In the climate of rising thefts of copper pipes (encouraged by newspaper reports which usually quote the cost of repairs rather than the scrap value of the pipes stolen), have you noticed that many new build flats have the gas pipes running externally up the front of the buildings?
Surely a ventilated secure ducting would be more sensible and aesthetically more pleasing.
The recent explosion of a house in Bradford was allegedly due to a gas pipe being taken by some kids.
In article , John writes
Its getting quite a big problem!...
above $8,000 (£4,000) a tonne this year, driven by demand for its use in car production, building and power grids. China accounts for about 20% of global copper consumption and the US for 13%. Such is the demand that 2p pieces are more valuable if they are melted down for their copper."
** 2p pieces are more valuable if they are melted down for their copper**'Scuse me, I'm just off to the bank...... :o)
Which is why they've been made of copper plated steel for years now. Unless copper gets SO expensive that the plating is worth anything...
Cheers
Tim
What about the (literally!) bagfuls of old (pre-decimal) pennies that my son stashed in the garden shed, many years ago...?
Take care - someone might kill for them.
They were made of bronze after 1860 (except maundy money which is silver)
Don.
Don.
snipped-for-privacy@beeb.net declared for all the world to hear...
How many 2ps would be needed to make a tonne?
If you already happen to own a furnace, sounds like easy money!
Except that modern "copper" coinage is mostly iron, to avoid the scrap value being more than the face value...
Only about a year ago, the bronze "coppers" disappeared from circulation in favour of the more recent plated steel ones. For twenty years they circulated together, but recently there has clearly been an attempt to take the scrap-valuable ones out of circulation (and it wasn't all me!). Look these days, it's getting very rare to see a bronze one.
As a quick guide without a magnet, if it says "New" Penny, then it's an old bronze one rather than steel (although there's a transitional period)
If you find the _right_ 2p, it's worth about =A3400 to collectors.
Interesting - I first saw a steely about 10 years ago,when a mate decided they make good washers with a hole drilled through the middle (at less money that proper washers of the same diameter).
I assumed that they would have been phased over reasonably quickly for the sanity of coin slot manufacturers. Looks like I was wrong.
Cheers
Tim
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Steve Walker" saying something like:
In 1980, yes. Typical piece of half-arsed reporting from a journalist.
In message , Tim Southerwood writes
I first noticed when I was explaining magnetic and non magnetic metals to my son "here, look, this 2p's made of copper and isn't magnetic. . . . eh? What the?"
How did you get out of that one then?
"Remember Son, a lesson more important than any physics or metallurgy -- Never trust the Government with your money"
I think I went though a pile of 2ps and there were about 50% non-magnetic, and managed to restore an air of authority when the magnetism correlated with the date, "well in my day . . . . "
Base metal prices are though the roof and copper is a lot more than ?4,000 / tonne
No it isn't;
LME prices from the BBC;
Copper Cash Unofficial CLOSE $/m tonne 7273.00 Copper 3mo Unofficial CLOSE $/m tonne 7195.00
'Bout £3600/tonne.
Still enough for the pikeys to nick the copper cabling from the signalli= ng systems of railways... Sometimes I think we ought to adopt the Saudi approach to theft.
I rather liked the approach in "Snow Crash" where the miscreants crime was tattooed on his forehead. "Thief", "Poor impulse control", etc.
Mind you, given the combination of low foreheads and hoody wearing, that may not work.
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