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Jefferson nickel melt value
75% copper, 25% nickel, and a federal rule against melting it.
- A Jefferson nickel contains 3.75 g of copper and 1.25 g of nickel, together worth $0.0760 - 152% of its five-cent face value.
- Copper is priced at $6.68/lb (COMEX, as of ); nickel at the IMF monthly benchmark of $16,632/tonne (July 1, 2026).
- Melting or bulk-exporting U.S. five-cent coins is prohibited (31 CFR Part 82).
The same federal rule that covers cents makes
melting nickels illegal (31 CFR Part 82). The figure above is the metal
arithmetic only.
The math
3.75 g Cu × $0.01472/g + 1.25 g Ni × $0.01663/g = $0.0760
Nickel has no liquid U.S. retail quote, so this page uses the IMF's global monthly benchmark via FRED - it updates monthly, unlike the daily copper leg, and the page says so rather than pretending otherwise.
The exception: war nickels
Five-cent coins struck 1942-1945 are 35% silver and are worth many times face - see the war nickel page. Every other nickel back to 1946 is the same 75/25 copper-nickel alloy.
Melt value is the floor, not an appraisal. Coins with collector value trade above their metal content, and dealers buy below melt and sell above it to earn a margin. This site publishes the metal arithmetic only - never buy or sell quotes, and never price predictions.