Out of interest does anyone know the metal used for 2p coins? A friend wanted a double headed 2p coin - don't ask why! The plan was to thin two coins and soft-solder the halves together. After breaking through the copper-ish skin the core metal resembles a moderately hard steel.
It depends on how old the "copper" coins are. I've just checked 5 1p coins (no 2ps in my pocket). 2 (shiny and new) are attracted to a magnet the other 3 older ones are not.
Alan
In article , Doug writes
They used to be solid copper alloy, changed to plated steel core some time in the 80s IIRC. You can still find some of the older ones in circulation, easy to find them with a magnet.
I think it may, strictly speaking, be illegal to deface coins, though it's doubtful if they would cart you off to the tower for such a minor matter.
David
Copper plated steel, see
It depends on the date
Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin) to September 1992
Copper plated steel since September 1992 except in 1998 when the 2p was made in both versions
It was a criminal offence to deface coins, but it was removed from law some years ago. On a vaguely related note when the law was removed those "squash a penny" machines appeared at various tourist spots. Put a penny in the slot, and a larger denomination coin in the machine, and it squashes the penny into a different shape. I've always thought it might be fun to get a penny sized piece of very tough steel and feed it in to one to see what happened. I spotted a similar machine in Auckland museum the other week that worked on 10c coins.
Regards Kevin
Many thanks to all who responded. It was a relief to learn that defacing coins is no longer a criminal offence! Using today's copper price the metal content of a copper alloy 2p coin would cost around
0.42p.
Eh? I think you missed a decimal point.
A 2p coin weighs 7 grams, near enough. 147 of them contain a kilo of copper. At 0.42p that would be 61.5p per kilo.
Today's LME price is £5,96 per kilo, or 4.05p per 2p coin.
Which is why they don't make 2p's from copper any more.
-- Peter Fairbrother
Oh, and it was still illegal to melt them down in 2007, and I haven't heard of any changes in the law since.
I don't think it has anything to do with defacing the queen's image though - the 2p in your pocket does not belong to you, it's a token that the Bank of England will pay you 2p on demand if presented with it, and as such it belongs to the Bank
As the legal possessor you own the right to claim 2p from the Bank, but you do not actually own the coin itself.
Though how the bank are actually going to pay you 2p is - problematic.
-- Peter Fairbrother
Credit it to your back account? With a £1+ handling charge for paying in cash ;)
That's easy - they swap it for a 2p piece.
Regards, Tony
Of course!
They owe you 2p - and a coin is legally an acceptable and unrefusable way to pay all debts, public or private.
-- Peter F
Exactly so.
Thus proving that money is entirely a figment of everyone's imagination. Soon you won't even be able to exchange coins/notes/cheques - it will all just be numbers on your bank statement. Terry Pratchett captured the idea perfectly in his Discworld novel "Making Money" - excellent stuff!
Regards, Tony
It is not unconditionally 'unrefusable', there are regulations to prevent you paying large fines with a huge stack of pennies. The regulations are posted up on the wall in any magistrates court, to prevent exactly that, paying your parking fine with 6,000 pennies. I think you are right, you can always pay cash, provided it is in sensible denominations.
But money has been a fiction, based on trust, from the first time someone swapped a goat for a sea shell.
Glad someone else noticed! Also not often noted is the money is created out of thin air and interest charged on the same money thats not worth the paper it not printed on.
Wayne...
In my far off youth, I and other train spotters would walk down the ramp at the end of the platform and put 1d coins on the track. Then we'd wait to collect a very squashed penny after an express pulled by a Castle or Hall class loco thundered through on its way to the west country. The coins were definately defaced after this treatment. Surprisingly, it was very rare to loose a coin doing this. I don't think schoolboy trainspotters would be allowed to get so close to the action nowadays!
John H
Do it at an isolated level crossing in the countryside.
The coin is FG HOT afterwards!
So here's a thought, with an engine weight of 77 tons, weight on the Drivers of 57 tons and Axle loads of 19 tons and repetiton many times in the minute it takes to pass
is it more effective to put the coin under Andrew's 79ton press or stick it on the track at Didcot?
Robin
=== My brother was given a watch labelled "Boy Proof". He proved that it wasn't so by just that method. Well, it cetainly wasn't train proof.
JW² ===
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