Copper Source

[CSEMARTIN]

I've been doing some thinking.

A penny weighs 3 grams. A pound is roughtly 450 grams. A pound of copper is worth about 4 dollars. Pre-1982 pennies are 95% copper (http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/tsullivl/commoncents/PennyComposition.htm).

So, if my math is correct, $1.50 worth of pennies is actually worth 4 dollars in copper.

[Chris Keen]

[insert :popcorn: icon]

While we wait for the men in black to find you. J/K

[/ :popcorn: icon]

It might sound logical, but I doubt that you anyone would get away with it.

The end might justify the means, but it's still slightly illegal.

Edited May 29, 2008 by CHRIS KEEN

[CSEMARTIN]

it's still illegal.

I don't have a problem with that.

[JThompson]

~Ducks~

[Chris Keen]

Wouldn't it be easier to save all your pennies, and put them on eBay ?

Or sell them to China ? How much would the shipping be on that ?

[GentlemanJim]

Sorry Buddy ...Pennies are made of ZINC with a copper wash

Gotto go back pre 1964 for copper.

Jim

[Chris Keen]

I still think you could make a mint [pun intended] by selling them on eBay. One at a time. There's a sucker born every minute. Just in S&H charges alone you could clean up faster than the FBI could find you!

[J-Ho]

Sorry Buddy ...Pennies are made of ZINC with a copper wash

Gotto go back pre 1964 for copper.

Jim

You sure Jim? I've got some early 80's they sure look like copper. I know that later pennies are zinc and that the copper on the outside hold together while the zinc inside is nice and liquidy. Then when something drops on them the copper breaks and the nice slightly warm zinc splashes out. Don't ask how I know this.

[GentlemanJim]

I could be wrong on the date...you could melt a few and verify dates

In the old days I would solder them over holes in gas tanks

Jim

[EricW]

Sorry Buddy ...Pennies are made of ZINC with a copper wash

Gotto go back pre 1964 for copper.

Jim

Not pre-64, but definitely pre '82.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/24/news/funny/penny/index.htm

We need to just switch materials and go to either soft steel or hard aluminum jackets.

[J-Ho]

...you could melt a few and verify dates

Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it.

[PINMAN44]

I like having presidents on my bullets.

[J-Ho]

I like having presidents on my bullets.

So did Booth.

Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.

[Dave Gundry]

Pennies now have a zinc core, but there's a still a bit of copper in them.

Not sure how true this is, but AFAIK, pennies are not technically legal tender anymore. Merchants do not have to accept them, and there is no law against destroying them. Again, not 100% on that one, so research it if you want to. I think I heard that ~15 years ago while mushing them on train tracks

[dajarrel]

......Not pre-64, but definitely pre '82. ......

There are both copper and zinc based pennies with the 1982 date on them. That was the year the gubment was swapping over. I used to collect coins and the only definitive way I could ever tell the two apart besides cutting it in half was to weigh them. Copper pennies weigh more and also have a distinct sound when dropped on a table top as compared with zinc. I don't remember the reason given, but in the early 80's, I can recall banks buying pennies by the pound. You could make a few cents on a dollars worth.

FWIW

dj

[D.Hayden]

Gotto go back pre 1964 for copper.

'64 was the phase out of Silver in the small coins, and the dilution in half dollars, that finally phased out in '69.

And just to be real geeky.. they started making real silver coins again in '92 - but only in Proof sets.. so not usually seen, unless some brat kid breaks into a set for ice cream money.

[PINMAN44]

Your sick hahaha

[Airedale]

Pennys make (and cheap) good washers.

Dave