A wonderful perk of posting all my travels and pressed penny adventures here on our Blog and videos on Youtube is that I get to chat with so many of you, my penny pals.  We get to share tips or tricks about our collections, or even just give me all the juicy details about their own personal squishing’ missions.  I’m so obsessed with pressed coins that even though I collect quite a few on my own, I love to live vicariously through all of you and your experiences as well.  We have such a fantastic community here of collectors it’s just a lot of fun to share our passion with each other.

As part of our community I’m a member of quite a few different Facebook groups about pressed coins, and find that’s another fantastic resource.  I hear from a fellow collector Amy looking for some coins that I was able to help acquire for her and since then I think we have become pretty good friends.  During one of our conversations she let me know about a Facebook group she was running called Pressed Penny Mafia and that name immediately intrigued me and I joined right away.  As with most of the other groups there is plenty of posts about coin trips, new machines and plenty of trading and selling coins.  Then one day I saw a post from Amy about a new penny design she had created and when I signed up to buy / trader for one she let me know about all her other designs and there are quire a few.  That’s what I wanted to showcase today are the amazing Pressed Penny Mafia designs.

The first set of four designs were released back in 2019.  These designs are so cool and really fit in with the theme of the Facebook group.  Penny In Penny Out, Group Image, Lucky Loot and Hit by the Pressed Penny Mafia.

Then in 2020 the next few of designs were released throughout the year.  Squishin’ Mission, Lady Luck, You’ll Never Get My Coppers and The Only Group That Makes Cents.

Amy also released special Member Designs in 2020 which were available on a penny and nickel.  I’m crossing my fingers that these become an annual release as I’m all about limited dated designs.  They make for such a fun and unique mini-collection.

The latest design in this collection is pictures above and was made available in April 2021.  Boss Lady is another great addition to this set.  The style of these designs are really beautiful and thought out.

Amy has designed all of these herself.  She works with John Gusmano who etches the dies and Paul Connor rolls the coins for her.  In case you are interested in picking up any of these designs (or all of them) I did check with Amy and they are all still available for purchase.  The easiest way is to join the Pressed Penny Mafia PPM Facebook group which I have linked here, it’s completely free to join.  There is plenty of trading and selling of pressed coins in the group, plus you’ll be among the first to hear about all of Amy’s new group specific designs.  As a little sneak peak Amy shared that there are two more designs already scheduled for release later in 2021, and she is currently working on at least another 8 designs for future production.

I also put together a fun Film Noir style video about these coins that is available on our YouTube channel that you can check out here.  This was a lot of fun to put together and hopefully you enjoy it.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out more Privately Design and Pressed coins.  I think all to often we as collectors spend plenty of time collecting designs from Disney, Six Flags or many other large companies but we overlook that there is a huge market of privately designs coins out there and I’m going to try my best to showcase as many of them as I can.  I hope to see you on the Pressed Penny Mafia Facebook group soon, and make sure to pick up these coins for your collection.  You won’t be disappointed.  Until next time, Keep on Pressing!

It’s that wonderful time of the year once again when the TEC club releases its annual Member coin pressed on a Nickel.  I’ve mentioned in the past that this is definitely one of the coins I look forward to each year and this new design does not disappoint.

It was designed by Tyler Tyson and Paul Conner both TEC members.  Then it was engraved by John Gusmano and rolled on nickels by Tyler Tyson.  This year’s design has some nice block lettering, a more realistic Owl image, and also celebrates the Clubs 55th Anniversary.

If your interested in learning more about TEC please check out the website www.tecnews.org.  You can even fill out a membership form directly on the website.  Feel free to list that you were referred by TEC Member #4237 (that’s Me!).  Once you are a member you can look forward to these annual member coins.  Happy Collecting!

Over the past few months Florida has been doing it’s best to distribute Covid-19 Vaccines to it’s residents as with all other states.  Of course it started for the those at high risk, the elderly and front line / health care workers.  Then as the weeks went by the age requirement would change, along with some other groups like school works being added.  It was only a matter of time before the age dropped to my bracket and I jumped at the opportunity to schedule my appointment.  My time slot was for 8am on a Monday, and I got up nice and early to make sure I was there in plenty of time.  I wasn’t sure what the situation would be like, or if there would be a crazy line but to my surprise it was very well organized and I didn’t even have to get out of my car.

The location I was able to get my appointment for was over at the Orange County Convention Center.  Once you entered at the North Concourse parking area it was nice and spaced out with plenty of markers along the way to ensure you were heading in the right direction.  There was a check point where they ensured you were there during your correct scheduled time slot, then after driving a bit further we headed down into the underground parking area of the convention center.  I was checked in again, and given a sticker with a barcode on my sleeve, and then was directed to a numbered location along the side wall where I was to get my vaccine.  The first healthcare worker came up and verified my information and ensured I didn’t have any current covid symptoms.  While she worked on my paperwork the second nurse came up, opened my car door and administered my vaccination.  It was over before I even realized it was happening.  She applied a bandage, closed my car door, and then the first nurse came back with my vaccine record card and explained I would need to park in the outside lot for 15 minutes to ensure I didn’t have any reactions to the shot.  Overall it was a very pleasant experience and I will have to do it again in a couple weeks for my second dose.

