Storage Auctions
The Storage Locker => The Lounge => Topic started by: rulesforrebels on July 30, 2011, 03:29:17 PM
-
From these boards as well as talking to people at auctions it seems we all got multiple hustles whether it be scrapping, resale, flea markets, etc, always looking for an angle to make some money.
Obviously we all know about silver coins but curious if anyone else is interested in copper like myself? Copper prices are going up, copper pennies are no longer being made but not many really care to take them out of circulation as its not quite worth it yet.
I guess the Canadian government is taking and out of circulation the rest of the old copper pennies they have and melting them so maybe not as crazy as it sounds though that is not necessarily to say its practical for a single person but I'm still kinda intrigued anyway
I've heard China, India and Brazil are upping their copper purchases or use between x2 and x4 in the next two years. I started buying $25 boxes of pennies at the bank and yanking all the pre '82s. I actually used some parts out of vending and slot machines I've found in units to make a sorting machine with a comparitor from an old vending machine that I rewired. Makes soritng a little quicker
Anyhow, just curious if I'm the only crazy one or if anyone else is into this.
http://www.youtube.com/user/rulesforrebels#p/u/8/XX6GOnipo1g
-
Well now that I know the copper prices are going up I may start doing that. Wondering however how this will apply to pennies. Giving that most people look at pennies (regardless of pure copper or not) as worthless trash. Giving out $2.00 in pennies and expecting $8 or what ever it currently is for copper prices is hard to stomach. lol. Just my opinion, but who knows the copper pennies may be the next gold mine. :)
-
Could make Cents!!
-
I'm still not completely sold on this being a practical idea but I have started hoarding copper pennies. I figure it's basically a no lose proposition. Pennies will always be worth at least a penny so even if this turns out to be nothing you can still bring your pennies back to the bank and recoup your origional investment.
With current copper prices a penny is worth just shy of 3 cents problem being the government has a melt ban so you can't sell yoru copper as scrap or melt it into ingots or bars. That said you can still trade them the same way people are buying and selling junk silver at coin shops. Currently on ebay you can get about $200 for $100 face value of pennies
I was buying boxes from bank and trying to get silver coins and was doing decent for a while but after dropping 3k on boxes and finding one silver half dollar I gave up. I also recently heard 99% of the silver coins is out of circulation so kinda gave up on the silver.
Th
-
I never really had an interest in coin collectin befor and still am not going to become an avid coin collector but through sorting coppers you come across wheat pennies, indian heads, and even steel and bronze pennies as well as error coins.
These can be worth money and it is interesting comming across them as well.
If anyone is at all interested in this subject there's plenty of youtube videos and some interseting sites like realcent and coinflation.
I tend to come across large jars of change in one out of every 3 or 4 units so always sorting those for copper and silver
-
I never really had an interest in coin collectin befor and still am not going to become an avid coin collector but through sorting coppers you come across wheat pennies, indian heads, and even steel and bronze pennies as well as error coins.
These can be worth money and it is interesting comming across them as well.
If anyone is at all interested in this subject there's plenty of youtube videos and some interseting sites like realcent and coinflation.
I tend to come across large jars of change in one out of every 3 or 4 units so always sorting those for copper and silver
Im not much of a collector of currency. Although after starting in the auction business I have started sorting through the change and bills. Mostly I have foreign currency. Lots of canadian and mexican coins. Have a few coins from Germany and one or two from spain. Also have two 50 Reichmark bills from the WWII era. Got a small assortment of US coins dating as far back as 1893. And to add to the collection I have a one dollar silver note from 1957. As well as a 5 pesos bill from Chichuahua Mexico circulated in 1915.
Sadly none of these are worth very much at the present time. Hoping that all of these will be worth some good change once I pass it down to my kids or their kids.
-
Could make Cents!! can make change !for good cents ! crazycarl !
-
lol - I've been doing this for years. My daughters are into sorting coins now. Oldest just found a 1891 IHC.
