Pressed Pennies

Pennies from The British Transport Museum,
Warwick Castle and Birmingham Thinktank

In the unprecedented occurrence of my being bothered to write a third blog this month, I have decided to share with you one of my little quirks. I have a lot of little quirks - but this is a nice one and I felt like putting it out there in the world, and giving it some sun. Because I'm kind like that. 

I'm a bit besotted with Penny Presses. You know the things, they're in museums, theme parks and the like and you pop a penny in one slot and maybe fifty pee or a pound in another and then you slam the drawer and crank the handle and then a flattened, elongated penny stamped with a design comes out? Well, them. I love them. 


Pressed pennies are made when the penny travels through a machine called a Jeweller's Mill, which has mirror-image designs cut into steel rollers. The pennies are squashed between the rollers at immense pressure (approx. 20 tons), which presses the coin into the design and due to the immense pressure simultaneously stretches the coin into an oval shape, resulting in elongated coins and embossed prettiness.
According to the Internets, the pressed penny - or less romantically - the 'elongated coin' (sod that, I'm sticking with pressed penny) was invented in America during the 1892 -1893 World's Columbia Exposition, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's 'discovery' of America, (I'm largely unsure how you can discover a country which already has a long-standing native population but there we go). 

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, Madame Tussauds
and The Churchill War Experience

Discovering this foxed me a little, as I'd assumed from the general quaintness and cogs aspect of them, that they were a Victorian British invention. Not that I don't think America can do quaint, mind you. It's just the general pointlessness of them, combined with the intricacy, smacks of Blighty to me. But then what do I know?

So they've been around for about 120 years or so. And they're pretty global now. On the amazing Penny Collectors website, you can see where the ones nearest to you are and also if there are any where you plan to go. If only I'd known such a thing existed...

While doing some research for this blog, I spent a good ten minutes sobbing into my tea when I realised all of the opportunities I'd missed in places I'd been, not least the two machines on the seafront, 5 minutes bloody walk from my house. That will be amended. And I've cleverly bookmarked the page, so next time I go on a mooch, I can scout out the locations and find them. I will press ALL THE PENNIES. ALL OF THEM. I will become a connoisseur, an expert in the location and art of the pressed penny. I might even start a club about it. Not that there aren't already clubs devoted to it, there are even online shops to boost your collection, Ebay does a fine line in trading them and some people even collect them in themes - like stamps! Pressedpenny.com assures me 'there is no wrong way to collect pressed pennies!'

San Francisco love on American cents
and FOTA on a 1 euro coin

I've liked them since I was a child, there was something so magical - and also a bit naughty - about sticking a penny in a machine and squashing it and putting a picture where the Queen used to be. Sometimes, you can still see her outline on them, like a little ghost. It was exciting. And exciting to turn the crank handle as hard as you could and then stand back so the blistering hot metal didn't fly out at speed and gash your knees.

I've now, as an adult, got a bit of a reputation for having a mild obsession with penny presses. I've had tweets from friends who've been away, saying 'Oh my God, Mel - they have a PENNY PRESS here! You'd love it'. Thing is though, I can't have them as souvenirs unless I've been the one to press them. Unless my lily-white hands have been the ones getting all blistered by turning the crank, it's just not the same. I need the rush of seeing the machine myself, scrabbling in my purse for the correct change, selecting the design and then cranking. I'm a cranker.

So there you have an exciting little insight into one of my passions. Next up, I'll wax lyrical on the 243 different types of cigarette ash and how to identify them       
                                                                                                          

Disneyworld, Florida

Jurassic Park ones. Yes. Made of win.