Scrap value of a 1d please

[copper123]

I recently bought around £1 face value of old pennies , not sure why , they were just cheap really .

They cost around 3p-4p each , did I do well I would have thought they were worth that as scrap .

There is always that pier at southport .................

[Sword]

Each penny is 9.4g and would give a scrap value of 5.0p by my calculation assuming it is all copper. 

[1949threepence]

2 hours ago, copper123 said:

I recently bought around £1 face value of old pennies , not sure why , they were just cheap really .

They cost around 3p-4p each , did I do well I would have thought they were worth that as scrap .

There is always that pier at southport .................

You never know what you might find in them.......

[Paddy]

Last time I scrapped in a bunch or old pennies and halfpennies I got £3.30 per kilo. If my calculations are right, that means £1's worth or old pennies would get about £7.50 scrap - just over 3p per penny. (Time has passed, so the rate may have gone up by now.)

Even though the coins are bronze, not pure copper, I have found most scrap dealers will give the same price as copper.

 

[Sword]

I had a look and the current spot price is £5.33 per kilo, being 1.4 times the price in March.  I suspect the scrap merchant would quite reasonably want a cut and so the price might not be much higher than what Paddy has got unless you have a large amount.

[Rob]

Agreed. I picked up a few kgs of scrap Vicky pennies a week ago and the person I bought from was expecting to get about £3/kg for them. 10p either way won't affect the fundamentals.

[ozjohn]

Bronze contains about 10% tin a much more expensive metal than Copper. About three times I think.

[Zo Arms]

Scrap copper prices are on the up. Weighed in last Monday and got £4.20 kilo. Previous Friday, ie  3 days before was at £4.09.

Bronze coins weigh in as heavy copper. Just a tad below bright wire which is the best grade. I weigh in at EMR. European Metal Recycling. It's the people that the side street scrappies go to, so cuts out the middle man.

They set their prices for the week, on a Monday.

[copper123]

It's easy to reflect 50 years on if those pennies were put in a savings account say in the post office they might be worth around £2.40- £3.00 max , if withdrawn now.

Interest was fairly high for the first twenty years or so (seventies and eighties) and gradually has decreased to nothing for the last five or so years.

Interest rates are tipped to turn negative soon so the better alternative of gold silver art and antiques would be a better way to save

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by copper123

[DaveG38]

1 hour ago, copper123 said:

It's easy to reflect 50 years on if those pennies were put in a savings account say in the post office they might be worth around £2.40- £3.00 max , if withdrawn now.

Interest was fairly high for the first twenty years or so (seventies and eighties) and gradually has decreased to nothing for the last five or so years.

Interest rates are tipped to turn negative soon so the better alternative of gold silver art and antiques would be a better way to save

 

This is an inteersting point that my wife had the advantage of recently. Her dad took out an insurance policy on her as a baby in 1947 paying just 2d a week. This continued until around 1988, when payments ceased. When we went to cash it in some 30 years later, we thought it might be worth £50 or so. Imagine the surprise to find its value had risen over 60 years to about £1700 or so.

[copper123]

I would presume payments into the plan stopped in the eighties because nobody though it worthwhile collecting the 1p a week in the insurance industy

[DaveG38]

10 minutes ago, copper123 said:

I would presume payments into the plan stopped in the eighties because nobody though it worthwhile collecting the 1p a week in the insurance industy

No, I believe it was a 30 year plan so it came to a natural end in 1988. It then sat moribund for another years quietly accumulating interest, until we discovered it, and found to our surprise that it was still current. A nice little gift though.

[copper123]

It must have been an endowment plan with a life insurance element to be worth so much , I am surprised it was just forgotten about , some never get claimed after so many years and end up enriching the insurance funds .

[copper123]

3 hours ago, DaveG38 said:

This is an inteersting point that my wife had the advantage of recently. Her dad took out an insurance policy on her as a baby in 1947 paying just 2d a week. This continued until around 1988, when payments ceased. When we went to cash it in some 30 years later, we thought it might be worth £50 or so. Imagine the surprise to find its value had risen over 60 years to about £1700 or so.

sounds like it lasted fourty years rarther that the thirty you mentioned

1947-1988 = fourty years

[Peckris 2]

10 minutes ago, copper123 said:

sounds like it lasted fourty years rarther that the thirty you mentioned

1947-1988 = fourty years

I read it as "30 years after 1988", i.e. around 2018.

[DaveG38]

Don't get hung up about the number of years. Just my bad maths. It was 40 years payments followed by 30 years accumulating value. As has been said there was a life assurance element, which helped. Even so, we were very surprised at the final surrender value.  

[copper123]

2 hours ago, DaveG38 said:

Don't get hung up about the number of years. Just my bad maths. It was 40 years payments followed by 30 years accumulating value. As has been said there was a life assurance element, which helped. Even so, we were very surprised at the final surrender value.  

Yes an endowment usually has no cash in value for ten years followed by an investment of 110% of funds for the next thirty

[ozjohn]

Just to return to the subject of this post I checked the specs. of post 1860 pennies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(British_pre-decimal_coin) According to wikipedia the alloy used for post 1860 pennies was Cu, Sn & Zn in varying quantities but with 95 to 97% Cu. Therefore the content of other metals in pennies was very small making the price of scrap Cu as good guide as to the melt value of pennies.

Edited September 24, 2020 by ozjohn
typo

[blakeyboy]

I have an EMR account for cable and alloys, and I get  'Heavy Copper' without asking each time I weigh in currency bronze....

[copper123]

On 9/24/2020 at 11:12 PM, blakeyboy said:

I have an EMR account for cable and alloys, and I get  'Heavy Copper' without asking each time I weigh in currency bronze....

Do they ever question if its UK  ex currency? It  used to be illegal to melt it down,  at least in the uk, in the usa they are more enlightened and you can do what you want with you money - even give it to the trump 2020 re-election campaign if you really want to waste it , LOL .

Edited September 26, 2020 by copper123

[blakeyboy]

Ha!

 

No- they see old pennies and know what they are.

I'm not the only guy who brings them uk bronze coinage at that yard, apparently.

[Zo Arms]

11 minutes ago, blakeyboy said:

Ha!

 

No- they see old pennies and know what they are.

I'm not the only guy who brings them uk bronze coinage at that yard, apparently.

Exactly the same at the Portsmouth EMR. Another guy weighs in the bronze there. Saw them at the bottom of the bin. Health and safety prevented a rummage.

I recall Mike's thread some months ago wondering how much had survived post melt and I commented then that I thought the percentage was dwindling rapidly for this very reason.

We may get to a position whereby when a new variety is discovered, a Gouby X say, there is very little left to sort through.

[blakeyboy]

When it gets to 200Kg, and you're not going to put that in the loft, and you need the money, it's difficult not to weigh it all in....

 

[copper123]

On 9/21/2020 at 7:31 PM, 1949threepence said:

You never know what you might find in them.......

Life is like a box of chocolates as forest gump once said

[Zo Arms]

For those interested, heavy copper price at EMR was £4.51 per kilo this last week. Best price I've had for a long time.

There will be a new weekly price from Monday but likely to be similar, maybe. Welcome touch just before Xmas.