I suppose there is nothing like the real thing. In my younger days in England we had copper coins. The english penny was even known as a “copper” which for some reason was also the slang name for an english policeman. However, english money changed and just before I left England it was becoming decimal.
The copper coins are still there, but not like they used to be. Pennies have remained, but I do not think the new generation refers to them as coppers, because they are often not made of copper. I went through my collection of english money and found the above. Note Queen Elizabeth’s head on the coins. I remember the days, when I was a kid, that we still had pennies with King George and King Edward in circulation.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 
Yes, the cost of copper to make one opper is more expansive than a penny!
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It certainly is and I think they stopped using pure copper sometime ago.
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Yes, I remember that!!
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The copper is embedded forever in the English language. Or will it come to pass that expressions like “in for a penny, in for a pound” will get so many blank looks they’ll disappear, too?
Our government decided—after some years of each penny costing 2 1/2 cents to produce— to eliminate them. Prices still end in uneven numbers but stores round everything off. If your total bill comes to $8.97 you pay $8.95; if it’s $8.98 you pay $8.90.
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I reall don’t know how the younger generation in England are programmed. I suppose they are all decimal. My family and friends of my generation still tend to think lbs and ounces when they buy food in the background. I have been 50 years now in a decimal system in Switzerland and now know nothing else. Our amounts are also rounded off to even amounts, although I might get an online bill to pay with odd digits in cents, but the comuter deals with everything.
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Our pennies are now copper-colored. I think there may be a hint of copper in them, but they are mostly zinc.
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I think copper has become too expensive to use for money now. We only have remants in Swiss francs, small coins we call rappen, which is the Swiss terms for cents.
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When my eldest son was born we were still in the Pounds Shillings and Pence currency, and in fact the hospital used one of the big pennies as the 1/4 ounce weight, so Kim weighed One Pound Five and a Penny. You will understand this, though younger ones might not. xxx B
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I went through school with £ S and d, also feet and inches, stones were weight etc.We must have been mathematical geniuses working it all out. My kids were all weighed in kilos and grammes in Switzerland, but I was weighed in pounds when I was born in England.
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My dad used to say dripping on toast was a good diet food because “constant dripping wears away a stone.” He was the world’s best (worst?) punner.
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And I always had a slice of bread and dripping on Sunday evening, left from the Sunday roast. Something I have not had for years.
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Some of the things that taste the best are supposed to be bad for you, like dripping or fried bread, but as my dad always said (not punning this time) “A little of what you fancy does you good.” So, moderation in all things and you can enjoy that dripping on toast – occasionally.
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I wonder if I could still digest it so many years later. Mum and dad were still eating it when they reached 70 and dad passed on last year at the age of 100 years and 7 months, so it could not be too unhealthy I suppose.
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