“My name is Michael, I got a nickel. I got a nickel, shiny and new. I'm gonna buy me all kinds of candy. That's what I'm gonna do.”
Those are the words that Clint Holmes sang in 1972 with his catchy song about the memories of childhood entitled, “Playground in my Mind.” Today, a nickel won’t buy all kinds of candy. It won’t buy much at all. But, according to a wonderful story published March 18, 2022, in the Atlantic, it is worth more than 5 cents.
The story states that, although the nickel’s actual monetary value is 5 cents, the metal it contains is worth more than that. It says the “melt value” of a single nickel is currently 8 cents. In recent weeks, it has been up to 16 cents.
But, before you get any great ideas, you should know that melting down nickels for a profit is a crime. Even so, the articles states, “That hasn’t stopped opportunistic investors from zigzagging between banks and credit unions to gather nickels, with the hopes of one day selling them off for more than 5 cents. Forget bitcoin and dogecoin; this small community of financial speculators is pouring money into real, physical coins.”
So what has caused the increase in value? In short, it has been the Ukraine crisis. The article states, “Russia supplies more than 20 percent of the world’s high-quality nickel, which is a crucial component in everything from stainless steel to pipes to the batteries that power electric cars. But with Ukraine under siege, companies in the West have been wary of buying Russian nickel. This has increased demand for nickel from everywhere else, which, in turn, has bumped up its price on the London Metal Exchange. … Within the span of 24 chaotic hours last week, the price of nickel rose 250 percent, forcing the London Metal Exchange to halt trading for the first time since 1985.”
That’s complicated stuff that most of us don’t want to deal with on a Tuesday morning, but here is the silver lining: The attraction to hoarding nickels is, apparently, that there is no downside, as the nickel will never be worth less than 5 cents. The upside, though, could be huge if the composition of the metal in the coins changes — or if the coin is discontinued — as the ban on melting down nickels would then likely go away.
Meanwhile, I prefer to keep things simple. I'm gonna buy me all kinds of candy. That's what I'm gonna do.
Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 |
