I posted about Aluminum. As far as gold goes even with the $1800 spike people who purchased gold in 1980 when it spiked at $800 an ounce are still under water considering inflation. 1 USD in 1980 is worth $2.50 today using CPI data (which is itself rigged because they got rid of data that made theindex look bad). Diamonds are another investment people get burned on (gem stones in general unless you find one in a ditch). As with anything else, investing in something when everybody else is doing it is not a good idea.
While most of the easy to find metals on the surface of the earth are mined, making recycling profitable, there will come a day soon enough where all those metals on the ocean floor (concentrated around heat vents) will be very profitable to mine because of the ore/ton of rock ratio.
There are people buying up rolls of change looking for silver coins (after silver spiked in the last 5 years) but coin collectors (and bank employees) have been doing that since the 1970's so you will find very few silver coins in those tubes. Wheet pennies are worthless except in bulk and even then hunting for them is a waste of time. Unless you are experienced in collecting coins its not something you should bother with. The price guides on the net for coins are for dealers selling to collectors (gives you an idea of what you would pay for them). Dealers have metric tons of those "hard to find items" and will pay you pennies on the dollar IF they need a specific coin and have a buyer waiting for it. The only stuff worth anything are real rarities and only in top mint condition and even then dealers pay less then 40% of retail after they screw you on grading.
While it might be illegal for a US citizen to melt down pennies and nickels for metal value, I don't think sending a billion pennies to China for them to melt it down would be a problem so people will hoard pennies hoping the metal value rises enough to make shipping worth it. Most people are better off in the long run if they take that $1000 they have and pay down their 18% credit card and not hoard pennies in the basement.
If TSHTF you are better off in a small rural farm out in the middle of nowhere packing heat then sitting in any city with a stack of precoius metals.
Still coin collecting can be a cheap and fun hobby, I set aside anything in my change that is silver or old. The stuff does pop up once in a great while when some old lady breaks open her piggy bank to buy bread. Ever notice that since the Canadian Dollar is worth more then the US one you don't find Canadian change much anymore here in the US? Just don't expect to make money in any area you have no clue about.
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