British Coin Collections

Question: What are british coins made of?

(Posted by: Smiler on 2006-12-21 12:22:41)

My work colleague hates 5p coins and although they& #039;re silver in colour we want to know why they have to be so small. Is it to do with their value (I guess not) or just to make them different?

Posted by: paul t on 2006-12-21,12:30:16

Prior to 1947 all silver coins had a silver content , this goes back to the old days where the metal matched the value it was used for . People used to cut pieces off of them so they started to mill the edges thats the grooves around the coin edge. Today all silver coins are made of copper and nickel . Coins are smaller today to show how their value has ceminished and also to get us used to the pitifully small euro coinage.

Posted by: phedro on 2006-12-21,12:25:47

They 're made of the sweat and tears of the empire. just kidding. zinc i think...

Posted by: -x-r2r211-x- on 2006-12-21,12:28:00

Well...1 and 2p 's are made from copper 5 10 20 and 50p are made from silver different metal

Posted by: middenmaker on 2006-12-21,12:30:53

Whatever mixture, you can now pick them up with a magnet, true.

Posted by: beanie on 2006-12-21,12:31:39

Coins are made of either nickel or copper. They are not worth their face value - eg, a 5p is not really worth 5p in scrap metal when melted down. Like notes, they are only a promisory note to pay and exchanged. However, there was a period eariler this year when the price of copper went up so much that the 2p was worth its face value.

Posted by: DOUGLAS B on 2006-12-21,12:33:04

I 'll give you my collection of 5p 's when you resolve this question yourself...

Posted by: efes_haze on 2006-12-21,12:33:48

A copper and nickel alloy. All British coins have been made from one combination or other of these two metals for years.

Posted by: alicias7768 on 2006-12-21,12:39:48

Http:/ / genuki.org.uk/ big/ Coins.html

Posted by: sheepy on 2006-12-21,13:31:04

Try sniffin it its glu

Posted by: barn owl on 2006-12-22,01:45:17

'copper coins ' are made of steel with a copper coating, 'silver coins ' are made from cupro-nickel the 5p coin is small because the cost of manufacture and the metal would exceed the face value of the coin if it was larger