# Peter Schiff's nickel trade has one catch

> The metal in a five-cent coin is worth 7.76 cents, and Peter Schiff says that beats Treasuries. Melting it is a felony.
- Title: Peter Schiff's nickel trade has one catch · Yahoo Finance
- Summary: The metal in a five-cent coin is worth 7.76 cents, and Peter Schiff says that beats Treasuries. Melting it is a felony. A nickel's metal really is worth more…
- Keywords: investing, commodities, coins, treasuries, peter schiff, business, finance, Peter, Schiff's, nickel, trade, one
- Source: Yahoo Finance — https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/commodities/articles/peter-schiff-says-7-76-093000403.html
- Published: 2026-09-10T09:30:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: investing, commodities, coins, treasuries, peter schiff, business, finance
## Schiff says buy nickels
Economist Peter Schiff told his followers on X to buy rolls of nickels from the bank, arguing the metal inside each coin now beats government bonds.

> Buy yours while you can. Much better than Treasuries.
## Worth 55% more than face
Schiff pegs the copper and nickel in a modern five-cent piece at about 7.76 cents, roughly 55% above what the coin spends for.
## What's actually in a nickel
The U.S. Mint says each coin weighs 5 grams: 25% nickel, 75% copper. That is 1.25 grams of nickel and 3.75 grams of copper per coin.
## He's run this math before
Schiff figured a pre-1982 copper penny held 4.46 cents of metal with copper at $6.85 a pound. Newer zinc pennies came to about 1.07 cents.
## Minting costs blew past face value
It cost 13.31 cents to make and ship each nickel in fiscal 2025, the 20th straight year above five cents. Pennies ran 3.02 cents apiece.
## Melting them is a felony
Federal law bars melting U.S. nickels for metal. Break it and you face fines up to $10,000 and as much as five years in prison, and few people own a furnace anyway.

> Appreciate this... though melting nickels is illegal for now, so it's a slow hold, not quick profit
## A pile of coins pays nothing
Treasuries pay interest and return face value at maturity. Nickels in a jar earn zero, so the payoff rests on the Mint killing the coin or metal prices climbing.
## Key takeaway

A nickel's metal really is worth more than five cents, but federal law makes cashing in on that gap illegal, so it is a bet on future rule changes, not a trade you can close today.