Where can I get one of those coins that 'ring' when you tap it on a hard surface or drop it?

Question

I've heard of coins that sort of 'ring' or reverberate a sound when you tap them on a hard surface... do they exist (maybe I'm thinking of some story...), and if so, where can I get one? And also, what properties do these coins have that makes them ring?

Answer 1

Silver dollars are readily available in Las Vegas. You can probably still get them elsewhere at banks. That's probably the best you can do with real currency that's readily available. Brass or bronze would give a clearer tone, but I don't know if it's used in modern coinage anywhere. Outside the US, I have no idea.

It's the same quality that makes bells ring, mostly the appropriate amount of elasticity and a good shape for resonance and for focusing the sound. The shape is fixed for a coin, but the larger the coin, the more it sounds like a bell.