Even with prices of copper going down from Jan and July's high it's still a dollar higher then it was this time last year.
I love that sorting machine. I keep thinking of buying one.
-
Hoarding, Yes! Buying ingots/bars, No!
Copper IMO isnt worth the time. I am more into buying/collecting/saving/finding/etc. Silver coins and bars.
-
Hoarding, Yes! Buying ingots/bars, No!
Copper IMO isnt worth the time. I am more into buying/collecting/saving/finding/etc. Silver coins and bars.
I just found a 1944 silver quarter in some pocket change the other day but i've given up on buying boxes looking for silver. I've heard ther's less than 1% left. I went through about 3k-4k and found one silver dollar recently and that was the end for me. On the flip side however I did have a buddy who bought 1k worth and found 18 halves in there. its all about getting lucky and striking a good vain so to speak. Lately i have been doing pretty poorly and gave up though.
I built this machine to sort copper pennies...
still gotta set up an auto hopper but havnt gotten around to it.
-
I watched the video the first time I found this thread. Loved that machine you made. Or did you order the DIY kit?
Looking into getting a coin acceptors or such and seeing if can make me one for not just pennies but "world" coins. Doubt it but may try.
-
i have since built a few for some friends. i found my origional comparator in an old vending machine i found in a unit but ive since bought comparators from a vending supply company. If I buy a couple I get them for $15.95 and then its just scrap wood for the frame and an old cell phone charger to power it.
when you say world coins are you talking about searching old mexico centavos or pecos and canadian coins and stuff for silver content? i think swiss had high silver for a while too.
im no expert on vending stuff but i think some machines work with a magnet but i think most send an electric pulse throgh teh coin and compares it to the sample. the machine i guess recognizes if a coin is the same or not. if you have a silver us coin at 90% i imagine it will only pull out other 90% silver coins. if you had one of the canadian coins with 93% silver i imagine it would get rejected wtih all the other copper and zinc b/c though it is silver its not the same as the sample coin. same thing if your sorting silvers youll get the 90% but miss out on all the 40%.
It would help make sorting fast even with that flaw though. also b/c its pretty quick to sort using a mchine, especially if you have an auto hopper which i need badly, but anyhow b/c its quick you could change the sample cion and double or triple sort and it will still be much faster than hand sorting.
-
I've only found 1 silver coin in the 15 lbs of world coins I've purchased. 99% of the time they have been searched already. What I'd like to do is pull out the other copper coins, etc.
You mind telling me which coin vendor you use? I was looking at a few websites last night but everything was wholesale and you have to hit a distributor up. Scrap wood, jugs, and all that I have everywhere around my house and in my barn/sheds.
-
Craig, let me dig up my invoice and I'll give you the web address of who I bought mine from, at work just tried finding them on google and had no luck.
Here's one for just $19.95, not a bad price, it is a chinese model which many people complain about, I have a chinese model I bought a while back and though not 100% accurate after adjusting the vf tuning it was over 99.5% accurate.
arcadespareparts.com/arcade_parts/coin_mechs/electronic_coin_comparator/12905.html
There's a guy on ebay who sells something called the coinalyzer its pretty reasonable at like $34 and it comes prewired for you, wired better than my cell phone way of doing it but they both work the same his is probably just prettier I guess more finished look. Then you build your own frame.
if your serious about copper you gotta get a rydale, if you've never heard of them check it out on ebay they are awesome
-
they are awesome but they are also $500 and $800 depending on model. They also sell one called the sniper or ace which is a lil over $100 but it has no hopper so really no better than my machine aside from having a nice slide and looking more finished.
-
Ya - I've looked into buying a Ryedale years ago when they first came out. Just couldn't talk myself into it. I'm a member of a numastic forum that talks a bunch about coin sorting and stuff. From pennies up to half-dollars and everything else you can think of. With my kids we do a ton of searching by hand. Is fun and a good way to spend time with them. I'll check out the link. Thanks for it.
