| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| wolvesdad |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 20:08:00
I have received 3 boxes now, from two different banks, all three by brinks....stamped #137 I believe that have had all of the copper sorted out. Only about 6 or 7 copper cents in the whole box(the first one I went ahead and sorted)
ANyone else experienced this yet?
Oh, one box dated Jan 30, and the Other was Feb 6 |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| jtm3 |
Posted - 08/04/2009 : 20:33:13
Western Loudoun County Va, Picked up a box today and got around 9% copper 7 Wheats and only 3 Canadians.
Way different than the N.F. boxes I have been getting from a different bank more recently.
But I am out to get another box tommorow. I I'll pick them up at my normal(of late) bank.
There may be a big time sorter in the area. =( |
| Gr33nday43 |
Posted - 08/04/2009 : 17:18:39
Jtm3, where are you located? |
| jtm3 |
Posted - 07/21/2009 : 00:31:31
out of three brinks boxes i have gotten about 30 coppers
Most are solid zinc rolls
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| sheba |
Posted - 07/19/2009 : 20:24:13
Congrats to those who have had or are having high yield copper finds! Awesome! Hope it keeps up for you all who are finding that condition of things in the 'great penny hunt'.
We are getting a pretty steady 20 - 25% copper per roll (we only hand sort, so numbers are quite small) with a very few 'wheaties' ... we do get some copper Memorial cents that appear to be UNC ... Those are saved aside, but not sure if there is much interest in them from a numismatic standpoint.
sheba |
| wolvesdad |
Posted - 07/19/2009 : 18:19:52
Wow, I hope it's not happening in Ft Wayne also....if so, I'm missing the fun!!
Good luck with that Tourney, I hope the copper fairy keeps the stream flowing!!! |
| Tourney64 |
Posted - 07/13/2009 : 19:20:03
I'm starting to see very high copper percentages here in Indy. Been getting nothing but 100% copper in my change. Just turned in the last week. Someone is dumping who had a lot of copper. I'm thinking it might be Brinks, unless it's some of our group. |
| double dot |
Posted - 07/11/2009 : 22:24:40
Very interesting thread that I had read before and have thought about off and on. Thank you slickeast for getting it rolling again.
There are lots of great tidbits in each page.
Some things to keep in mind regarding the apparent arbitrary distribution of new coins and the disappearnce of old coins in different areas. I have no proof only theories.
Money and therefore coins could be considered as a disease vector for a pandemic. Although some consider metal to be antiseptic in all cases, post Clinton, the possibility exists for an secretive but formal policy for coins to be returned to the areas from which they were received. This would reduce the speed with which coins could spread disease. This would cause increased granularity in high copper collecting areas relative to non-collecting areas. This type policy may have been already implemented in other areas with repetitive used items subject to travel. Use your imagination - rental cars / reduction of items carry on items and luggage size shrinkage.
The appearance of large amounts of new coins in some areas and not in others may not be only because of growth or decline of population or money in those areas. An anti-smuggling program at the southern borders could be fought with massive dumps of new +/or old zinc pennies in the major southwest cities near the southern borders – Houston, San Antonio, El Paso in Texas alone. This would reduce the copper coins near the border to zero and the coin inflow to border rural areas from the nearby major cities would not increase copper supply.
In Puerto Rico, with the main smuggling in of Santo Domingoans and drugs in via ships, a steady supply of copper going out could be fought with massive replacement of copper pennies with old and new zinc coins. The new 2009 Lincolns are readily available in San Juan but not the 2008 new coins showing up in 2009 elsewhere. This might be a visible technique to discourage smuggling. I would assume the labor of coin sorting would probably take place in Mexico and Dominican republic due to cheap labor.
A policy could also exist to retire a certain amount of copper pennies each year upon the introduction of a larger quantity of zinc pennies. This policy would be implemented at different times of the year in different cities/regions. This in theory would reduce the grungier old coins although the grungiest are not copper but zinc. |
| knibloe |
Posted - 07/11/2009 : 09:02:02
[quote]Originally posted by HoardCopperByTheTon
Things have come full circle. Now that we all want solid zinc new pennies, we get copper. Last night I sorted 2 Brinks boxes.. figuring I would generate a little zinc to dump for lunch money. Had to check the Ryedale when it looked like everything was coming up on the copper side. It was fine. I love when you can count the zinc by hand. Got 44 zincs out of that box. That's 98.2% copper.
