Gold-Plated Contract or Real Gold?

When the intrinsic value of the metal composition of a coin is greater than its face value, it should be a classic sign of devaluation for the average person. It's your money.

Mind you this discussion is all purely academic – just between us hobbyists you understand. It is still illegal according to Treasury regulations to melt nickels or even to export them other than up to $5 worth of the coins as pocket change.

These regulations were slapped on us Dec. 14, 2006, to buy the Treasury time to figure out what to do about the high costs of making the cent and nickel. Two years ago, the nickel was worth about 10 cents of metal value. Russ Rulau wrote a couple of feature stories about nickels that were still in circulation and that collectors should join him in putting them away for the future as we did with silver coins in the 1960s.

Source: numismaster.com