If I'm going to spend $500-$600 I'll get a smelter and ingot maker first. That way I can make my own gold, silver, and copper bars. Can't melt US cents but can melt everything else. I get a fair amount of copper from my world coin lots. Working to seperate them now by country and KM number so that I can update my collection. The rest I'm going to re-sale or save to melt.
Since I'm in IT I save all of the power cords and stuff also. Be surprised how many boxes of cords you can accumulate. Trying to figure out a way to strip off the case covers and everything on some of these computers but we surplus them so can't really do it. See a ton of metal going to surplus that I could get a few $$ for if we didn't.
-
ryedales are cool but unless yoursorting hundreds of dollars a week and selling your sort on ebay its not really worth buying one. I forget what I worked out but its a HUGE amount you'd have to sort just to makeyour money back. plus like you said hand sorting is fun and that way you dont miss out on steel pennies, wheaties, indian heads, etc. i like my machine because i can quickly sort pre82 from post 82 and then i have a smaller amoun to hand sort from wheaties nad indian heads
some people sell some cool home foundry kits and melt old copper pots and pans and scrap copper. if your burning wood nad making your own charcoal costs are probably not terrible but most people seem to use propane and your fuel costs are going to outweight any metal profits. if its just a cool hobby cool but if your looking at it as an investment or to sell the ingots you probably wont be profitable
-
I'm not really looking to do this stuff for investment but for fun. I have a laundry list of projects I would like to try from a redneck cooler to automatic wire strippers. I was watching some of the DIY youtube videos of various foundries. I like to tinker with stuff and love to scavenge. Is what got me into estate auctions, and now storage auctions. If I find the tools, parts, oddities, that I could use for other projects that is great. Also need various stuff around the house. So for me I suspect I may end up keeping more stuff then selling at first. I have even been known to stop and dumpster dive at times.
It's amazing how much waste and good scrap you can find in like construction dumpsters. When my daughter was ice skating we would put on ice shows. A few of us parents would make all the props and such. Well this one guy had 40 acres of stuff. He was in construction and had just about anything you could think of. He taught me who to talk to at construction sites to get free material. During the housing boon when there were 4-6 large subdivisions going in at once I could fill up my trailer with 2x4s and such that the only thing wrong with them was 3 nails and some calculations.
-
I have a jar for clad coins, one for copper pennies, one for wheaties, one for nickels.
Then I have my huge ass lot of silver coins. SAE's, Bars and dimes, a few quarters.
Im keeping all of it, I am a firm believer that the S will hit the F VERY soon.
Food/ Water
Guns/ Ammo
Silver
Im prepped.
-
I have a jar for clad coins, one for copper pennies, one for wheaties, one for nickels.
Then I have my huge ass lot of silver coins. SAE's, Bars and dimes, a few quarters.
Im keeping all of it, I am a firm believer that the S will hit the F VERY soon.
Food/ Water
Guns/ Ammo
Silver
Im prepped.
What no gold bars from storage lkrs? ;D
-
Im keeping all of it, I am a firm believer that the S will hit the F VERY soon.
Food/ Water
Guns/ Ammo
Silver
Im prepped.
OK, I'm curious, what is it you think is going to happen exactly? I know times have been tough lately and things might get worse, but do you really think things are going to devolve into a Mad Max type post-apocalyptic world?
As far as the topic goes, I collect coins, but I just can't get into modern Lincoln cents. The mintage is too high for them to ever really be that collectible. I guess if the melt ban is ever lifted someone could make some money hoarding tons of them, but it's not like the price copper is likely to sky rocket enough to make a modest collection that valuable.
-
OK, I'm curious, what is it you think is going to happen exactly? I know times have been tough lately and things might get worse, but do you really think things are going to devolve into a Mad Max type post-apocalyptic world?