I had the same thing happen to me the other night. My wife obver drew the checking account and I figured I would sort some pennies and make a deposit. I did two bags and they were at least 90% copper. Each bag only held a fistful of zincs. Strangely, only 4 wheats for the two bags. |
| Copper Catcher |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 15:35:30
Does anyone know how long it took for the majority of 90% silver coins to vanish from circulation after 1964? Two years, three or more?
Obviously at that point there was little to take it's place so the coins lingered in circulation. It would be hard to say if you did away with the penny how long it might take before they too would vanish and be deemed collectable or melted.
I never heard of Indian Head pennies been melted or the older Large Cent pieces. But they all had to go somewhere! So do you think all were either lost or kept in coin collections? |
| TXTim |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 12:04:44
Hoard-
Great score! I saw 4 boxes like that once & they also held quite a few wheats - did you find more of those than usual?
CopprCatcher-
If they do ever recall pennies our ultimate exit strategy will be realized! |
| Copper Catcher |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 09:04:36
I would have to check to make sure that little green light my Ryedale if I was getting 98% copper sorting.... but congrats Hoard on those box finds!!
Anyway, my two cents or penny thought on this subject.
Well if you were one of the "big guys" i.e. those sorting hundreds of thousands of dollars are not seeing legislation anytime soon to lift the melt ban and you already have tied up lots of money and now sitting on copper what would you do?
A) Keep sitting on the copper
or
B) Cross the boarder to Mexico to a refiner just over the boarder for the quick melt.
So the prices of copper has gone up and down and I would suspect it is a lot like silver hard mining and a some point people just hold back until prices increase.
I think I remember someone figuring and giving an estimate on how long it would take to effectively pull out all the copper in the system. It is not going to happen overnight! Also, I think it is safe to say this board activity is much like our missile defense system. If we are under attack i.e. the copper is leaving, we all will know very quickly!
When we will see copper leaving fast is when the Obama administration finally rolls around to doing away with the penny, which I predict they will before his term expires. I think the Mint will tell the banks that all pennies will be shipped back to the Federal Reserve to be “reclaimed” i.e. to help save the enviroment so another green shoot can grow! Excuse me…..I think I need to go to the bathroom I’m feeling a little sick……
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| HoardCopperByTheTon |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 08:26:56
Things have come full circle. Now that we all want solid zinc new pennies, we get copper. Last night I sorted 2 Brinks boxes.. figuring I would generate a little zinc to dump for lunch money. Had to check the Ryedale when it looked like everything was coming up on the copper side. It was fine. I love when you can count the zinc by hand. Got 44 zincs out of that box. That's 98.2% copper. So I think this is a fluke and grab another box. This box only yields 27 zincs. That's 98.9% Copper! Both of these boxes were from one of my regular banks that really likes me. Even when they don't have many boxes of pennies on hand, they are always willing to swap their boxes for mine. You can bet I am going to be doing some major swapping there. Ah, 98% and 99% Copper boxes. Kind of reminds me of the way we used to sort in my younger days. Of course back in those days we always got a pure 100% copper yield.. cause that's all they made them out of. We didn't keep them back then.. we were only sorting for wheats. Maybe Brinks is putting the coppers they pulled out last year back into circulation. Might be a good time to start getting Brinks boxes again. These boxes were from the same branch I first started getting zinc duds at when the drought hit.  |
| TXTim |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 08:00:55
I was getting 30% dud boxes of assorted date zinc last year when the copper price was in the stratosphere and believed that Coinstar had contracted with Brinks to pull copper.
