why metal is money - the long version (bonus: nickel roll hunting)

A bit of what I know, mixed with my opinion. Metals have always and still do make the best money - a unit of account, store of value, and a medium of exchange. We can only be tricked into believing useless and infinite things are money if we allow ourselves to be. Educate yourself about money, because the "educational system" certainly won't.

Canadian Nickel composition by year:
1946-51 --- .999 nickel bullion
1951-54 --- .chrome-plated steel (the nickel was used up in the war)
1955-81 --- .999 nickel bullion
1982-99 --- .750 copper .250 nickel
2000-11* --- worthless steel painted with nickel so it looks like money

* Note, some of the Canadian nickels made in 2000, 2001, and some other years do have some nickel and/or copper in them, because the RCM still had some of those metals on hand at the time. If you're serious about not letting any real money slip through your hands, you could use an accurate scale, the ping test, or a magnet to sort the 2000-and-beyond nickels. And after a while, you'll be able to visually see the difference. Pure nickel is dull, dense, and grayish.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• metal is money
• gold
• silver
• precious
• nickel
• copper
• base
• metals
• useful
• scarce
• rare
• rarity
• scarcity
• usefulness
• history
• stellar
• nucleosynthesis
• commerce
• trade
• barter
• banks
• interest
• fiat
• usury

[ClearSkiesAndSqualls]

I wish I saw this video 2 weeks ago when I brought in all my nickles (about $16) worth to the Bank to get money to buy Silver. =(

[drutter]

@ClearSkiesAndSqualls

Darn! Well, at least you turned your nickel nickels and your steel nickels into silver. Better than into paper, and then into chocolate, and then into body fat. I know a guy who did that. It wasn't me....... promise.

[drutter]

@Meathead36

Oh, I read that one too. It instructed me to burn witches, stone wizards, hang gay people, kill my first son to gain favour in The Lord's eyes, and smear sacrificed goat blood on myself and my house to protect myself from demons. (For those who haven't read it, no, we aren't talking about the LotR trilogy.)

[drutter]

@mcgrawtim123

WHAT?!?! 4.5 billion years into this little experiment and we're not even going to get any gold or silver out of it when it's done? Bah! What a waste of time! Scrap this solar system and start over! :p

[BtwadeCoins]

I'm super jealous about the dates you found. I wish I had one from each year...

[drutter]

@imRyRy

Yeah, I know a lot of people who will give me the paper equivalent of the metal value, any day of the week. Businesses can only give you the face value (try buying $7 worth of gasoline at Chevron with a quarter from 1960!) so you have to convert them to paper currency before you can spend them. If you don't know anybody that will do it, find people using eBay, Craigslist, and other sites. Or find a local bullion dealer, flea market, swap meet, and so on. Good luck and have fun.

[imRyRy]

@drutter So you do have a place that will recognize the nickel content of the coins (or you have a place that will melt it)? This is what I'm asking.

[drutter]

@imRyRy

I see the nickel metal (not the nickel coins) as money, so I won't be cashing them in for paper currency, ever. Just like silver coins from a few decades ago were once just currency made out of metal.... now they're worth 25 times their face value, and rising. I don't cash my silver in, either. It's money. Paper isn't. I store my value in metal. I buy paper rectangles with my metal, when I need them to make a purchase etc.

[imRyRy]

I mean how are you going to reap the benefits of it containing more nickel and thus being more intrinsically valuable? When and how will you see its greater value at work? I don't necessarily mean "cashing" it in for money.

[drutter]

@imRyRy

I don't need to "cash in" on the nickel - it's the money.

[imRyRy]

I have a question. Is the time/profit ratio of what you're doing worth it? + When and how will you ever cash in the extra nickel found in those coins?