Hi Jim:
I just finished the article titled “Sorting Canadian Pennies” and had one more thought regarding the comments on nickels. What everyone is predicting will happen to the US nickel has already taken place here in Canada. The current US nickel is 25% nickel and 75% Copper making the 5 cent coin already worth around 6 cents. That is a great investment if you ask me! The Canadian nickel on the other hand, has already been badly debased, valued at around 4 Cents. This happened in 1982. However, Canadian nickels that are pre-1982 [but post-1954] are 99% nickel! This makes them worth around 9 cents today and as little as a month ago, they were worth 12 cents in melt value! A note to Canadian Prepper “Ni”: although it is a little work (My kids love to help with this) sorting out pre-1982 nickels is still possible. I find on average of 8 pre-1982 nickels per [50-coin] roll and there seems no end in sight to supply. But don’t wait too long, as I know I am not the only one who has figured this out.
Any thoughts on why there are still so many in circulation today? I thought that in 1982 [or soon after] all the nickels with real value would have been snapped up just like all the silver coinage we used to have. I wish I had been around when there was still silver in circulation but I will settle for this. Happy hunting. I have $200 more to sort through today and thanks to you Jim, my collection is growing–and not just my collection of nickels! – Mike in Calgary, Canada