This has become one of my favorite posts to work on. Sure it sometimes takes a few years before I’ve found enough new episodes of television to make the post worthwhile, but when I do have a few ready it’s always fun sharing them all with you. Before we grab our remove, first let me just give a huge Thank you! to all of you in our amazing collecting community for helping to let me know whenever you catch a glimpse of a penny press or elongated coin in your favorite (or not so favorite) television shows. If you are interested in checking out our previous posts you can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. Now sit back, relax and take a look a few of the latest episodes showing our favorite little collectible.

Pawn Stars (History) Season 16 Episode 4
Originally aired: February 11, 2019

Earlier in this episode someone enters the shop to try and sell the commonly thought of as first publicly available elongated coin from the 1883 Columbian Exposition in Chicago Illinois. The show does share some fun an interesting information about that coin, but many collectors are already aware of it.

Instead for this episode I wanted to focus on another segment where fan favorite Chumlee has come into possession of a penny press machine with a very special design.

The coin design shows off Chumlee’s face along with his cute little dog Pinky. I did hear that this machine was available for a time at the Pawn Shop but has long since been retired, maybe removed after Chumlee’s unfortunate death. I’ve tried to acquire one of these for my own collection, but so far haven’t been able to find one.

American Gods (Stars) Season 3 Episode 5
Originally aired: February 14, 2021

This next show is certainly an interesting story. I was watching this from it’s beginning in season 1 and initially found it a bit hard to follow, but at the same time was fascinated with the characters so I stuck with it and I’m glad I did. Here in Season 3 I almost fell out of my chair when the episode began with some guests visiting the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Check this out, after the opening credits are done this is what you first see. Now I will say this is obviously a modernized version of the jewelry machine that would hav actually been used at this event to elongated coins. Still I don’t know about you but I would love to find this machine somewhere and use it, the cabinet just looks stunning.

Next we have a fascinating sequence of quick cuts between clips of a guests inserting their coins, sliding them into the machine, the coin dropping down into the die.

We then get to watch at the shiny coin is pressed between the dies in what looks to be the most clean machine I’ve ever witnessed.

To conclude we see the finished elongated coin drop down into the cup ready to be retried by the event guests. I have watched this short video sequence probably more than I would like to admit. I can only hope one day to one of my YouTube videos recreate this type of clip. Just such a beautiful way to show on this elongated coin. What was the rest of the episode about…I have no idea.

The Simpsons (Fox) Season 34 Episode 1
Originally aired: September 25, 2022

In this Pennies on TV posts we certainly have found many on quite a few animated television shows. This time it’s the big one, the longest running one, The Simpsons! Admit it you sang their name just like in the show didn’t you.

This episode at the time of writing only just aired a couple weeks ago. It starts out with the family visiting the Springfield Zoo and find that the beloved Turtle Slow Leonard is missing. Homer is insistent they try to help find him and when he needs a recent picture of Leonard heads over to a nearby Penny Stretcher machine.

Voila, after a few struggling turns of the handle Homer is eventually able to press his coin with I must say is a really cool looking elongated design. Do they find Slow Leonard, well you’ll need to watch the episode to find out. However I do have one last surprise to share today.

Our collecting community is truly amazing and we have so many creative friends. I’m not sure how he was able to get this designed, etched and pressed so quickly after the episode aired but I’m certainly thankful he did. Elongated coin designer Rob Gilger created this along with many other great designs we have reviewed in past posts. If you are interested in this design or any of his others, you can contact him through The Elongated Collectors Club Facebook Group here.

Thank you all for lounging on the couch with me again for this latest season of Pennies on TV. I’m sure we will find many over in the coming years of television. If you find a machine in show that you watch please beside to leave a comment and let me know so I can include it in our next edition. Have a fantastic rest of your week.

Keep on Pressing and Keep on watching TV!

---

My name is David and I’m obsessed with Etsy. There I’ve said it and I’m not ashamed. In between scrolling through Facebook penny groups, my Instagram and of course cat TikToks I’ve been spending a lot of time on Etsy looking for weird penny related items. One late night search I found some interesting pennies and placed my order.

The unique thing about these pennies is that the seller / artists(?) used a punch to cut out different designs into the penny. Initially I was just going to buy a bunch of these and show them off as a fun collectible, but when I saw them in person I was hit with an epiphany. What would happen if I pressed these in a penny machine?

