Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Quirky Hobby #3 - Pressed Pennies

Hi everyone :)

This week I will be sharing with you my very own somewhat quirky hobby. It isn't something really strange or as fascinating as the trees and eggs you have seen previously. However, it does qualify as I'm collecting oval coins! (The way i see it)

So what are pressed pennies?

This is my first pressed penny from California Disneyland! Pressed pennies are elongated coins or blank planchets that are pressed through rollers which have mirror imaged designs under pressure as high as 44 000 PSI. Because of this high pressure, the originally rounded coin becomes an oval.

How it is made:
1) Insert a Quarter to be pressed and the amount you need to pay.
2) Select a design of your choice (if there's more than one)
3) Watch away!

I found it really interesting to watch the machines press the quarter into the design of my choice. Initially, I started 'collecting' so that I could watch the coins get pressed over and over again. Sadly, I don't have a video of the process as I am always too excited to remember.

Singapore got it's first pressed penny machine and it's at Suntec City, just outside Carrefour on Level 2 so do check it out! I will definitely be going to get mine.

Is it illegal?
In some countries like the United States, they have their quarter dollar coin pressed in the machine but in countries like Japan, they have the designs pressed on blank coins.

A faint mark of the quarter can still be seen on the back of my coin.

According to pressedpenny.com, under the United States Code Title 10, CHapter 17, and Section 331, "prohibits the mutilation, diminution and falsification of United States coinage." However, it does not prohibit the mutilation of coins if done without fraudulent intent or use and hence, making it legal.

Find out more about pressed pennies from pressedpennysg, pressedpenny and parkpennies.

Photos of part of my collection:





8 comments:

  1. Its really cute! :D Especially the Disney collection! Bet it's expensive!

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  2. This is really interesting, the pennies are so beautiful!

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  3. Woah, this is awesome! I did the pressed penny thing when I was at HK Disneyland last year too.

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  4. wow i love this blog! I LOVE MICKEY MOSUE TOO! CAN GIVE IT TO ME? :)

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  5. Wow!!! Cooolll!!! Your hobbies are reallY "quirky" but interesting as well! :D

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  6. I own some pressed pennies too! Many people dont know about them, good idea to share it with everyone!:)

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  7. oh so that's what the machine is for!

    on my trip to Australia some years back i saw the press-penny machine but didn't know what it was. too bad i didn't try it out since i didn't see anyone using it, and being a typical Singaporean, i was afraid of being "paiseh".

    the next time i see the machine, i'll definitely try it! i love the way it turns out

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  8. This is really a good hobby. I think it's really interesting. Will definitely go check out Singapore's penny press machine.

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