Timeline for Which is worth more - a chest of nickels or half a chest of dimes?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
19 events
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| S May 30, 2015 at 19:34 | history | suggested | jscs | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Removed unnecessary quotation markup; fixed a few bits of grammar.
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| May 30, 2015 at 19:33 | comment | added | Floris | According to wikipedia, the cost of MAKING the nickel exceeds the face value; but that is not the MELT value. | |
| May 30, 2015 at 19:32 | comment | added | Floris | @WhatRoughBeast - yes, but you have only half the volume for the nickels... this answer assumes the intrinsic rather than nominal value of the coins drives the answer (as the comment thread shows, that assumption is only valid if you are willing to break the law...). Incidentally, according to coinflation.com , the intrinsic (metal melt) value of neither coin exceeds its face value: it lists the nickel at 3.8 cents, and the dime at 1.5 cent. Only copper pennies are worth more melted down. Note the cost of MAKING the coins is greater - but that is irrelevant. | |
| May 30, 2015 at 19:20 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S May 30, 2015 at 19:34 | |||||
| May 30, 2015 at 16:05 | comment | added | WhatRoughBeast | @Damon - I don't know where you got your numbers from, but you can pack roughly twice as many dimes in a space as you can nickels (assuming the space is large compared to the coins. Your answer is incorrect. | |
| May 29, 2015 at 21:11 | comment | added | Adriano Varoli Piazza | @user2813274 yes there is. "the United States Mint introduced new interim rules on December 14, 2006, that criminalized the melting and export of pennies (which as of 2013 cost 1.83 cents to produce) and nickels." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… | |
| May 29, 2015 at 14:26 | comment | added | user2813274 | @Atsby that's the way the U.S. law is, sure - but there isn't anything preventing you from melting them elsewhere, i.e. China - and as far as exporting large amounts of the coins, you would have to declare the $$ amount and possibly pay taxes on it, but it's not exactly illegal either. | |
| May 29, 2015 at 11:47 | comment | added | Don Hatch | "Protects taxpayers from bearing the costs to replace coins withdrawn from circulation?" Why do they need to be replaced? Isn't it time for pennies and nickels to be retired anyway? What a waste of time. | |
| May 29, 2015 at 9:42 | comment | added | Atsby | @Lefty Lots of nutters think you don't have to follow IRS "rules" either. Guess where some of them end up? | |
| May 29, 2015 at 9:17 | comment | added | Lefty | Sorry Jason Hutchinson, the above was aimed at @Atsby. | |
| May 29, 2015 at 7:58 | comment | added | Lefty | @JasonHutchinson I don't think it's quite that simple. Just because it's a "rule" does that mean they'll necessarily win in court? I'd say the fact that you own a coin pretty much gives you the right to do what you want to it. The crime is trying to commit a fraud - which you're not. Besides, the maximum fine is only $10k so you'd easily be able to pay that out of your illgotten profits! | |
| May 29, 2015 at 1:47 | comment | added | Atsby | @JasonHutchinson It's not a "legal gray area" by far -- melting down U.S. cents and nickels is punishable by $10k fine and up to 5 years in jail. usmint.gov/pressroom/?action=press_release&ID=771 | |
| May 28, 2015 at 19:54 | comment | added | Jason Hutchinson | The above being said, it is illegal to deface a coin or currency to pass it off as something that it isn't. However, there is no law which specifically makes it illegal to melt down US coins. It is a bit of a legal gray area. | |
| May 28, 2015 at 19:52 | comment | added | Jason Hutchinson | Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States. This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent. | |
| May 28, 2015 at 17:27 | comment | added | Cthulhu |
makes you wonder why people aren't buying large amounts of nickels and resell the metal... because it is illegal i think.
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| May 28, 2015 at 15:55 | comment | added | Damon | @mmking: Well, there's the tag "lateral thinking", so I thought melting the nickles and selling the metal (disregarding nominal value) would be a valid approach :-) | |
| May 28, 2015 at 15:49 | comment | added | mmking | I believe that the OP mentioned in the question that nickels are worth five cents and dimes are worth ten cents. However, your answer is pretty interesting if you ignore the conditions stated in the question. | |
| May 28, 2015 at 15:42 | review | First posts | |||
| May 28, 2015 at 15:49 | |||||
| May 28, 2015 at 15:37 | history | answered | Damon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |