"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
John Schmitt wrote:
In fact, the "copper" coinage in the UK is no longer solid copper

It never was, AFAIK.

True. The older coins had more copper and in the 1960/1970/80s during a
copper price hype, a company was gathering all the old pennies and melting
them down. It was very profitable. They bought the pennies of course.