Worthless copper coins.
1840. Taken a five cent piece and two bung-town coppers out of the till.—Knick. Mag., xv. 385 (May).
1850. They [the flowers] wouldn’t fetch a bungtown copper.—S. Judd, ‘Margaret,’ p. 19 (Bartlett).
1853. “Beware of crossed sixpences, smooth shillings, and what are called Bungtown coppers,” said Cheatum.—Daily Morning Herald (St. Louis), March 10.
1853. What is the currency of the U.S.?—Coppers, bogus, Bungtown cents, pennies, fips, fourpence ’a’ pennies, levies, ninepences, Spanish quarters, pistareens, and shinplasters.—Oregonian, Aug. 13.
