Dropping A Magnet Through A Copper Pipe

What if Oersted's copper ( ? ) wire was magnetic before it had a current running through it ? Would that momentous turning of the compass gone un-noticed for many more years ? In these early years of electrical force discovery only very special scientific minds would have had the curiosity to explore such seemingly incidental , trivial ( ??? ) phenomena . Michael Faraday had such a mind . To be sure , there was no money in this curious stuff , but anyway his majesty's government would some day tax it ! Faraday himself did not die rich . For him that was not part of God's plan . Any scientists around today who do not belong to the New Atheist Club ?