Why You Need to Own Nickels, Right Now

Economic Policy Journal ^ | 2-6-2011 | Robert Wenzel

[blam]

Why You Need to Own Nickels, Right Now

Robert Wenzel
Saturday, February 5, 2011

On November 11, 2010, I wrote in the EPJ Daily Alert:

Back at the commodity level, copper is the latest to hit a record at $8,966 a ton. Copper is certainly not a "goldbug" play and is simply an indicator of economic (inflationary) demand. At some point, nickels, which are mostly made of copper, will start to disappear from circulation.
There's right now 6.2 cents worth of metal in a nickel [Note the value is now up to 7.2 cents.-RW]. When I run into someone that does not have a strong background in investing, I now tell them to buy nickels. You need storage space and a strong back to move them around, but a $100 box of nickels (roughly the size of a very large brick) can be lifted without a problem. You can stack plenty of "bricks" on a hand truck.
What's great about this investment is that there is no downside. In the unlikely event that there is no inflation, you can just spend your nickels... again, this is a great conservative investment...I fully expect the coins will eventually climb in value to at least double their 5 cent price.
The government has made it illegal to melt them down, but you will never have to do anything close to that. When you need to liquidate, just sell them to a numismatic dealer.

Gresham's law (bad money drives good money out of circulation) will take over at some price point and the coins will simply disappear from circulation, just like the pre-1965 silver content dimes and quarters have, and trade at much higher prices.
Those silver dimes now have over $2.00 worth of silver in them, the quarters have roughly $5.27 worth of silver, and you will never find one in circulation. The current nickel has 7.28 cents worth of metal content (mostly copper) in it. At some point they will disappear from circulation.
Indeed, that may not be far off into the future, if the story starts to get around about nickels the way it seems to be.

Financial author Michael Lewis told a story about a huge nickel investor, this week on the television show, The Colbert Report. The must see video is here.

Note: You can track the metal value of nickels and other coins at Coinflation.com.

[HiTech RedNeck]

When non-copper nickels hit circulation, the Federal banks will themselves pull the old copper nickels so that the mint can reclaim the copper.

[joinedafterattack]

It’s illegal to export them as well.

[blam]

"Back about 20 years ago I got a silver quarter in change out of a copy machine."

A friend of mine has a daughter who finds an old silver coin in change at the 7/11 where she works from time to time.

We think they get back into circulation through burglaries or that sort of thing.

[blam]

"So when is the last year that copper pennies were made?

1982

[blam]

"I've got to go add a few more dimes to fill my WWII Uncle Sam Cash Register Bank which unlocks only when it reaches a total of ten dollars inside, and hasn't been opened since about 1945....."

Holy Moly...you're rich!

[blam]

"When non-copper nickels hit circulation, the Federal banks will themselves pull the old copper nickels so that the mint can reclaim the copper."

Get'em while you can, eh?

[matthew fuller]

Thanks.

[cherry]

legally, you can’t melt down coinage....how do you make money from pennies or nickles if you can never use them for their mineral content.

[blam]

"...how do you make money from pennies or nickles if you can never use them for their mineral content."

They're bought and sold by weight at coin stores.

[Quix]

thx thx

ping to Joya;

[Smokin' Joe]

We think they get back into circulation through burglaries or that sort of thing.

Either that or piggy banks getting raided for the first time in years.

We had a rough year before the latest boom, and the average $10 lot of pennies from the bank would have three or four wheat cents and was about half copper. Now, more like 20-30% copper and no wheaties.

A friend built a nice collection of Silver Certificates and US Notes working at a bingo hall about 20 years ago. A couple of little old ladies would bring them in every week to buy cards with. Some bills even had rust stains from the paper clip, and it is likely they remembered the depression and didn't trust banks still.

[blam]

90% Silver U.S. Coin Bags

Each 90% silver bag contains either 4,000 U.S. quarters or 10,000 U.S. dimes dated 1964 or earlier...weighs approximately 800 troy ounces (or 54 pounds)...and contains approximately 715 ounces of pure silver.

One of the primary benefits of a 90% silver coin bag investment is that the bag has a built-in guarantee simply unavailable with most other silver investments: No matter what happens to the price of silver, the value of your 90% silver bag will never be worth less than its $1,000 face value.

[April Lexington]

In the old days, this crap had chocolate candy inside...

[April Lexington]

Back about 20 years ago I got a silver quarter in change out of a copy machine.

That's nothing! I got a 1943 quarter in change at the local Big Box this past December. Darned near had a Holiday Heart Attack!

[April Lexington]

Only problem is it is a federal crime to melt nickles.

Not in Mexico, Senior! That porous border works both ways!

[April Lexington]

It’s illegal to export them as well.

It is also illegal to enter the United States without proper documentation...

[Mrs. B.S. Roberts]

ping. ask me re: 0M

[IncPen]

Only problem is it is a federal crime to melt nickles.

If we get to that point, the idea of this as a federal crime is going to be the least of our problems...

[Freedom4US]

Clearly, copycat copper capers create consternation.

[jiggyboy]

I wouldn’t worry about the general populace catching on right away. Similar articles have been on the survival websites for at least a year: http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/02/letter_re_stockpiling_nickels.html