Haven't seen a box like that in 6 months. I do pray for solid zinc in the form of '09 pennies these days! |
| Gr33nday43 |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 02:34:52
Good! Sort as much as you can, as fast as you can. If you are a handsorter, I believe it it cheaper to just go ahead and buy the copper from members here on the board. Welcome to Realcent, beerdoodle! |
| beerdoodle |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 01:03:48
Just actually bought my first box yesterday. (Loomis) Through 11 bucks hand sorting, it has been 34% with 7 wheats so far. I usually nickel and dime it 5 bucks here, 10 bucks there, and what not. Makes the bud lite go down smoother. Will probably start buying boxes now, however. |
| Gr33nday43 |
Posted - 07/09/2009 : 22:57:45
Hoard, My ryedale arrives next week. Time to secure my ton..or two...or three. I hope this doesn't happen again any time soon. |
| HoardCopperByTheTon |
Posted - 07/09/2009 : 22:54:06
I remember back when this was occuring. Members all over the country were reporting "dud" boxes. It was taking a lot of the fun out of sorting. We were starting to sweat a bit. But the combination of low copper prices, thin markets, inablility to get laws changed in your favor when you own just 1 congressman, etc.. caused the big boys to realize they couldn't tie up that much operating capital.. so things went back to normal for now. But just wait till copper prices start soaring again! Better sort more now, while the getting is good. |
| thewalrus81 |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 21:32:18
Here in NW Florida, I've only sorted about 25-30 boxes total, but did come across 1 Brinks box about 3 weeks ago that had less than 100 total copper cents...I generally have been getting about 350-400 or so in Brinks and about 500-600 in NF String. I haven't picked up a Brinks box since; just gonna try and stick with NF. |
| Bluegill |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 17:04:17
quote:
Originally posted by Mikep2020
Seen 100% zinc boxes? I haven't.......yet. I actively get brinks boxes all the time and they are still 27%-32% Cu in my neck of the woods, and they are recent boxes with 2009 pennies in them. I don't think any companies are actively sorting on a commercial level, unless its happening in an isolated area or region that was beta testing a new copper recovery facility or something, but not on a national level.
After reading this whole thread from last year, it sounds like a majority of the copper should've already have been pulled for circulation if Brinks or any company was sorting on a massive scale last year, or at least average percentages would be down in the low teens if they were doing this.
I have to agree. My percentages have actually crept up in recent months. The Detroit 'burbs are getting a solid 30% right now.
|
| Market Harmony |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 15:37:00
Before I switched to my regular source bank, I had ordered $350 in $25 boxes from one bank that uses Brinks. I did this on 3 occasions. The first delivery was a normal mix, and the tellers were very happy for me to come in, but as I left they said that the Brinks man hated me. 
The second batch I ordered $1000 in halves as well as the $350 in cents. With the exception of 2 or 3 boxes, the cents were all sorted, and about 97% zinc. The other boxes were about 97% copper! I don't know how or why those boxes got rolled that way. If they were sorting out the copper, why would they roll them afterwards? The halves contained 90% and 40% silver.
The last order was similar to the 2nd... 2 or 3 boxes of coppers, and the rest were zincs. I didn't order any more after that and found a bank that gets NF String boxes for me with no fees.
Now I just need a good dump bank. The one I use now has no fees, but the counter is slow... $325 in zincs takes me about 2 hours total as they have to switch out the bags, and the thing keeps jamming. |
| Mikep2020 |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 14:36:33
Seen 100% zinc boxes? I haven't.......yet. I actively get brinks boxes all the time and they are still 27%-32% Cu in my neck of the woods, and they are recent boxes with 2009 pennies in them. I don't think any companies are actively sorting on a commercial level, unless its happening in an isolated area or region that was beta testing a new copper recovery facility or something, but not on a national level.
After reading this whole thread from last year, it sounds like a majority of the copper should've already have been pulled for circulation if Brinks or any company was sorting on a massive scale last year, or at least average percentages would be down in the low teens if they were doing this. |
| Robarons |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 14:29:52
LOL, I was reading this on the first page thinking it was new until I read the date and realized that I read this already!
I think there was a couple isolated incidents of this, but nothing taken to the extent like this thread. I think Cnessa mentioned that in fact sorting company was sorting out the copper and was trying to take them off their balance sheet, a couple months after this thread was started.
With the combination of low copper prices, tight cash flows, and focusing on core business activites, I do not think that they are sorting right now. You could remove the ban now or with the current prices any time of the year, it wouldnt spur any sorting, the price is likely too low to turn a meaningful profit.
BUT, My brinks are still normal in my area. |
| slickeast |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 12:36:34
This thread is old....but has anyone else seen this latly? |
| HoardCopperByTheTon |
Posted - 03/17/2008 : 12:15:36
I use those cat litter buckets too. One of the best hints I picked up on this board. The way I get mine is to let friends and relatives know I want them and they save them for me. One lady at coin club brought me 2 more this month. I just picked up a couple of nice 19 gallon tubs yesterday.. that should cover me for a little while. |
| wolvesdad |
Posted - 03/17/2008 : 09:02:48
I don't have cats... But I've pulled two of those buckets out of the trash(dumpster) They are great!!! Really strong and convenient! Wish I had ten more. Wish I had enough copper to fill all 10 of them! |
