Scrapping pennies - Good idea?

Question

First off I did some research:

Pennies made before 1982 where comprised of 97% copper.

Pennies from this era and previous weighed apx. 3.1 grams

At the current time, copper prices are apx. $3.5 (USD) / lb.

So this equals $0.00772 (USD) per gram of Copper

At 3.1 grams per penny, 1 pre-1982 penny is worth about $0.0239 (USD) = about 2.4 cents per penny

My question, is scrapping Coinage illegal?

Answer 1

Illegal to deface currency.

Answer 2

yes it is but there are people who do this anyways. There are people who take it a step farther and steel copper tubing from older homes and melt it down... It's quite a popular illegal thing to do. Like stealing music for your ipod from the Internet..illegal

(none of these things are done by moi however)