# Coins



## Ronaldinyo

I have a 5 gallon bucket I've been tossing change into for over 20 years. 

It's almost full...I can't lift it anymore. 

Can you think of a use for all these pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters for a post SHTF situation? 

It comes in real handy for a poker game...But I'm wondering if I should continue saving them or cash them in.


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## SDF880

Cash em in while still worth something! Maybe save the copper coins and the rare but still occasionally happening silver coin.
Check the dates on everything!


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## Ronaldinyo

No silver or collectables..I checked. 

But boy...if I needed copper 2 years after TSHTF, it would be great to still have my nickels!


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## hag

If you reload you can use the dimes in your shotgun. Billy the kid shot the town marshal with a couple of 9 dime loads when he was busting out of jail and he said it was the best buck eighty he ever spent


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## Chipper

Turn the useless metal into something useful, quick before you can't.


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## Prepared One

I have a 5 gallon water jug I toss my change into at the end of the day. Every now and again I cash it in and buy a gun.


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## hag

I've got a bucket almost full at home and thinking about cashing them in and using the money for prepping. Think I may get some fire extinguishers with the money


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## Camel923

see if you can buy junk silver coins with it. More likely to hold value if traditional cash is worthless. US silver coins have a reputation for a specific amount of silver per denomination.


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## Slippy

I've saved my coins in a large jar for many years. When our 2 boys were young, once a year usually on a rainy Saturday morning, I would ask them to separate and roll the coins. For their work, they could split the bounty. BUT...

First they had to save 10%, 
Then they were to give 10% to Jesus
Then they paid 30% to the Tax Man...Me.
The rest they could spend as they wished or save.

We would go to the bank to cash them and each boy would deposit their savings. They then would pay the Tax Man his 30%. The Tax Man would then pull into the Liquor or Beer Store. It took the boys a few years to figure out the Tax Man was not spending his money very well. 

I was so proud of the great lessons (Math, Savings, Charity and Over Reaching Foolish Government Spending) that I taught them...


True story and one that I tell many young parents.


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## Maine-Marine

hag said:


> If you reload you can use the dimes in your shotgun. Billy the kid shot the town marshal with a couple of 9 dime loads when he was busting out of jail and he said it was the best buck eighty he ever spent


mythbusters did the dimes out of a shotgun thing.... it proved to be a bad idea... they do not travel well and have little to no penetration.... you are better off with small round pieces of metal...go figure


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## Oddcaliber

Cash them in and get some preps while they are still worth something!


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## BuckB

Saving change is a great way to build up some savings painlessly. A 5 gallon jug is roughly $2000, give or take. Cash it in and pay down some bills or buy some preps if you are debt free.


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## Ronaldinyo

Yeah, I'm getting concerned that if I add any more to the bucket it will break thru the floor & fall to the basement.


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## 7515

Hey Ron !

Glad to see you made your way over here to PF.


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## A Watchman

Yep, I have done this many times. It adds up while you are not watching.


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## FLPrepper

If you are going to buy 90% silver try to concentrate on the lower denominations. Dimes will be helpful in smaller transactions if the SHTF and we go to full on barter system. Besides, people like halves better and are willing to pay a larger premium for them - stick to dimes and quarters if you can.


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## C.L.Ripley

James Wesley Rawles says save nickels. I heard him recently on something saying he's got like five thousand dollars worth, or something like that. He said why but I can't remember exactly what he said. 

One thing I believe he said was the nickel is the only U.S. currency that's still worth the value the government places on it.


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## FLPrepper

The only coin whose metallic components melt value is higher than the coin's denomination is pennies minter in 1982 or earlier. These are primarily copper in composition and melt value as of Friday's close was about 1.36 cents. Seems like a great return, but by the time pennies are no longer minted everyone holding on to literally tons of these pennies will flood the market with them driving copper prices down to the point that the premium you currently have over the denomination shrink to near zero. Nickels only carry a melt value of just over 1/2 denomination, so they are not worth hoarding unless they are ware nickels from the 40's that trade for almost $1 each.


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## Quip

I put pennies aside and then check the silver coins for the more valuable things (not much these days) and then into a bowl. When the bowl fill it holds about $75. That's enough for a few hundred 45 rounds or a 150 round box of green tips.


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## phrogman

I usually fill the cup holder or a bin on my vehicles with change. It's an extra few bucks for gas or what not. It can also work as a hasty weapon if I dump it in a sock. In my nightstand I keep a tin box that I use to dump whatever change I don't leave in the vehicles. That one I have used to fill up my water jugs for my preps and to give to my little one so he can fill his piggy bank.


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## rice paddy daddy

I sold all my silver coins a few years ago when silver happened to be at a high point.
I still have a few mint sets, and one 1964 proof set containing the last silver JFK half.
But all the rest went. I got them at face value, so I made a tidy profit.

Silver coins immediately after a national SHTF event will not get you much from the average person, who sees a silver quarter as just a quarter.
i'd rather have beans and bullets.


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## FLPrepper

You make a great point and this is why I like to stick to mercurys and Franklins as there are no clad versions of them to be mistaken for. You are still not going to have trade partners who are savvy enough to recognize that the coins are silver, but they will be fewer and farther between if you stick to mercurys and Franklins.


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## Targetshooter

if you want to stock up on something ? stock up on wheel weights , you can melt them down for bullets if needed and you can get them free at any tire shop , just ask for the used weights . I have 4- 5 gal. buckets full , I got for free .


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## RotalSnart

Chipper said:


> Turn the useless metal into something useful, quick before you can't.


DING DING DING!!!! We have a winner!

I'd do a quick scan for 90% silver coins before taking it to the bank.


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## SDF880

Got a 61 Roosevelt dime in change last year. Also got a 1883 Liberty nickel in VF condition. Someone must have unknowingly spent coins from 
a collection?


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## StratMaster

Every evening I empty my change, $1, and $5 bills from my pocket into an old Christmas cookie bucket. By December every year I have as much as $1500 saved in a painless manner. It is my Christmas fund for the youngsters/godchildren.


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