A penny for your thoughts?

June 16, 2008 8:01 AM

What's a really good looking copper coin?

I'm looking for a copper coin that I can polish up and give to a friend as a present. I don't want anything rare or valuable since I'm going to be polishing it using methods coin collectors would frown upon. Bonus points if it was minted in 1979.

posted by 1f2frfbf to grab bag (5 comments total)

it's copper, tin and zinc, but I have always liked the Irish penny.
posted by Lucinda at 8:15 AM on June 16, 2008

I recommend the British two pence. Looks like over 260 million were minted in 1979, so it shouldn't be too hard to find one on the cheap. They're just over an inch in diameter, so they're nicely sized for gift-giving. It is technically bronze, but I would've guessed copper to look at it, especially if you polish it up.
posted by jedicus at 8:17 AM on June 16, 2008

Here's a previous MeFi post on beautiful/unusual money.
posted by mdonley at 8:26 AM on June 16, 2008

You can find old Roman coins for waaaay less than you might think.
posted by ian1977 at 9:41 AM on June 16, 2008

I like the old pre-decimal British Pennies because they were huge compared ot modern coinage

There's also the 5 Yen coin which has a hole in it; it's a copper/zinc mix.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:17 PM on June 16, 2008