My only problem was that here in Central Florida it is getting harder and harder to find a penny machine that allows you to press your own coin. Most of them have all been converted to versions that supply a penny which I’m sure if more convenient for the casual collector, but as we have talked about in the past many long time collectors prefer to use our own preferred coins to press. Thankfully there was one that last I checked hadn’t been changed over and was at Disney Springs inside the House of Blues restaurant.

I will admit I was a little worried that these pennies would damage the machine in some way, but because they were newer zinc pennies which are very soft I was hopeful not to make a mess of the machine.

Thankfully we lucked out and the pennies pressed really nicely. The design cutout in the middle did stretch out a bit but you can still clearly see what it was. Now obviously by using these coins most of the pressed image is missing from the penny, but I still think these are kind of a fun idea for a special design in your collection.

Let me know what you think down in the comments below, is this something you would try? Thank you for joining me again this week and I hope you enjoyed our little experiment. This is not something I would do often, but I am certainly surprised at how well these turned out in the end. Have a great week and Keep on Pressing even if it’s not your standard penny!

---

At Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure there are two very similar attractions. The Adventures of Spider-Man and Transformers The Ride 4-D. Personally I prefer the Spider-Man ride which I think may be a hot take. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the Transformers ride, I just get a little more queasy on it so I don’t ride it very often. Due to this I may have missed a brand new Collectible Medallion machine that was recently placed in the Supply Vault gift shop for this attraction. Thankfully our friend Les G. did find it and was kind enough to pass along the tip.

So I immediately headed over to the park to check out this new set of coins. I did wait in line to experience the attraction just due to it being awhile since my last ride. But I will let you know that you do NOT need to ride the attraction to access the medallion machine.

There are a couple entrances / exits to the Supply Vault gift shop from the park that will allow you to shop for all sorts of Transformers themed merchandise along with these medallions. The cabinet seems really large, but I do enjoy the design of it as it does seem to fit right in with the store theming.

As with the other collectible medallion machines, there are four designs available. It does cost $5 for one coin, or you can get all four coins for $15. This machine does accept credit / debit cards, digital payments like ApplePay or Google Wallet as well as cash. The designs on these coins include Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, the Autobots emblem and the Decepticons emblem.

The reverse image on all the coins is same. It has the NEST Transformers Logo in the center, Universal Studios across the top, and some copyright information along the sides and bottom.

I am happy to say that I survived my ride on the attraction and came off of it without any issues, so this may be a good sign that I can go back to riding this more frequently. I still think I prefer the Spider-Man version, but this is a lot of fun and honestly who doesn’t want to ride along with the Autobots to save the planet from time to time. Universal Studios has certainly seemed to embrace these collectible medallions and I’m happy to see more new designs being released. Keep on Collecting!

---

In the past here we have reviewed some really amazing privately designed elongated coins from friends in our collecting community. It has become one of my favorite sub genres of my collection and I’m find myself always on the look out for new and unique sets. I actually have quite a few in my collection that I haven’t even had time to share with you yet, but stay tuned because we have plenty of them on the way in future posts. Today however I wanted to show off some fun sets created and rolled by Martin Spier and are these after some classic cars and automobiles.

This first set from Martin is celebrating some classic Volkswagens, specifically the T1, T2 and T3 Camper. One thing that I love about not just this set but the others we will look at shortly is the details in the backgrounds of these designs. It really sets the scene and seems like these could have been pulled directly from an advertisement for the vehicles.

The second set continues with some other famous Volkswagen models you may recognize. They include a 1971 Beetle under a bridge, a 1955 Beetle diving along the coast with a lighthouse in the background, and a 1966 Beetle causing along a tree lined street.

The third and final set may just be my favorite, and includes the unique Trabant 601, a classic Ford Mustang in the dessert, and Fiat 500 that looks to be parked in front of the Roman Colosseum.

All of these coins are really striking and I was completely blown away when I saw them in person. The details are incredible and I couldn’t be happier to have them a part of my collection. I can’t wait to see what Martin comes out with next, maybe some more classic car designs or something completely different. The fun of designing elongated coins is they are only limited to the imagination of each designer. If you are interested in checking out these sets or any of Martin’s other available coin sets you can visit his website here. Just note that it is a German website so you may need the assistance as I did from Google translator to navigate it. But feel free to email Martin through is website with any questions and he will be happy to help place your order.

Keep on Pressing!

---