I was quite interested to find out that the value of nickel in a nickel has actually become worth more than the purchasing power of a nickel. I decided to plot the value of 1.25g of Ni 28 against the value of a US nickel over the last 6 months to illustrate this. If you also included the value of copper found in a nickel you’d be looking at almost doubling your money if you were to start melting down your nickels.

Before you get too excited though, the United States Mint criminalised the melting and export of cents and nickels on December 14th, 2006 in anticipation of the rising value of nickel. If you got caught, you would have to melt down at least 100,000 nickels to pay the $10,000 fine or risk up to five years imprisonment.

About the Print
The print was created using four different plates, one for each colour. The text-based plates are photo-etchings, one printed in black and the other in silver (to represent the colour of nickel). The lines on the graph are simple drypoint lines, the red to represent the value of nickel and the green (the colour of money) to represent a nickel. They were printed on BFK Rives Grey paper.

About the Printmaker