No need for a train to press your coins!

We’ve all walked by pennies on the street and even picked them up from time to time, but have you ever come across a penny that looked as though it had been squashed? Sure, we’ve all heard the urban legend about putting pennies on train tracks and for all I know, doing so may squash a penny. Regardless, elongated coins are actually very cool collectors’ items and can even be decorated. Back in 1990 I was in the Austrian village of Zell Am Zee and actually went to a shop where they had a crank operated coin press, which sat next to a counter and look a lot like a miniature and narrow grandfather clock. This was similar to a penny press I’d seen in Florida once, but the difference was that they were elongating Groschen instead of pennies. Global Impressions is a distributor that makes these hand operated machines here in the US. They have a variety of styles from clocks to space themed presses – definitely a cool place to check out if you’re interested in a penny machine.