Coin Roll Hunting vs. Purchasing Bullion

Considering the efforts needed, coin roll hunting seems as though it is a lot of energy to obtain metal. Coin roll hunters need to obtain coins, sort through thousands of them, and then prepare the zinc and steel coins to be returned to the bank. If one wants to acquire metals, such as copper or nickel, then why not simply purchase bullion bars or coins instead of coin roll hunting? This would save you a lot of effort and still offer you the metal that you desire.

Coin roll hunting has advantages over purchasing bullion

While purchasing bullion does save you time, the savings in price that one receives from coin roll hunting is incomparable in relation to simply purchasing copper or nickel. A quick example is sufficient to demonstrate this. Let’s take a Canadian penny from 1985 for our example. Since it falls between the years 1982 and 1996, this 1985 Canadian penny is made of 98% copper and weighs 2.5 grams. Remember, this is the smallest copper penny Canada had in circulation, and therefore offers the least “bang for your buck” compared to other Canadian copper pennies that you will find while coin roll hunting. As such, the 1985 Canadian penny will demonstrate the superiority of coin roll hunting in relation to purchasing bullion. Let’s calculate how many 1985 Canadian copper pennies it would take to acquire 10 pounds of copper.

1 pound = 453.59237 grams

453.59237 grams x 10 pounds = 4535.9237 grams

Since our 1985 penny is 98% copper, we have to divide by 2.45 grams, instead of 2.5 grams, since this represents the weight of the copper in the penny and disregards the non-copper portion.

4535.9237 grams / 2.45 grams (copper weight of 1985 Canadian penny) = 1851.03

1851.03 / 100 cents in a dollar = $18.5103

= $18.51

Therefore, to acquire 10 pounds of copper through coin roll hunting, you would need to find about 1,851 1985 Canadian pennies, costing you about $18.51. However, remember that this is the worst-case scenario, since you will be receiving pennies outside of the 1982-1996 years, which are heavier and have more copper in them, and therefore offer more “bang for your buck.” For example, to achieve 10 pounds of copper, taking a 1975 Canadian penny as our example, it would cost about $14.29! However, let us take our example of the 1985 Canadian penny and put it up against a 10 pound bullion copper bar.

Provident Metals, which is a reputable seller of bullion and sets their prices competitively, currently sells 10 pound copper bars for $61.99 each. Even foregoing the cost of shipping, the difference between obtaining 10 pounds of copper through coin roll hunting and purchasing bullion is staggering. The individual who obtained his 10 pounds of copper by coin roll hunting is able to acquire 3.35 times as much copper as their counterpart who purchased bullion. This difference in price is also important when one considers the possibility that the situation may arise when you need to sell your copper. The individual who coin roll hunted his 10 pounds of copper will not have to worry about taking a loss, since the pennies will never be worth less than the face value that the individual paid for them. The bullion purchaser, on the other hand, runs the risk of needing to sell when the copper market is below the price that they paid for it, forcing the sale of their copper at a loss. The same cost analysis between coin roll hunting and bullion purchasing applies to nickel and silver. 

Therefore, based solely on cost, coin roll hunting is a better method of obtaining metals than simply purchasing bullion. The advantages of coin roll hunting over purchasing bullion is also present in the fact that the coin roll hunter has the ability to make a lucky score and obtain a coin that far exceeds its face and metal value due to the numismatic qualities that it has. At the end of the day, although purchasing bullion is a fair way to save time and effort, the excitement that is produced through coin roll hunting cannot be measured in dollars.