Nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel. The “melt value” of today’s nickels is higher than the face value. They will go for the same reason silver was taken out of circulation decades ago.
The same applies to the "zinc" penny [97.5% Zn, 2.5% Cu] and is the reason that it is against the law to melt them for the metal value nor can a traveler take more than $5 of them or ship more than $100 at any one time (face-value).
The real question and quandary is, what will happen to the penny/nickel bubblegum machines? (Yeah, I know, they are already gone!)
>> “Nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel.” <<
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If that were so, they would be bright pink.
The value of a current melt value of a nickel is 5.01 cents, a penny is .52 cents.
And they’ll go up in value just like junk silver did. Not as much, but more than a nickle is usually worth.