The History of the Copper Standard

When we went off the gold standard in 1797 everybody said, well, you know, it's a big deal. But how ordinary people out in the country going to understand? And it was obvious that they probably wouldn't. So Charles Jenkins, Liverpool's father, put together a scheme of printing penny and tuppany pieces in copper - which Britain had because they had a large copper mine in Anglessey. Those pieces would be so heavy that they would actually be worth their stated value.