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tmaring
Penny Collector Member
USA
302 Posts |
 Posted - 10/30/2009 : 08:42:39
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I went to an auction yesterday, at the old Gallery Mint Museum site. Among the many interesting items for sale were BARRELS full of coin blanks. Mostly they were cartridge brass (Cu70, Zn30) but some were nickle brass (Cu70, Zn24, Ni6). I tried to do a quick mental calc as to how many pounds were involved in order to know how to bid. I went higher than I wanted to, but still got them cheaper than their scrap value. (I think the other bidders were just planning to scrap them and dropped out when their margin disappeared). But these are basically perfect coin blanks, punched, rimmed, cleaned, and burnished, and stored in plastic bags with dessicant... no way would I scrap them! The bulk of the hoard is 5 gram cartridge brass in weight, 1.0 inch diameter (quarter sized). I estimate there are 1250 pounds of that size... something like 95,000 blanks.
Now all I need is a good project for all those blanks! I'm thinking of starting a local currency.
I also bought 1300 pounds of 5/32 oblong 302 stainless steel balls, used as a tumbling media. Usually this specialty product is sold in 2 pound bags for $50 ($25/lb). I bought two barrels of the stuff! I plan to sell it in 5 or 10 pound bags for $10/lb. plus shipping. Or a 50 lb box for $350 postage paid (in US). Now all I gotta do today is go back and figure out how the hell I'm going to get those things into my truck. Looks like I'll have to bring a bunch of buckets and offload because the barrels are almost impossible to move.
My back is killing me from moving the blanks yesterday. Hopefully I'll make it through today without spraining something.
have fun!
Tom
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Tom Maringer
Shire Post Mint
Springdale, Arkansas |
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Brass token blanks!!!
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