Pennies, Pennies everywhere

[CowboyKolo]

Out of curiosity, what does everyone do with the coins that are corroded beyond saving? I've got several pennies for instance lately that actually crumble a bit when they are picked up. I usually toss those. But is there some way to take these coins and do something with them, aside from stockpiling them or is it toss time?

 

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[txkickergirl]

i throw mine in a mesh bag run them through the washer and then coinstar them

 

[davest]

I send my messed up ones to the Office of Management and Budget, Washington D.C. to alleviate the national debt. I figure if I do this for 13 centuries, my kids won't have to.

 

[ianSF]

I take the corroded pennies, soak them in lemon juice and salt to get the worst of the corrosion off. If they're "bubbled" and thicker than normal, they get a quick whack with a hammer. Then I roll them and deposit them 50 cents at a time. I get penny rolls from the same branch for searching coppers, and I've never had one come back.

I figure the more people who see these new corroded zinc pennies, the more will realize how "rotten" and debased our monetary system has become. Kind of a metaphor, really...

 

[bradyboy]

I store / hoard every penny regardless of the condition
due to the copper value and the future copper melt value
I hear conflicting reports that its illegal to do so
Is it true?

 

[ClonedSIM]

I store / hoard every penny regardless of the condition
due to the copper value and the future copper melt value
I hear conflicting reports that its illegal to do so
Is it true?

It's currently illegal to melt US coppre cents.

But as for you hoarding every cent, you do realize that there's a huge difference between copper and clad cents, right? The cents described above are clad US cents, which mean it has a thin copper coating surrounding a zinc center. Essentially worthless, and surely not worth hoarding. The pre-82 copper cents are a different store, but corroded clad cents really have no copper value.