In Reply to: $2 coin bangles posted by jillysmith on Tuesday, 28. February 2006 at 06:24 Bali Time:
I was in Bali in 2004 and quite often approached in Kuta shops to have bangles made from Australian $1 and $2 coins. I could never follow the logic of melting down a $2 coin worth approx 14,000 Rp for a few grams of metal.
All was revealed when I was waiting in the Airport Departure Lounge at Ngurah Rai Airport when a young man wearing some sort of Pass approached me with Australian $1 and $2 coins all sealed in plastic wrapping to sell. I checked that the coins were genuine and paid him the face value of the coins with Australian banknotes to the value of $A100.
Australian coins both the gold coloured and silver coloured coins are made from a copper nickel alloy which does not corrode. A larger proportion of copper produces the gold colour.
I did buy a bangle for my daughter supposedly made from Australian 50 cent coins. It later started to corrode, so I suspect it was made from steel.