Where can i sell my pennies prior to 1982 for more than 1 cent???

Question

where can i sell my pennies prior to 1982 for more than 1 cent??? i have researched and found out that pennies prior to 1982 were made out of copper and are acutally worth 3 cents, i have atleast a thousand pennies prior to 1982 (alot of them are 1960s), is there any place i should go to in order to sell my pennies for atleast 3 cents each??? does any such place exist? i live in california.

Answer 1

Due to the fact that it currently costs about 4 cents to mint one cent (aka a penny - however the US doesn't make pennies) there is a restriction in place that forbids the melting down of cents for their copper value. If you actually managed to find a buyer for your copper cents it would be taking advantage of them to sell the coins to them without making sure that they are aware of this.

http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=press_release&ID=724
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-12-14-melting-ban-usat_x.htm

Answer 2

No one will buy them for it is against the law to melt cents or nickel at this time. In fact you can only leave the country with so many. No company is going to take the chance that the U.S. won't do what Canada does and that is when the banks get back old coins that have the copper and nickel in them they go back to the mint and are melted so that the metal can be used as a cover for the new steel coins.The metal will go farther since it is used to only plate the steel blank.

Answer 3

Try your local flea markets, (if there are any near you,) you can usually find coin brokers at flea markets. Just be sure to see a few different brokers before you sell, to get the best price.