The Red-Headed Stepchild Of The Precious Metal Family

My dearsome brought me treasure yesterday!

All photos taken with Samsung LunaPro cell phone.

SHINY!

Anyone with a lick of sense gets excited about silver and gold shiny, but not everyone appreciates copper. I am not everyone. I am not a gingerphobe, the red metal is A-OK with me!

Just under 2.5 pounds

While gold and silver are often found adorning humans and gracing altars and such, copper is the workhorse of the metals. It clads our cookware, carries our water and electricity, and used to be part of our currency basket but the mint was losing their butt printing pennies, so now those are zinc.

Pure copper has some very attractive properties.

This little pitcher and cup set is more than just a pretty face. It is actually a way to purify water. By putting water into a copper vessel and letting it sit for a while - overnight is a common recommendation - the bacteria in the water will die off. There are actually hot tub water treatments that use copper and silver rather than bromine or chlorine.

Here is a very interesting article that covers some of the other amazing super powers of this humble metal:
https://recipes.timesofindia.com/articles/food-facts/is-drinking-water-from-copper-bottles-actually-healthy/photostory/61849872.cms?picid=61849930

So what did I do to deserve such an awesome gift? Nothing, really, except recognize a REAL treasure when I found one...

40 years ago today, I met this guy.

NAMASTE!