Copper is selling for about AU$6.70 a kg (or $100 for 15kg) for paper copper, so that is a reasonable price.
bit more than that, 1lb copper spot is US$3.047 LB or AU$3.535 LB there's 2.2 LB to 1 KG, $3.535 x 2.2 = AU$7.777 KG x 15 KG's = AU$116.55 x 10% = $128 ish.
Now that we're talking scrap, let me ask a question completely unrelated to copper. Do you know where to get scrapped CPUs from old PCs?
if your wanting to buy cpu's you could post an ad on scrap forum to buy, if your prices are good then people will send them to you. Currently these are my own buy prices, if you can beat that, which for private refining you probably could, then you'll get scrappers selling to you. CPU - $10 kg (P4 with pins or pinless) CPU - $18 kg (green or brown fibre, no heatsink) CPU - $22 kg (black fibre) CPU - $32 kg (mixed ceramic) CPU - $80 kg (Pentium pro) CPU - $100 kg (Motorola & Intel 386/486)
Yeah that's it, gold ratio by weight. A pentium Pro for example is a big CPU, twice the size of others and contains 1 full gram of gold in it. An Intel 386 has less gold but weighs considerably less overall, so the gold to weight is higher.
I've been buying some copper rounds started as speculation. When I give the kids a silver, I give them a copper counterpart too - when I have them. They are enjoying the copper as much as the silver for esthetics. I'm certainly not expecting $100 silver, but if it happens, the copper is sure to be right behind in the collector categories. What I like is I can give the grandkids some without the capsules. The darn things are pretty.
I've just begun throwing a few copper rounds with my silver orders a month or so ago. I mainly buy the ones that are replicas of old us currency like liberty cap, draped bust, capped bust so that my kids can actually see a detailed picture of what the coins used to look like. 200 years of circulation has distorted the image on some just a little bit However I don't like the way copper tarnishes, get real ugly fast.
So if you put them in an air-tite (I know, the air-tite is about the cost of the coin), would it prevent it from tarnishing? Right now, I think they are stunning, and go very well next to the actual silver currency they replicate. I also agree with the poster that indicated his kids like copper rounds just as much as the silver ones. I ordered my kids some copper Christmas coins (snowman and reindeer) for their stockings. I probably wouldn't buy silver Christmas rounds (too expensive) as nobody at our LCS wants to buy them. However, I think I paid like $6 for all 4 rounds and think in an air-tight will still be a link to a great memory. Again, given solar is finding alternatives and/or reducing the amount per panel of silver, I am not sure what will ever drive the prices. I don't see silver used as money again in the United States.
Yes, the kids get the copper in airtires, and the grand kids (age 6 and under) get one in, one out. This is one of those potential sleepers for collectors. The relatively high markup on collector stuff is very often what was cheap or free when it was manufactured. Have a cigar box full of crackerjack toys, could be worth hundreds $$$. Penny postcards, I sold several with an average price of $50. I rescued them from my parent's basement. Depression glassware, free in boxes of soap, sold by the boxful for a few dollars in the 50's, was bringing $50+ for the key pieces in the 80's. Lots of counterfeit stuff, you have to know what you are buying. So collectable that people started counterfeiting it. Wallace Nutting prints, colorized black and white photographs, sold door to door for a few dollars during the depression. In the 50's a box full of framed prints were a few dollars. they were selling the cheap frames, the prints were included at no cost. I wanted to buy some in the 80's, couldn't find anything under $75, nice stuff was over twice that. No guarantee on the coppers, but I'll spend a few hundred. Collectables are about memories. Real, cash value, is secondary.
I like the zombucks in copper. The silver rounds don't fit my stacking goals so I get the much cheaper copper round. I also like to have one of the original coins and the zombuck next to it
I do the exact same thing, except I include a silver zombuck as well. So I have a silver zombuck, a copper zombuck, and the original coin all in a "zombuckish" case ....from Hobby Lobby
Copper rounds sell for about $1(US) per ounce. That's $16 per pound when the copper price is $3.06 per pound??? Over 500% premium? That's like paying $87 for a 1 ounce silver round. No thanks.
If you enjoy both and/or your kids enjoy both, think of it this way: a copper round costs $1.25 and a silver round costs $18.00 IMO, neither are money makers compared to the stock market over time. As a percentage loser, copper is worse than silver. However, as a dollar amount loser, silver is worse than copper - at least for me. I started a few months ago making my first silver purchase at $20. Been buying and getting financially clobbered ever since (even though I haven't sold anything, and don't plan to).
What about manufacturing costs? Design costs? Energy input? Packaging? Transport? We're not collecting silver rounds as some way to get rich. Its often just a bit of hedonistic fun. I spend more on beer and have less to show for it.
I got some copper coins for free with silver purchased. But now, their donator appears to have eaten my last silver orders money with delivering nor answering, so those free copper coins turnt out to be mega expensive. As for now, because if I don't get a reply / deliverance, I'll try more unfriendly ways.
