Reddit's silver "apes" now targeting silver, opportunity or fool's gold?

[myrdale]

It is interesting that there is a substantial fee for paying with CC / Paypal. $212 vs wire / check.

[disneysteve]

It is interesting that there is a substantial fee for paying with CC / Paypal. $212 vs wire / check.

Many places charge a 3% credit card processing fee. They’re charging 4% which is kind of steep but not outrageous.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm learning that all these Constitutional coins have fakes (ie, 40% Kennedy halves, 90% Mercury dimes, 35% war nickels, etc). Most of my purchases were from reputable dealers but some such as these 40% Kennedys were from eBay so I went back to my purchase history in eBay to recheck the sellers reviews which I also checked before making the purchases. Both sellers have 100% positive reviews with 800 reviews & 2000 reviews each. And both sellers appear to be dealers with other items for sale consisting of old coins and currency so that was reassuring. 40% Kennedys weigh 11.5 grams so I weighed all and they all are shaka (good), whew I was sweating it. I also scratched test some on the test stone with the acid test and looks good and shows a redish color. They all passed the magnet test as well so it's all good. Later I'll check 100 mercury dimes using all these tests but those I bought from Pinehurst coins which is a reputable dealer so I'm not as worried about the 40% Kennedys I bought from eBay. The digital scale is a bit hard to see but it shows 11.4. It's hard to fathom that 90% mercury dimes worth $3 each and 35% war nickels worth $1.25 each would have fakes but I guess if it can be made for pennys to produce I can see where profits can be made.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Cleaned the 35% silver war nickels (1942 - 1945) w/acetone which got a little cleaner. Top pic is before acetone, bottom pic is after the acetone. 2 rolls (80 total pieces) for $113.

[QuarterMillionMan]

95% copper pennies pre-1982 (1982 and after are made of zinc) are now on my radar but only as a hobby and not to get rich. Half of 1982 pennies could be either copper or zinc but don't ask me how to decipher it since I have no clue. Today copper is $3.75/lb. Each copper penny today is worth .02 cents to .03 cents due to its copper value . I did a quick search in my coffee can plastic tub of loose coins and easily found 9 pennies pre-1982. I'll be checking my pennies from now on to keep looking out for copper pennies.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Money Metals illustrates that 1982 copper pennies weigh more than its 1982 zinc counterparts. They also talk about Wheat pennies.

[kork13]

Does a penny's copper content & metal value even matter? Isn't it technically a crime to deface/destroy legal tender? .... And I'm pretty sure melting it down would qualify as "defacement"....

[disneysteve]

Does a penny's copper content & metal value even matter? Isn't it technically a crime to deface/destroy legal tender? .... And I'm pretty sure melting it down would qualify as "defacement"....

It is not illegal to deface coins as long as you aren't doing it with fraudulent intent. Have you ever been to an amusement park or museum that has those penny presses? You put in a penny and it flattens it and imprints a picture as a souvenir. Those are perfectly legal. It's also fine to use coins to make jewelry or art projects.

HOWEVER, it is illegal to destroy coins for the sole purpose of profiting from the metal content. You can't legally melt down a pound of old pennies to sell the copper for scrap. So while QMM might be technically correct that the copper in the pennies is worth more than 1¢, it is illegal to actually realize that value by melting them down. It's probably fine to sell them as is though. If someone wants to give you $2 for $1 worth of pennies in their original form, nothing wrong with that.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Disneysteve answered it for me, thanks. The copper content & metal value does matter. My goal would be to sell it if the price of copper goes higher but not melt it. Money Metals is currently selling a pound of copper pennies for $4.99. Of course I would need a lot of copper pennies to sell to make a profit but it seems like it's easy enough to accumulate.

[disneysteve]

My goal would be to sell it if the price of copper goes higher but not melt it. Money Metals is currently selling a pound of copper pennies for $4.99. Of course I would need a lot of copper pennies to sell to make a profit but it seems like it's easy enough to accumulate.

According to the internet, there are 145 copper pennies in a pound, so $1.45 worth of coins being sold for $4.99. Not bad.

How much do you think you would actually get for them? I assume you wouldn't get what the dealers are charging. Maybe double, like $2.90. Is that realistic?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Sounds about right disneysteve. One thing for sure they won't pay spot price which today is $3.75. It would definitely be below spot price so your $2.90 estimate must be accurate. They make their profits both ways on the buy and sell. We have to pay the premiums that they set whatever that may be. I used to hate coins before COVID but when the shortages became apparent I am acquiring as much coins as possible now. Still have more pennies to check but it's kind of a waste of time making only an extra cent off of a 95% copper coin pre-1983, lol.

[disneysteve]

Still have more pennies to check but it's kind of a waste of time making only an extra cent off of a 95% copper coin pre-1983, lol.

It's probably not the most productive use of your time, but no worse than the time you spend cleaning coins which earns you nothing at all.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Ha-ha, ouch that hurt, lol. And I just cleaned these 40% Kennedys' but it was fast soaked in acetone for 5 minutes and pat dry. This was the before picture. This batch was fairly clean so I didn't take an after picture. I only wanted to kill the germs on these filthy coins and now I can handle the coins without stinking up my hands. Paid $72 for all this from Golden Eagle coins, free shipping and no taxes added which normally would be 10%. Pinehurst coins also doesn't apply taxes so these 2 dealers will be my go-to dealers from now on. Pinehurst though need to spend at least $99 for free shipping.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Premiums over spot price seems to be returning to normal at $1.50 over spot price. For the past 2 or 3 years the premium has been about $10 over spot price or more for silver American eagles (SAE) at close to $15 over spot. I'm not sure why the premiums were so high but it's good to see it returning to normal. To avoid paying those high premiums I was buying 10 oz bars or even a kilo bar at about $2 over spot price or 90%, 40%, or 35% silver coins which have lower premiums but now I see that I can start buying 1 oz rounds again for just $1.50 over spot price.

[james.hendrickson]

Premiums over spot price seems to be returning to normal at $1.50 over spot price. For the past 2 or 3 years the premium has been about $10 over spot price or more for silver American eagles (SAE) at close to $15 over spot. I'm not sure why the premiums were so high but it's good to see it returning to normal. To avoid paying those high premiums I was buying 10 oz bars or even a kilo bar at about $2 over spot price or 90%, 40%, or 35% silver coins which have lower premiums but now I see that I can start buying 1 oz rounds again for just $1.50 over spot price.

No Doubt QMM, I never understood why the premium over spot for the 1oz American eagles was so high. The only idea I had, and this is speculative, is that high inflation was driving demand for the premium silver products. And since 1 oz American Eagles are the most sought after silver bullion coin, I figured they'd show the biggest effect of demand.