As far as the topic goes, I collect coins, but I just can't get into modern Lincoln cents. The mintage is too high for them to ever really be that collectible. I guess if the melt ban is ever lifted someone could make some money hoarding tons of them, but it's not like the price copper is likely to sky rocket enough to make a modest collection that valuable.
Watch these videos about Argentina's economic/currency collapse in 2001. I think there is a better than 50/50 chance of someting very similar happening here. There are 12 parts, if the link doesn't work just type in Argentina economic collapse in Youtube.
-
OK, I'm curious, what is it you think is going to happen exactly? I know times have been tough lately and things might get worse, but do you really think things are going to devolve into a Mad Max type post-apocalyptic world?
As far as the topic goes, I collect coins, but I just can't get into modern Lincoln cents. The mintage is too high for them to ever really be that collectible. I guess if the melt ban is ever lifted someone could make some money hoarding tons of them, but it's not like the price copper is likely to sky rocket enough to make a modest collection that valuable.
I don't think it will get "madmax" style, but my preparations will get me through something like that. I do think that store shelves will be empty because the cost of food is going to skyrocket. I think once our dollar collapses, we will have a brief period of time that will see silver being used as currency until a new financial system can be established. During this brief period of time, people will go hungry. This happens in other countries all the time. We just don't think it will happen to us. It will, debt to GDP says it will. Not a matter of IF but rather WHEN. I think in the next five years, maybe sooner.
Basically, everything that our gov't has done has done absolutely nothing for the economy and we are fast approaching 100% debt to GDP (100% debt to GDP on Halloween). Factor in a trade war with China and our exposure to european banks in the form of credit default swaps, and we have a recipe for disaster. The gov't fix is stimulus, which fixes nothing. The job bill creates zero growth. Anyone can pay someone to dig a hole and fill it back up; fixes nothing, only makes it worse because now we are spending money on a "fix" that fixed nothing. Sure, roads will be smoother, bridges will be better built, but what does that matter when the factories aren't putting out the products?
I suggest watching two videos on youtube, first is a YT search for "Peter Schiff was right". This guy predicted everything that happened so far, and the YT videos show "financial experts" literally laughing at him. The second video I would recommend, "Peter Schiff testifies before congress". Two MUST WATCH videos. The congress video is great, he really spelled out to congress what will happen in the very very near future.
As another posted already said, check argentina, zimbabwe and the weimar republic for some examples of how government printing of money has caused financial collapse in their own countries. With the USA, it will be ALOT worse. We are the reserve currency of the world. Once other countries find another safe haven, we will truly be screwed. Once OPEC prices oil in something other than the USD, we will be screwed. The government is already borrowing 40% of all the money we spend, with zero intention of every paying any of it back. The fix? Borrow more. Its not a democrat thing or a republican thing, this is a government thing. When Nixon took us off the gold standard, that was our undoing. We became a completely fiat currency at that point in time, we also became the reserve currency. Now if keynesian history repeats itself (which it will), then that means the US had 40 years before the currency became 'worthless'. We hit that 40 year mark last month and we are now seeing a 98% reduction in the value of a dollar. That means what costed 2 cents in 1971 will cost us a dollar now. Ahh, gotta love inflation right? US citizens are being robbed in the form of inflation.
Not me. I hedge with metals, cant rob the value of a metal and history has proven time and again that silver and gold are always the goto currency when a fiat currency collapses. ALL FIAT CURRENCIES COLLAPSE. There is not a fiat currency ever, in the history of any country in the world, that hasn't collapsed. We are no different, we aren't special. We just have a country full of ignorant people that thing 'it wont happen to us, we're the usa'. Truth is, those are going to be the people that will starve.
I could go on and on but I really suggest searching the youtube videos I mentioned above, they spell it out in clear terms. Once watching those, you'll see things in a different light.
Youtube search for:
Peter Schiff was right
Peter Schiff testifies before congress (this one is really recent, last couple months)