Copying derived entities using only base class pointers, (without exhaustive testing!) - C++

Question

Given a base class that is inherited by plethora of derived classes, and a program structure that requires you manage these via base class pointers to each entity. Is there

Answer 1

Yeah, your idea is the way to go. It also allows the derived classes to choose whether they wish to perform a deep or shallow copy.

I have one (somewhat nit-picky) point for future reference: in terms of safety, using dynamic_cast is preferred to static_cast for polymorphic conversions. It's just one of those things that grabs my attention.