Buzz
Like many, you likely have a stash of coins tucked away at home. It might be an aged jar overflowing with loose change or a cluttered drawer layered with forgotten remnants of past transactions. Hidden within your home lies a small fortune you may never tap into.
Exchanging those coins often feels like more trouble than it’s worth. Using a Coinstar machine, for instance, could cost you 12.5% plus an additional 59 cents per transaction. Banks might charge a fee or even decline your request—and you’ll need to sort and roll them beforehand, essentially paying yourself a minimal wage for tedious labor. Spending them directly can also be challenging, as businesses aren’t legally obligated to accept specific payment methods, and you’ll only receive face value.
However, you could potentially get more. Certain pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters might be worth more than their nominal value—if you know where to sell them. These aren’t rare collectibles but older coins with a higher melt value.
Valuable metals
As you might have observed, U.S. coins are crafted from metal, which inherently holds its own worth. While most contemporary coins are predominantly composed of less valuable metals such as zinc or nickel, older coins were minted from more precious materials like silver and copper. Silver coins—dimes, quarters, and half dollars—produced before 1964 contained approximately 90% silver, and pennies minted prior to 1983 were about 90% copper. This makes these coins significantly more valuable than their face value suggests.
Melting pennies (or nickels) is prohibited, as it has been illegal since 2007 (the government aims to keep these coins in circulation due to their high production costs). However, melting silver coins is permitted; although briefly banned in the 1960s, it is now legal (likely because very few silver coins remain in circulation, making their melting economically insignificant). You can explore the “melt value” of vintage silver coins here.
This implies that your jar of loose change could be far more valuable than you realize—provided you sell those coins to the right buyer.
Large quantities of pennies and scrap silver
When discussing coin sales, most people envision rare and collectible coins that can fetch extraordinary sums. While it’s unlikely your jar of change contains such treasures, your best approach is to sort out older coins (and perhaps watch for rare ones in the process, just in case you’ve struck gold) from newer ones and sell them in bulk:
Pennies. Pre-1983 pennies, with their high copper content, are attractive to those hoping the government might eventually lift the ban on melting them. If the value of an old penny rises to, say, 10 cents in the future (they’re currently valued at just under 3 cents each) and melting becomes legal, hoarding them could yield significant returns. You can sell bulk copper pennies on platforms like eBay, Craigslist, or through local coin shops and collectors (the CoinSales subReddit is a useful resource). For instance, a Los Angeles family recently discovered and sold a massive haul of copper pennies (around a million) with ease.
Silver. If you possess pre-1964 quarters, dimes, or half-dollars, there are numerous avenues to sell them. These non-rare silver coins, often termed “junk silver,” still hold value above their face value. While eBay and Craigslist are options, you might secure better deals at local pawn shops or through online dealers like Kitco or APMEX. Checking the melt value of your coins beforehand ensures you receive a fair offer.
Remember, these sales are subject to taxes, as they’re taxed at the capital gains rate. This will reduce your profit, so ensure the numbers still make sense before proceeding.
At worst, your jar of spare change is worth its face value. However, with a bit of effort, you might extract a little extra value from it.
