Collectible

Ziwani Traders NEW Collectible Medallions – WDW Animal Kingdom

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Things have certainly gotten a little busy over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Recently they have started converting their 3-design pressed pennies machines over to $1 and on a recent trip I made to check on those machines, I found that one had been removed and replaced with something new.

The Harambe section of the park is probably one of the more popular just due to the Kilimanjaro Safari, Gorilla falls walking path, and Conservation Station.  They also have an outdoor food market which has some really unique food options like Grilled Chicken Skewers, Gyro Flatbread, Grilled Sausages and even spice-rubbed ribs.

There is a even a stand that sells grilled corn on the cob which always smells amazing whenever I walk by.  One of these trips I’ll have to stop and actually try it out.  On this trip however I was heading to the Ziwani Traders shop which is right near the corn stand, and entrance to the Safari attraction.

I believe Ziwani Traders is just the name for this outdoor area of the store.  Inside is the Mombassa Marketplace.  This place has some beautiful African inspired items, and also some that were a little unique.

These would look pretty good as part of a Halloween display, but they were definitely intriguing to look at.

My daughters always love to stop here to play with the different instruments.  The one pictures above takes a bit of practice to spin in between the palms of your hands but makes some fun music once you get the hang of it.

Just outside the door that will take you inside the Mombassa Marketplace was where an old 3-design pressed penny machine used to be.  I visited here to see if it had been converted to $1, but was instead surprised to see it had been completely removed and replaced with a Collectible Medallion machine instead.

The cabinet of the machine had a nice wood grain look to it.  I really liked the decorative trip along the top, bottom and sides of the machine giving it an almost “hand carved’ looked to it.

There are four designs available in this machine.  The cost is $5 per medallion, or you get a bit of a discount of $15 for all four if you would like the entire set.

The designs on the medallions are inspired by the animated movie The Lion King, and has the Animal Kingdom logo and Tree of Life on the reverse of each coin.

I just can’t fight it any longer and have really come to enjoy collecting these medallions. I think that with the larger coin size the vendor is able to put a lot more detail on these images and they are really beautiful.  I’m still working on a nice way to display these within my collection and but may be something I can review in a future post.

Are you going to get a set of these for your own collection?  Let me know in the comments below.  Thanks for checking in this week, I always appreciate you taking the time visit.  Have a fantastic week and Keep on Pressing!

Inauguration Day 2021 – Pressed Pennies

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January 20th, 2021 was host to the Inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America.  The event took place at the Capital Building in Washington, DC.

Biden took the Presidential oath of office, followed by Kamala Harris taking the Vice Presidential oath of office.  During this unique global situation we all find ourselves currently living in, the ceremony required certain health measures such as mandatory face covering, testing, temperature checks and social distancing to try and protect participants of the ceremony.

 

Above is a commemorative pressed penny.  Concept by Kelly Buchwald a TEC Member, then designs and pressed by Paul Connor Studios.  This was available to members of The Elongated Collectors Facebook page, and many other special elongated are frequently offered there so if you aren’t already a member hop on over there and join.  The Facebook group is free, and you technically don’t need to be a TEC member to join, but honestly you should join the club as well.

Congratulations Mr. President and Madame Vice President!

FUN Convention Winter 2019 – Orlando Florida

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This convention kind of snuck up on me and I thankfully found out about it a few days before it actually started.  FUN stands for Florida United Numismatists and they have two conventions a year, one in the winter and another in the summer.  It moves around to various cities throughout the state and this year luckily it was in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center.

I’ve been to a few events in this convention center but wow it always amazes me how huge this place is.  If you make the mistake and park in the wrong area you could be walking for quite a while.

Once I found the right area of the convention center I checked in to get my name badge and was given a few special items for visiting.

The first one reminded me of a casino chip, and had the city of Hollywood Florida on the front, and the Florida United Numismatists on the back.

The second item was a beautiful medallion about the FUN convention host cities.  The back listed each city and the number of times it has hosted the event.  Before I go too much further I should mention that admission to this event was free, other than the cost for parking at the convention center.

As we headed towards the main entrance to the show there was a banner welcoming everyone to the show and even had some details on the other hosts sites which seemed to be a trend here.

Once inside I’m always blown away by how big these shows are and the number of vendors.

The tables are literally wall to wall with everything you could possibly imaging when it comes to collecting coins or any time of currency.

Many of the vendors were looking to buy as well as sell their own items, and there seemed to be a lot of transaction happening all over the place.

