Medal US Copper Rounds (1/2, 1, and 5 Avoirdupois Ounces)

Back around the year 2000, metal prices were pretty stable. Silver sold at about $6 US dollars per troy ounce (ozt) and copper sold at about $1 per pound, or about 6 US cents per avoirdupois ounce (oz). With worldwide economic turmoil, this has changed with metal prices peaking around 2012. The chart below shows how metal prices changed between 1962 and 2012.

During stable times, silver art rounds made great gifts [PRESS HERE]. They were made of one troy ounce of pure silver and sold to collectors for a few dollars above the price of silver. They made beautiful and inexpensive collectibles, with many artistic patterns to choose from.

Now, with the high price of silver, copper art rounds have replaced silver art rounds as inexpensive gifts.

The charts above show how silver and copper have gone crazy over the past few years. Except when market manipulation sent silver prices skyrocketing (encircled), metal prices were very stable until recent times. The high price of silver opens the way for copper art rounds.

Copper rounds come in a wide variety of patterns. They contain various amounts of copper, from 1/2 to 5 avoirdupois ounces, but the amount of copper does not make much of a difference to the price. According to kitco.com, the current price of copper (as of Oct 2015) is $2.40 US dollars per pound, or about 15 cents per ounce. (There are 16 avoirdupois ounces in a pound.) So a one ounce pure copper round contains 15 cents worth of copper, and a five ounce pure copper round contains 75 cents worth of copper.

The thing that establishes the price of copper rounds is not the price of copper, but the price of creating and marketing artistic coins. This comes to about:

1/2 ounce copper rounds: about $1.80 retail
1 ounce copper rounds: about $2.00 retail
5 ounce copper rounds: about $2.30 retail

With the background above, catalog values for copper rounds are:

1/2, 1, AND 5 OUNCE COPPER ROUNDS
circulated: $1
fully uncirculated: $3

This means uncirculated copper rounds sell to collectors for about $2 each. When a dealer buys an uncirculated copper round, he or she pays about 50 cents each.
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