Lucite Cube // Copper

Copper is one of the easiest elements to find. A collector just starting out on a one-of-each-element set will fill that Cu hole on the first day with any handy piece of wire or other knickknack. Where copper goes exotic is in the super high purity varieties like so-called "6N" (as in six nines: 99.9999% pure). This level of purity is used in audio hi-fi wiring and the amount of work that goes into removing any trace of impurity from the copper makes it far costlier than ordinary commercial grades. An even higher level of copper, 99.999999 or 8N, is available for those who can't tolerate the indecency of one contaminating atom out of a million. The cost? Oh, $20,000 per meter of wire!!

Anyway, for the rest of us with humbler budgets, this specimen of copper is far more affordable and more impressive than wire. This highly polished copper disc was meant to be used in the internals of a scientific apparatus as a laser mirror but, instead, it will decorate a collector's desk - and we predict your friends will all want to see how they look bathed in the beautiful amber light it reflects!