It’s rare to watch TV or flip through a magazine without seeing an ad for copper-infused clothing of some sort. In recent years, it has become the alleged miracle metal as a cure-all for everything from arthritis and blood circulation to regrowing cartilage or reducing body odor. These claims have resulted in the rampant offerings of copper-permeated socks, pillows, sheets, gloves, arch supports and most anything wearable.
The veracity of these claims is tenuous. In fact, in a study by the National Laboratory of Medicine, copper worn by people for various ailments showed no benefits over other metals or magnets. Still, people want to believe. And, if it doesn’t do any harm…well?
The United States remains one of the top copper producing countries in the world. That’s a plus considering the recent push to have copper deemed a “national critical mineral” important to our domestic and global security. Given how much of it is used in electronic appliances, and residential, commercial or communication wiring, it surely qualifies.
Since well before the founding of the US, copper has been a daily staple in cookware and more. At least part of the current hype for copper germicidal properties at one time was used on wooden ships. The hulls were plated with the metal so it would repel shipworms in warm seas.
Most tangibly, prior to our own US coins, copper halfpennies, farthings, or cobs from distant lands were common in American trade. In 1787, the US struck its first copper cent followed by half cents. More copper coins would come. Early US pennies, known as “large cents,” were just that – large – roughly the size of a modern US half dollar coin. They were also thick, containing almost a third of an ounce of copper.
In the mid- to late-1700s, a penny’s purchasing power bore no resemblance to that of today. Pennies could buy many spools of thread; a bag of buttons or sewing needles; a pipe; a pouch of tobacco; a measure of coffee; books; a newspaper; or a copy of Poor Richard’s almanac.
Understand, basic groceries were not commonly available in stores. Eggs were gathered from domestic chickens; bread was baked in home ovens and fresh meat was provided by farmers.
These surviving large cents are a popular area of collecting and fascinating relics of US history dating from the US Revolution to the early days of the old West. Although scarce, in circulated condition, many of those cents can be found for between $20 and $50. Even in much better condition a number of them can be purchased from coin dealers for under $100.
That’s not to minimize the extreme rarity and price of select copper cents. One of the rarest and most valuable coins of all time is a US copper penny struck in 1793. That penny sold at auction in 2018 for over $2.3 million. Multiple other rare coppers have been hammered down for between $500,000 and $1.6 million. There are additional such examples that are even more rare but have not been offered for sale in decades. Just what those might eventually bring is anyone’s guess. It’s safe to say, collectors will someday pay astronomical sums.
The exciting and potentially encouraging part of all this is that many of these rarities are still waiting to be found in old trunks, boxes or via metal detectors. Those that do survive get rarer by the day. That’s because while numerous ordinances have been proposed, it’s still not entirely illegal to melt old US coins for their metal content.
The best evidence of that happened during the massive silver and gold run-up of the early 1980s. When those metal prices skyrocketed, people lined up for blocks outside of coin and precious metals dealers to sell any old silver they owned – be it silver flatware to bags of vintage silver coins. Consequently, the surviving quantities of silver coins originally minted and listed in coin price guides and catalogs is almost always dramatically wrong. Far fewer actually now exist.
With today’s price of copper exceeding $4.00 per pound, and barely 150 pre-1982 copper pennies comprising one pound, the copper content in the coins far exceeds the $1.50 face value of the coins. That’s incentive enough for people to redeem their cents for the copper content.
Sadly, some will unknowingly cash in classic or rare large cent coins for the copper. The result will be the rarity of the once lowly copper coins surely to increase along with their value.
For more collecting information and advice, log on to: http://prexford.com/.