You can call them pressed pennies, elongated pennies, pressed cents, copper souvenirs, squeezed pennies, souvenir pennies, pressed coins, squashed cents, collector pennies, rolled pennies, flattened pennies, pressed coppers, squashed pennies, or squished pennies.
Maybe you’ve seen these “Press-A-Penny” machines at the zoo, amusement parks, national landmarks. They are everywhere! In fact, they are a LOT more places than I ever imagined.
Let me tell ya…my kids, and Kirk can sniff one of these machines out pretty quick! Somewhere, sometime in the past, when the kids were young, Kirk showed them one of these machines and how they worked and ever since he has been squishing pennies and adding them to his collection. The kids still get excited when they find one of these penny squishers — because they know dad can’t resist!
Here’s some of Kirk’s pennies (there are many missing) in his own hand! These pennies represent Yellowstone, Universal Studios (Betty Boop), Milwaukee Brewers (huh?), New York State and Lark Carousel in Kellogg, MN.
It’s definitely a cheap souvenir….and pretty easy to store too!
Personally, I think it’s pretty neat. I get a kick out of the fun Kirk and the kids have when they “spot” the machine and make their penny stamp choice. The squished penny pursuit will always be a memory for me….and I’m sure the kids.
What do you collect?