quarters are worth $5.00 & the dimes are $2.00 so check your change. I have found 2 silver quarters & 1 dime in the past few years but they are rare indeed to be in circulation. Believe it or not - if you live near retirement communities you have a better shot of finding them as the seniors are using them & have no idea what they are worth. Sad but true.

Found this article from last year that refers to Hedge Funds looking into the pre 82 pennies.

Good luck

If Laws Change, 'Penny Hoarders' Could Cash in on Thousands of Dollars

Just to give you an idea of what people are doing - there is something called Silver Rolling/Hunting. Basically people are going to banks & ordering a box of dimes, quarters, or half dollars & going through the boxes hunting for pre-64 coins looking for the 90% silver coins.

I don't do this but people are doing it - imo its a waste of time to do it for the dimes & quarters but you probably still can do pretty good with the half dollars - a Franklin or Kennedy Half Dollar is worth $10 in silver content. Essentially you order a box of coinage from you bank & go through it looking for the 90% silver coinage & just return the unwanted coins back to bank so it doesn't cost you any money & you might get lucky. Don't have the time to do it but if your retired or unemployed & have time on your hands...go for it.

Couple of tips - have banks you get the coins from & have different banks you drop the unwanted coins off at - the tellers are going to get pissed if you use the same banks to bring the coins back repeatedly. U know what i mean?

Also not all banks carry the half dollars so you will have to hunt around.

This video kind of explains the concept but this dude gets lost in the accounting but you get idea - people are doing this...and its free money if you have the time.

Peace

This is an excellent idea. I have loads of survival provisoins prepped, but never thought of this one! Will start this ASAP! Thanks OP!

Originally posted by seaside sky
reply to post by Wildmanimal

 

Thank you for that information ! I actually have a forge and crucibles, so perhaps I could process the pieces at least as far as burning off the non-metallic stuff.

You actually have a forge and crucibles?

You must be a blacksmith or something. Or you just have a nice fully equipped workshop in the garage?

You know years ago, they used to nip a bit off a gold coin in circulation.

Abatude: Means money that's been clipped. In the old days, the edges of gold or silver coins would be clipped off to make change. So the entire image would not be showing. Think on today's term with a quarter having a nip out the corner to represent 12 cents because you don't have a dime and two pennies.

I made a post on this subject quite awhile ago. I only got six replies.

Here is a link to that post.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I know someone that owns a Laundromat and he takes the quarters and dips them in a weak nitric acid solution for a couple minutes,
this takes a very small amount of silver off the coins and if done properly leaves no trace.

but he gets large amounts of quarters every week.

A small amount of copper dust or foil can be added to the solution and the copper will replace the silver in the solution and you get a gray slime that is high grade silver and can be melted into a sliver bead
This works on clad coins.

reply to post by Rocketman7


Blacksmithing is more of a hobby for me right now (though it has some SHTF potential as a useful skill). It is something of a family tradition.

Coin clipping does have a history ! Good point there. During the Weimar collapse it was very common, and it was also common during the Spanish economic collapse of the early 17th century. I don't think the coins we have now have much raw metal value, except some of the older ones, as the OP had said.

If the S really HTF, even some of the junky metal coins could be melted down for bullet casings I suppose....

Originally posted by MichiganSwampBuck
I made a post on this subject quite awhile ago. I only got six replies.

Here is a link to that post.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

thanks, swamper. good info.
to clarify; this is for pennies minted through and including 1982. 95% copper.

so; the Annunaki created man to mine for copper, not gold, and they will return on 12/21/12 when copper reaches the necessary intergalactic value. right?

reply to post by BABYBULL24

Ugh - that sucks. On rare occasions you can find pre-65 silver quarters & dimes. Silver is down right now but the quarters are worth $5.00 & the dimes are $2.00 so check your change. I have found 2 silver quarters & 1 dime in the past few years but they are rare indeed to be in circulation. Believe it or not - if you live near retirement communities you have a better shot of finding them as the seniors are using them & have no idea what they are worth. Sad but true.

Keep in mind that some 1965 thru 1970 US coins had 40% silver and have intrinsic value too.

I just checked at the coinflation site that was previously linked, and a 1970 Kennedy half dollar coin has $4.18 worth of silver in it, at the current silver market price.

reply to post by butcherguy


Was referring to the 64 Kennedy Halves - $10.24 today. They are the ones people are hunting for & the Franklins.

Originally posted by BABYBULL24
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Was referring to the 64 Kennedy Halves - $10.24 today. They are the ones people are hunting for & the Franklins.

edit on 14-5-2012 by BABYBULL24 because: (no reason given)

Yes, because they are 90% silver.

I am saying not to pass up 1965- 1970 Kennedy halves.... They are 40% silver and also are worth much more than face value. There are also 40% silver Eisenhower Dollar coins out there too.

Found this article on why it's a good idea to hoard those '82 pennies & nickles.

"Obama wants cheaper pennies and nickels"

money.cnn.com...

Excuse my ignorance
but if I want to get a whole bunch of coins, am I allowed to use any bank? I bank with BOA (hate them lol)... but are there special banks where people go to order half dollar coins?? I watched the video posted about and couldn't make out what bank he mentioned, but the way he stated it, it sounded like he went to one bank to purchase the coins and then went to his personal bank to deposit what was not pre-64.

Some thing else that could be lots of fun and an interesting use for pennies... we may not be allowed to melt them but I don't know about this one

from the folks at- www.facebook.com...

"Copper Pennies + Clear Resin = Beautiful Floor
If you want to try this: Save this picture and go to your local Big Box Home Improvement store and ask them what type of Clear Resin would work the best and what kind of under-lament would be needed. In this picture they had a concrete floor to work with. Yes, it would be cheaper than the average floor, if you did the work yourself. The price, including the cost of the pennies would probably range from $2.50 to $3.50 a square foot.

I'm retired and enjoy travel. I try to avoid the interstates and see rural America. About 8 years ago I spent a night in a small town, Credo West Virginia. I had dinner at a fast food drive thru (don't recall name) and later that night found my change contained a 1930's dime and 2 wheat pennies. The next morning I intentionally got just coffee there and then some biscuits at another drive thru. A 1950's dime and another wheat penny. A fluke? I'm thinking a rural economy is much more local and self contained , not a lot of new money coming in nor old going out.

I've tried it during other travels but have only scored a few more wheat pennies, always in small towns.

Pay with an amount which requires maximum change!

I'm retired and enjoy travel. I try to avoid the interstates and see rural America. About 8 years ago I spent a night in a small town, Credo West Virginia. I had dinner at a fast food drive thru (don't recall name) and later that night found my change contained a 1930's dime and 2 wheat pennies. The next morning I intentionally got just coffee there and then some biscuits at another drive thru. A 1950's dime and another wheat penny. A fluke? I'm thinking a rural economy is much more local and self contained , not a lot of new money coming in nor old going out.

I've tried it during other travels but have only scored a few more wheat pennies, always in small towns.

Pay with an amount which requires maximum change!

When sorting for pre-82 pennies, one thing to keep in mind is that the switchover occurred halfway through the year in 1982, so approximately 50% of pennies minted that year are actually of the old, higher coppery yield variety. There are coin sorting machines you can purchase that use a coin comparator to differentiate between the two, but the difference can easily be heard by dropping the coin onto a table. The different alloys make a completely different sound. Use a pre-82 penny as a point of reference. :-)