I Bought $250k Worth of Physical Nickels | Hacker News Reader

I Bought $250k Worth of Physical Nickels

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25 pointsAnon8419 comments

"One side note, and it really irks me, it seems to be a legislative reaction to some morons increasingly wanting to melt Cents and Nickels. It is now illegal to melt them. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought that the mindset of melting coins to make a profit never made an ounce of sense. It costs money to transfer a globally recognized coin with a known metallic composition, into a bar or round, and to have that object assayed. It’s the undertaking of an idiot. And yet, untold millions of silver coins have been reduced to bars and rounds. Friggin’ idiots."

Some person on Quora, for whatever that's worth.

This is almost certainly a troll account and not real. Also, like many pointed out, melting US coins is illegal.

Is it illegal to melt a coin that’s out of circulation? Is it still a coin if it’s out of circulation?

https://www.usmint.gov/resources/business-guidelines-faq

> Can I melt, drill holes through, or mutilate U.S. coins?

> Maybe. It is a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 331 to alter a U.S. or foreign coin with the intent to defraud. The United States Mint cannot issue interpretations of criminal statutes such as this, which fall within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Justice. Furthermore, 31 C.F.R. Part 82 states that no person shall export, melt or treat any 5-cent coin or one-cent coin of the United States. However, there are a few exceptions such as for novelty, amusement, educational, jewelry and similar purposes. Your business should consult with an attorney to ensure it does not run afoul of these laws before melting or mutilating U.S. coins.

And yes, it's still a coin if it’s out of circulation. A few years ago I decided that saving my old Eisenhower dollars was not worthwhile. The local Panera Bread took it without a problem. I think the cashier thought it was a neat to see an unusual coin.

When I was younger and working at a comic book store I honored the face value of out-of-circulation 1922,1923 silver dollars *, and then promptly swapped with my own cash. LOL. Still have ‘em.

* evidently, these are the most common “silver” silver dollars, but that’s another story.

In the US, there is no such thing as "out of circulation". All coins issued since the Mint started minting is legal tender, thus cannot be melted by people.

I do not know about Paper Money, but I am 99.9999% sure all paper currency issued by the Federal Gov. is Legal Tender. But IIRC, some are illegal to own, like the 100,000 note.

> But IIRC, some are illegal to own, like the 100,000 note.

Is there a law against it, or just the fact that they were never circulated so any $100,000 bills in private hands must be stolen property?

The one account I know that follows this account is @chasedownloads aka Chase Passive Income, which is a parody of a certain kind of entrepreneur, very much not real.

This is not real. No one associated with this account (or, probably, any account) has bought these nickels.

I feel like I must be telling everyone something they already know…please tell me I am

I saw this on Twitter and it sounds extremely fake. As for the replies, it's hard to tell if people are playing along or actually believe it.

The picture isn't even his, I just searched "box of nickels" to see if it's standard to have such an unremarkable looking box and this ebay listing showed up with the same picture: https://www.ebay.com/itm/275972601184

Good for him I guess that he'll probably make a couple hundred bucks from twitter impressions. I regret spending any attention on this, flagged and blocked...

Curious to know how buying a pizza with tip in [Florida](https://floridianpress.com/2025/05/desantis-approves-law-all...) with [10 dimes pre-1964](https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/series-detail.aspx?MVDet...) goes.

Joking aside, not a bad bet.

Fun fact, it's not only legal to melt pre-1964 currency, it was often encouraged as a way for currency to hold its value.

Pennies and Nickels do not fall into that bucket, however.

> Worst case? I still have $250,000 in legal-tender coins backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.

Worst case is you have to live in a house full of nickels or pay for a storage unit.

I've considered getting $10k in pennies for an art project ...

Holding that much cash is already insane, considering inflation. In coins? Huge liquidity problem. Good luck finding enough buyers to make 10-20 cents off a single coin.

I considered pasting the whole shebang here, but rather, just Google "defacing currency".

I call bullshit.

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