All the way in back was where the exhibits were where people have displayed some of their collection with a certain theme.  There are different categories and all are judged with the change to win your division.

I did come across some of the exhibits that had some elongated coins which I always love to take my time looking at.  The hard work and details they put into these are really amazing.

Below is one I came across that was about the FUN conventions of previous years.

After enjoying the exhibits we grabbed a quick snack in the food area, and then headed back to the aisle of vendors.  Eventually we found the TEC (The Elongated Collectors) Club table that was located right beside Mr. Raymond Dillard’s table.

Mr. Dillard was working both tables at the time we stopped by.  I had met him for the first time about 6 years ago at the ANA World’s Fair of Money convention in Philadelphia.  He is an amazing wealth of knowledge not just about elongated coins, but a wonderful man to just sit and chat with.

The TEC table had lots of information about the club including some recent issues of the new letter, pamphlets about the club, and of course applications for anyone interested in joining.

There was also a free pressed penny that they were giving out.

Mr. Dillard was also busy with his own table.  His manual coin press machine is always a visitor favorite.  I wonder how many coins have been pressed on that machine.

He was giving out a free pressed penny as well.

Usually if you have a special coin you want to press he will be more than happy to do so for you.  Otherwise the tray on the machine was filled with freshly pressed pennies.

This was another really nice looking design for the FUN convention.  As was the theme I mentioned earlier, the design listed all the host cities of the show.

Not only was he handing out free pennies, but his table was covered with lots and lots of pressed coins at very reasonable prices.  I could spend a lot of time going through some of those bins of coins.

We had a great afternoon spending time with Mr. Dillard and some other elongated collectors.  Eventually we were getting a bit tired and had a long walk back to our car still to make.

As we headed out I noted the next show would be in July and still in Orlando so we will be sure to come back them.  It was really a lot of fun and had lots of unique things to check out.

If you are not already a member of TEC you really should check it out.  I’ve been a member for about 10 years now and have thoroughly enjoyed being a member.  The cost is very reasonable, for 2019 the dues are $11 for a 1 year digital membership or $15 for a hard copy membership.  That just means you get the quarterly newsletter either digitally (PDF in an email) or a hardcopy in the mail.  Each quarter you also get a nice little package with pressed coins inside as well as the coveted membership coins each year.  There is a special editors coin you get if you submit an article to be published in the newsletter and also a recruiter coin if you help a fellow collector join the club.

On that note you can join by visiting the website www.tecnews.org and click on the Join/Renew coin.  Be sure to reference member #4237 so they know I’m helping spread the word and sharing the adventure of elongated coin collecting.

davidscointravels Office Tour

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A few years ago when I first got this blog started I had someone reach out asking for me to post about my collection.  From time to time I have posted some info about how I store my collection, or how to scan pennies onto your computer but I’ve never done a full tour of my office.  Lately this seems to be a topic quite a few people are interested in but to be honest I never thought it would be all that interesting.  However now that we have moved to Florida the office has become a place for not just my collection, and where I write the articles, or edit the videos but now it’s also where I keep all my Disney collectibles.  Hopefully this sheds a little insight into where all the magic happens.

I do have a full-time job and the blog and penny collecting are just hobbies.  Thankfully I’m able to work remotely and when we were having our house built we took that into account when we designed the office.  This allowed for additional electrical outlets and network connections for not just the work equipment but all the personal hardware too.  The office is at the front of our house which gets a lot of the Florida sunshine beaming in.

  As you walk into the office my wife found me a print of Hipster Mickey enjoying a Dole Whip float which makes me smile each time I walk in.

When we made our move from New Jersey to Florida along I-95 just over the border into South Carolina is the famous South of the Border.  They have gift shops, restaurants and all stores of other things to do.  We took the opportunity to stretch our legs and check out the gift shop.  I came across this wall mounted Tiki art and just had to have it.  This is also where I hang my ‘Ohana leis.

Over top of the storage closet I have some large prints of some historic Walt Disney World construction images.  I always thought it was interesting to see a Monorail train being listed onto the track, or Epcot’s spaceship earth empty inside.

Along the far wall are some vintage WDW attraction posters like Pirates, or the Monorail / Contemporary Resort.  There are more on the other side that we will get to shortly.  Then I have some floating shelves for my Magic Bands, POP Figures and other miscellaneous collectibles.  If you have a sharp eye you may notice the famous “Chosen One” red cards hanging from one of the shelves, this is actually a replica I got off Etsy that I just had to have.

