{"id":79201,"date":"2023-06-24T01:15:08","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T08:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=79201"},"modified":"2023-06-27T14:06:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T21:06:22","slug":"black-coffee-24-jun-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id79201-black-coffee-24-jun-2023.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Pennies from Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

I hope everybody had a wonderful week. And with that, let’s get right to this week’s commentary, shall we?<\/p>\n

A penny saved is a penny earned.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Ben Franklin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be careful who you call your friends. I\u2019d rather have four quarters than one hundred pennies.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Al Capone<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Never trust money more than gold. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– Toba Beta<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? A multimillion-dollar hoard of more than 800 US Civil War-era coins was recently found in a Kentucky cornfield<\/a>. Most of the gold US dollars, dated from 1850 through 1862, were found loose in the ground, although some had remnants of a cloth bag adhered to it, suggesting that the coins were in a bag when they were originally buried. Meanwhile, others are finding plenty of gold elsewhere:<\/p>\n

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This is the gold that was waiting for someone to find in a Kentucky cornfield.<\/p><\/div>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Somewhat coincidentally, I see a realtor discovered more than a million old copper pennies<\/a> with a face value of at least $10,000 in a basement crawlspace of her late father’s former Los Angeles home (see photo below<\/em>). Unfortunately, the copper load is so bulky there isn’t a single bank willing to take them. At the same time, the family is reluctant to pay CoinStar 8%. So what to do? Well … coin collectors point out that rare pennies can fetch millions of dollars. Others suggest melting them down; the copper content of a million pre-1982 pennies is currently $30,000. However, what everyone can<\/strong><\/em> agree on is this: nobody<\/strong><\/em> likes pennies<\/a>\u00a0…<\/p>\n

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Proof that one million pennies takes up a lot of space. (Photo Credit: John Reyes)<\/p><\/div>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> By the way, the so-called “Kentucky Gold Hoard<\/a>” sold out almost as soon as it was offered for sale. And you can bet those same bankers who didn’t want anything to do with those old copper pennies, would have jumped at the chance to take those gold coins found in that Kentucky cornfield. These are the same bankers who continue to argue that their debt-based currency is a superior alternative to precious metals. Frankly, it’s a claim that’s about as convincing as this<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n