New [Pennies May Again Be Steel !

ToddB64

Elite Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2006
Messages
749
Location
Georgetown, Ohio, USA
This is probably old news to some, but I read an article in the April 24, 2006 edition of my local newspaper that, due to the rising costs of zinc and copper (zinc becoming very popular and in great
demand now), it is costing our U.S. government
more to mint new pennies than they are worth !
Hence, it may be necessary to make steel pennies
again, as we did in 1943.

If we do, with copper and zinc both being costly now, it will be interesting to see what metal will be used for coating the steel.......another prise for coin
collectors !!  :yes:

ToddB64
Ace250
 
It would make it much easier to ignore penny hits and concentrate on better targets if they gave a steel signal.
 
I wonder if people will really start hoarding mem's and ZLincolns then? Go to the bank, getting $50 in penny rolls now and then figuring the melt value would be $70 - $100 (the fewer the ZLincolns, the higher the melt price) per $50 face value. Easy way to make a buck or two!
 
That would be sweet. No more zlincolns to interfere with my detecting. Of course, I was already passing them up :grin:
 
I hope they would make them out of steel again. Then I won't have to dig the idiot (memorial penny) anymore.
 
Now if we could just get all the rest of the zincs out of the ground

Epi, don't worry too much about that. Another few years in the ground and they'll be eaten away to nothing anyway.
 
Today on Bloomberg,  they were  saying   zinc  prices  are  climbing  along  with  the other metals....Hmmm, here  is  a  novel idea,  how  about  the  treasury  stop  making  pennies  all together?  I  know  it  would put  a  strain on a  lot of  people, having  to do  the difficult  rounding  thing.  There is  confusion  now  with  the penny  cup  at  almost every  register  on the planet.  I  don't  kmow about  the rest of  you but, it  has  become  nearly  as  worthless as  a  pull tab.  In  the next  couple years  there  will be  as many in the ground rotting  away  as there are  tabs.  New detector
manufacturers  will be  boasting   there  machines will eliminate zinc or the new steel  pennies  better  the competition.
I  find it hard  to believe  there  is  an organization  out  there  trying  hard
to keep  the penny  in  the system.....Probably  the Amalgamated  penny punchers  union of  America........Gil
 
If that's the same article I saw, it said that the cost of the zinc content is about 0.8 cents, and the cost of production is 0.6 cents. The US mint is losing money with every ZLincoln they are making!
Each copper penny (1959-1981 memorials) is worth about 2 cents in copper value now. Start saving this date range if you aren't already doing so!
Here's a link to check the value of your coinage -
http://www.coinflation.com/
HH
Bob
 
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