Continuing on this side of the office is my iMac that does all the heavy workload of the blog and video editing for YouTube.  The dual screens in the corner is part of the hardware for my non-penny related job.  I am also a proud member of Disney’s D23  and have my membership certificate framed for display.  My cork board had my calendar, TEC member cards, and our magic bands that we use primarily at the parks.

One year for Christmas I was given a set of coasters that were themed after the Haunted Mansion.  Each one has a different Tombstone poem from the park attraction.  The one I use most of the time is “Dear departed brother Dave, he chased a bear into a cave.”  Also along the windowsill is where I have my Disney Transportation collection.  There is a scale model of the parking lot Trams, Monorail, different Bus designs, and even a small matchbox car of the Test Track vehicle.

On the opposite wall are more attraction posters for Epcot, Tomorrowland, the Haunted Mansion and the Tiki Room.  The larger cork board over here is where we keep a lot of our pins and lanyards from parks like Universal, Legoland and Disney Pin Trading.

There are two bookcases here that store my frequently used equipment and supplies.  There are more of these bookcases in the closet with more binders filled with pressed coins.

The case on the right side had my Hitchhiking Ghosts figure by Jim Shore.  There is also a model of the Disney Dream cruise ship which my wife and I went on a couple of years ago.  I got this model in the onboard gift shop and ended up meeting the Captain who signed it for me.  Below that is where I store the 2×2 plastic binder pages that hold all my pressed coins.  Next are some coin roll boxes for pennies and quarters, this helps ensure I always have plenty of change for my trips.  Then there are the small plastic bags I use for temporary storage of coins I collect, a flat cinch stapler with staples, and my travel case that is usually in my car.

Below that is my Yesterday’s Elongated guide which is a great resource for some older pressed pennies.  There is my main camera the Sony a6000, and my daughters Wilderness Explorers guidebook from the Animal Kingdom.  On the bottom shelf are the 4 and 5 inch three-ring binders for all my Walt Disney World coins, Disneyland coins, a separate binder just for retired WDW coins.  On the right side is my Disney Pin Trading binder, and a book that has all the Disney park maps since the park opened.

The bookcase on the left has my Harry Potter Elder Wand, and my basic magic band collection.  I actually found an acrylic watch display on eBay which works perfectly for these bands.  On the next shelf down I have the small labels I use for each coin, and packages of the 2×2 elongated coin cardboard holders.

The bottom has some of the binders that store my pressed coin collection.  This is my attempt to keep them as organized as possible.  This is an ever-growing collection that I’ve been working on for years.  I prefer to collect coins at places I have actually been to and pressed in person.  But I do have a lot of friends around the country that know of my obsession and love to send me their local coins as gifts and I cherish each one of them.

See what did I tell you not too exciting, but it’s where I do all the work to share this hobby with everyone.  It’s my sanctuary where I can enjoy the things I love, and help keep my collection organized and from getting too out of control.  Now it’s time to pull the curtain back across the room and get back to work.

Pennies for the Penny Press – Christmas in the City

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A week or so ago I was checking out my Facebook feed wishing some friends a Happy Birthday, and “Liking” various photos of babies, and my personal favorite cute/funny animal pictures.  Then as I aimlessly scrolled the lasted status updates a picture caught my eye.

Since I was a kid I have collected a lot of things, comic books, sports cards, stamps, coins and a bunch of other things but I’ve never gotten into the holiday porcelain collections.  The ones I usually see come out around this time of year and have all different types of buildings, and characters so you can build your own holiday village.  I know some people who have huge collections and take great pride each year building new configurations that cover their entire dining room table.  But once I saw this picture online I had to have it, and it may end up starting a new collection in my house.

Porcelain Penny 03

To be honest at first I thought this was a Christmas tree ornament which would have been really cool.  But once I did some Google searches I found that it was a porcelain piece.

Porcelain Penny 04

Above is a shot from the back.  I will say that this little figurine is pretty detailed, and I could swear I’ve used that machine before.

Porcelain Penny 05

Here’s a close up of the machine and little boy turning the handle as his father searches his pocket for some spare change.

Porcelain Penny 01

I included a picture above of the box the piece comes in.  It’s from the Christmas in the City collection and is called Pennies for the Penny Press.  I found it on Amazon and also quite few on eBay.  It ranges from $10-30 depending on whether is the figurine only or an unopened piece.  Right now I have it sitting on the desk I use to work on my penny collection, but must say it seems a little lonely without a quaint little town to put it into context.  Looks like I’ll be heading out to find some more pieces to start my new collection.