Lebanese coins have seen their metal nature being more worthy than their monetary value.

With the collapse of the Lebanese pound, some people are buying 250 and 500 lira coins made of nickel and copper in order to re-sell them as scrap metal. The melting down and re-selling of such metal pieces aim to make profits for the coin trader in U.S. dollars.

“If you collect 250 lira coins amounting to the value of 50,000 LBP, the coins as scrap will be sold for 60,000 LBP,” a scrap seller confirmed to Sawt Beirut International (SBI) reporter Ghassan Farran.

He said, however, that he refrains from selling and purchasing the country’s local currency “because it is one of our emblems, it is gold plated and efforts are required in order to produce it.”

In light of the continuous devaluation of their purchasing value, these metal pieces might vanish from the markets in the coming days as the process of melting them down might begin.