Earlier this year our Youtube channel hit 1,000 Subscribers and to celebrate I wanted to help one of our viewers create their very own elongated coin. Thank you to everyone that submitted their design ideas you certainly gave me a lot to review and chose from.

There wasn’t a specific topic or subject so you could submit any style design you liked, and that made it really fun to see what you all came up with. I knew I needed some help so I recruited my family to help go through all the designs and we eventually decided on our top three. Let’s take a quick look at the two runner up designs.

Created by Peter from Sweden this design titled Vallis Ursi which means Valley of the bear and is a play on his last name Biorndahl or Bear Valley. This was a really unique idea and we loved the meaning behind it.

This design was created by Martin from the UK as a business card and advertisement for his Youtube channel Penny Press on Tour. We liked the penny machine design featured in the middle of the coin and was one of the few vertical designs we received. Be sure to check out Martin’s youtube channel I have it linked here.

These were just a couple of the amazing designs we received and I wish I could help create all of them for you. But after some discussions my family unanimously decided this was going to be the winning design. Created by Megan from Ohio here is a look at her concept design first.

As you can see it’s beautiful and honestly didn’t need any adjustments or redesigns. The only change I requested was to include her initials at the bottom of the coin. Every artist should sign their creation. Take a look at her finished elongated coin design.

Below is a photo of Megan with her winning design. She received 25 of the elongated pennies, including a special denomination set that included a US penny, nickel, dime and quarter.

Congratulations to Megan and her winning design. However she is not the only winner here. I had mentioned in the original video that we would make some additional copies of her design on US pennies to give away to anyone that was interested in one. All you need to do is send a self addresses stamped envelope to my PO Box 135512, Clermont Florida 34713. Once I receive your envelope I’ll return it with a free copy of Megan’s beautiful elongated coin for your very own collection.

A huge thank you to Rick Santos for helping once again with this project. As always he did a great job converting Megan’s concept design into an amazing physical elongated coin. He has plenty of his own coin designs available for sale or if you are interested in creating your own design he would be happy to help. Just visit his Etsy Shop The Custom Pennies that I have linked here. Thank you to everyone that visits here on our blog and also our YouTube channel. I never thought we would get to 1,000 subscribers but it’s truly an honor to share our hobby with everyone. Maybe in the future we can his 2,000 subscribers and do this once again. Keep on Pressing!

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About a year ago we reported that a brand new Collectible Medallion machine was placed at Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa in Hawaii. Then earlier this year they replaced the dated coin design with a new 2025 version. Now as much as I like the medallions (except for their much higher cost) I really was hoping to see a Pressed Penny machine….well that time has finally arrived.

Unfortunately I still have not been able to visit Aulani in person, but it’s still on my bucket list and hope to do that sooner than later. However, I was able to use a wonderful service through a Facebook group that consists of Hawaiian locals that can visit the resort to pick up items for a small service fee. Since that’s always much cheaper than a flight to the islands I reached out again for assistance getting the new pennies.

I was informed that the new penny machine is located in the same place as the medallion machine and that is the Pau Hana activity center. The cabinet of the penny machine has a similar wrap to the medallion one nearby, but the tropical fish on top is a nice additional detail.

There are 8 penny designs available and the cost thankfully is the same as we find in the theme parks. One design is $1, or you can get the entire set of eight for $5. Plus as I’m sure you are now used to, the machine will supply the pennies.

The set includes some really nice designs featuring Chip, Dale, Minnie Mouse, Duffy, Sally Mae, Stitch, Angel and Goofy. All of the coin designs include the Aulani logo on the front.

However, they also all have a fantastic backstamp that features the Aulani Logo and resort information.

Once again the Aulani resort has received some nice new coins to keep us collectors busy. If you are visiting Aulani some time soon be sure to check out the Pau Hana activity center for all the available coins both medallions and pennies. None of these penny designs are dated so I wouldn’t anticipate these changing anytime soon but time will tell. Mahalo and be sure to Keep on Collecting!

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