Growing up in the US, I don't really deal with any large copper/bronze coins but I do have a collection of copper coins from around the world. Other than UK pennies (and all the various countries that have basically the same coin), what are some other large copper coins that can be had for relatively cheap?
As stated above, Canada has a great number of large cents from 1858-1920.... same size as Brit half pennies.
French 5 and 10 Centimes from the 1850s on are pretty cheap, equivalent in size to a British halfpenny and penny, respectively.
And other than that, the countries linked in the "union latine" using the same standard at that time, had similar coins : 10 centimes/cents/centesimi/centavos were 10 grams of copper and 5 centimes/cents/centesimi/centavos were 5 grams https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_latine_(monnaie) Q
Both Italy and Spain have coins of a similar size to the British Pennies and Halfpennies through most of the 19th century. I can barely give them away at market in the UK so I imagine you can get them cheaply.
I’m fond of Scandinavian (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish) 2 ore and 5 ore coins. Some are very reasonable. Steve
I recommend the Greek copper from the 1880s, e.g., the copper 10 Lepta. In UNC they are expensive but you can buy some nice examples in XF or AU, if you are patient, for reasonable $ and they seem to hold their value well. They may be smaller than what you are looking for but then, maybe not.
10-unit coins of the Latin Monetary Union from the 1890s-1920s are fun to collect; the 10 centimes from France is one of my favorite bronze modern coins. They are extremely affordable, and don't go over a few dollars until you hit the AU grade range. Personally I'm fond of the early Japanese coinage under Meiji Also, believe it or not, you can get some nice big Roman follis coins in very nice shape for not much more than an AU 19th century bronze. This one set me back only about $25
Most of the British Empire, along with: Argentina, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Uruguay, and several others.
I agree here! Chinese cash are a very good way to obtain large coppers on the cheap. You can look for lots on eBay. You shouldn't find it too hard to find lots that average to well under 50 cents a piece with shipping.