In a very serendipitous situation, shortly after I had booked my vaccination appointment, fellow penny pal Cindy Calhoun posted online about her new pressed penny design.  As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it for my collection, plus just as another way to document this unique time in history we have found ourselves in.  The penny showed up and it is really fanatic.  As you can see from the image above it says “I go my Covid-19 Vaccine!” and has a pretty happy looking needle.

At the time of this writing Cindy is currently the President of our TEC club, and I have had the pleasure to meet Cindy in person a few times.  First was quite a few years ago at the World’s Fair of Money convention in Philadelphia, and then again the last few years at the FUN conventions here in Florida.  Cindy owns and maintains quite a few pressed penny machines around West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.  She also runs the Elongatedpenny.net website where you can see all her coin designs, and even buy some of her custom designs like this one.

Not only does she create all her own designs, but she also rolls them by hand so she can control how the reverse image is oriented.  For example to have the date side shown on the back of the pressed coins which you can see in the picture above the 1971 can be seen.  You know us pressed penny collectors love our Copper pennies!

Whether you have already received your vaccine or are still waiting to get it, be sure to head over to Cindy’s website and checkout this coin.  Then you can proudly let everyone know you are helping to stay safe from COVID-19.

I also put together a fun little video about my trip to get vaccinated and also showcasing this wonderful pressed penny.  It’s available on our YouTube channel which you can check out here.  Be sure to subscribe to our channel or all new videos, it’s completely free to subscribe and helps show your support for our wonderful community and this amazing hobby.

Stay safe and Keep on Pressing!

Is there a more iconic mode of Disney Transportation than the Monorail.  In Florida it’s our Highway in the Sky that whisks us from the parking lot directly to either a few fancy resorts or a couple of the theme parks.  This is one of the first “attractions” that thousands of families encounter when they visit and it’s certainly a magical way to start or end your vacation.  When my family would first get on the monorail I knew I was on vacation when I would hear those famous words “Please stand clear of the doors. ¡Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas!”  Depending on how many times you have visited if you are like me you mouth these words as they are announced over the speaker system.  These are probably the only Spanish words I know and feel that I pronounce correctly, and I’m not the only one.  There are even places online selling t-shirts or stickers with this phrase on it.  Fans just can’t get enough.

So where did the Disney Monorail all start?  Well back in 1958 legendary Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr headed a team that designed and manufactured the cars, chassis, suspension and propulsion system of the original Red Mark I train.  It debuted in the Disneyland park on June 14th, 1959.

Over in Florida the monorail system debuted when Walt Disney World opened on October 1st, 1971 with the newer (at the time) Mark IV monorail trains.

Then in 1989 the fleet was updated to the newer Mark VI model built by Bombardier of Canada at a reported cost of over $3.5 million US dollars per train.  Now here we are in 2021 and we are still riding along on those Mark IV trains which have been running for over 30 years.

Recently fellow TEC member and penny pal Jim McNally commissioned a special monorail design coin for his website zzzCoins.com.  These were designed and rolled by another fellow collector Donald Cade and were produced in January 2021.  The front design features the monorail in the middle and our favorite safety announcement in english on top, and Spanish on the bottom, as well as Don’s initials DC just  below the grip on the left side.  On the reverse side is the promotion for Jim’s elongated coins website http://www.zzzCoins.com.

Jim had 300 copper pennies produced with this design and an additional 29 denomination sets that include the design rolled on a US cent, nickel, dime and quarter.  The denomination set is available for purchase on his website which is how I acquired my set.  This is such a cool design and unique way to promote a website.  Both Jim and Don did a great job coordinating these.

If you are interested in purchasing a set of these please head over to Jim’s website immediately.  With only a small number of these denomination sets rolled I’m sure they will go fast.  zzzCoins also has an extensive inventory of Disney pressed pennies both current and retired designs, as well as from other locations all over the United States.  Right now Jim is offering to include one of the monorail pressed penny designs with each order placed on his site while supplies last.

On just a quick side note, this is not a paid advertisement, Jim is one of my penny pals and I jumped at the opportunity to grab a set of these coins as soon as I heard about them.  I have used his online shop numerous times in the past to help fill in some gaps of my Disney penny collection.

From time to time we will be doing similar posts reviewing other privately designs and rolled coins which is really a big part of elongated coin collecting.  So many times we only think about the designs available at theme parks or road side attractions, but private designers create some really fun and unique designs that are extra special since they are only produced in very limited quantities.  They make a great addition to any collection, but you have to be quick.

Thanks again for visiting this week, I hope you learned a little bit about the famous Disney Monorail system.  It truly is my favorite way to get into the parks.  Even now in 2021 it still seems like a futuristic method of transportation.  Maybe that’s just the kid in me, but I hope it never goes away.  Stay safe everyone, and Keep on Pressing!