I did check local craft suppliers and hardware stores -- what I could get to, at least. I've lived without a car for a lot of years and I'm seriously medically handicapped. Perhaps there was a craft store in the sprawling city I lived in at that time which had what I needed, but not one I could readily find in walking distance and like a lot of American cities the bus system was pretty dysfunctional.

So after determining that there was nothing readily at hand nearby that I could readily identify, I turned to the internet. Whatever you think of their prices, Online Metals was willing to sell me the quantity I wanted for a few bucks, which fit my very limited budget. I could not afford to order bulk sheet copper and there were other reasons why it would have been a bad idea for me to do so.

A metal recycler would not have been acceptable. I wanted fresh, clean sheet copper. This was essentially an experiment, me testing how useful the antimicrobial properties of copper were to me, someone with a serious and incurable medical condition. Dirty/used copper would not have been acceptable for my experiment, which was medical in nature.

If anyone knows of another online source where you can order small quantities of copper and wants to chat up that they have better prices or better selection or something than onlinemetals.com, I am happy to hear recommendations. My condition is incurable and it's entirely possible I will wish to order more copper at some point in the future.