How to Invest in Copper at a Steep Discount

You can invest in a commodity that has always served as money, with just a little cash and at a discount to the actual price of copper.

Investing in durable commodities like gold, silver and copper protects your purchasing power in inflationary times. With the US printing new money by the trillions this is a very real concern.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Federal Reserve Notes (paper $$s)
• Good Sources of Copper
• Desire to invest

1. 
   A real cent

   Understand that US Pennies up to 1981 are 95% Copper/Cu and Canadian Pennies up to 1996 are 98% Copper/Cu. After these dates pennies have been made from copper coated zinc (US and Canada) and copper coated steel (Canada) in a process called debasing.

2. 
   68 lb box Copper Penny Bullion

   Find a good supplier set up to supply at the level you want to invest at. Some suppliers focus on 1 lb to 10 lb lots. Other suppliers focus on 68 lb flat rate USPS boxes. Some suppliers will sell you a ton (2000 lbs) or more at a time.

3. Decide if you want to hold the copper yourself or have it stored:
   
   If you are investing in a few to a few hundred lbs you should store it at home. 68 lbs fits in a USPS flat rate box that will slide under most beds.
   
   If you want to invest by the ton instead, consider having your copper stored in a secure location.

4. 
   1 ton of copper pennies at the Portland Mint

   Go shopping for your copper pennies. Sources include:
   a) e-Bay.com - Copper Bullion category.
   b) Copper Cave www.coppercave.com for smaller lots
   c) The Portland Mint www.portlandmint.com (larger lots)
   d) Realcent Forum http://realcent.forumco.com/ (various sellers and good place for education)

Tips & Warnings

• You could also sort coins and build your own stash
• check out www.coinflation.com for the current melt value of copper pennies
• Don't try to melt or export your US copper pennies - it's currently illegal.
• Don't let your kids or spouse spend your copper pennies - educate them too about real money.

Resources

• The Copper Cave - small lots
• Portland Mint - large lots and secure storage
• Coinflation is a very useful resource
• Learn and network with others interested in copper pennies at Realcent forum
• Gold is Money Base Metal Forum
• Major Bullion Dealer Endorses Pennies as Bullion

[jadedragoninbc]

on 11/17/2009 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=aGMX2bGIq5Lw Copper Hits 13 month high.

[jandruth]

on 11/15/2009 Good information.

[snakesmom]

on 11/15/2009 This is a very smart article. I know copper is only growing in value, so these are very smart ideas! Thanks :)

[rosekolowinski]

on 11/12/2009 Hmmm...always wondered what happened to all the older pennies! Interesting article. Thank you

[rkremer]

on 11/3/2009 Great way to invest. 5* and rec.