The discovery of this new set of collectible medallions starts a couple months ago when I was visiting SeaWorld Orlando specifically to ride the new Penguin Trek coaster and look for a special coin for that attraction which you can read all about here.
When I first arrived I just headed straight back to the new coaster without thinking of anything else. I didn’t have a whole lot of time on this visit so I needed to focus on the task at hand. Then once I was done and heading back towards the front of the park to leave, by happy accident I just happened to glance at a medallion machine that was in a location I didn’t remember having a machine before.
That was the large main SeaWorld Store that’s located just inside the park entrance / exit. It does have a few different entrances but the machine can be found next to the doors that face the SeaWorld lighthouse. If you have visited the park before I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
I had actually cut through the store to grab a bit of Air Conditioning before heading back out in the Florida summer heat. Inside they always have a lot of cute merchandise.
As well as a plethora of stuffed animals and critters. I know for a fact we have at least a dozen of these fuzzy friends living in my house from various trips with my kids. They just can’t resist.
When I first started walking towards this machine it looks similar to one I had visited a year or so earlier, and thought it may have just moved. SeaWorld is notorious for moving penny machines around and I figured they may have done the same here. Then when I saw the coin designs I realized it was a brand new machine with four new coin designs.
The set of coins includes designs featuring different types of sharks. Sand Shark, Mako Shark, Hammerhead and Tiger Shark. These designs are nice but not really that detailed in my opinion.
On the back of each coin has the same design of the Shark Encounter logo. Which brings up an interesting observation. These coins are themed around sharks, has the Shark Encounter (exhibit) logo on it, but the machine is sitting outside the gift shop by the front of the park. Why isn’t this back at the Shark exhibit? They have a few penny machines back there so I don’t see why this isn’t as well. Maybe it will eventually move back there and I’m not mad about it, just seems like someone put this machine in the wrong place. If you are planning a visit to SeaWorld soon and are looking for this machine, if it’s not at the SeaWorld store, try checking somewhere around the Shark Encounter and I’m sure you will find it.
Last year a new Collectible Medallion machine was placed at Disney’s Aulani Resort in Hawaii which made acquiring them a bit difficult. Thankfully there are plenty of wonderful local shoppers willing to help and we reviewed that original set of coins in a previous post. One of those designs however did have the year listed on it, so we knew it was only a matter of time before that coin was replaced.
According to reports the machine is still in the same location the Pau Hana activity center, and the machine cabinet design has also remained unchanged.
The new medallion features Moana and her little sister Simea from the new Moana 2 animated movie. The coin also features the new year 2025, so we know the clock is ticking on how long this design will be available. Keep on Collecting.
Over at Disney’s Magic Kingdom we have recently found ourselves back in Frontierland checking out new medallions and pressed pennies at a few classic (and one rethemed) attractions. This time we are heading into New Fantasyland for another new machine.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a classic Disney dark ride attraction. It was formerly the home of open day attraction Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. This has one of the first interactive queues that I can remember being created and certainly made waiting with young ones much easier. You then climb aboard a honey pot and make your way through a story featuring Pooh and his friends.
When you exit the ride you will find yourself inside the Hundred Acre Goods store. However if you are interested in just getting these new coins you can enter the store without having to ride the attraction.
As per usual plenty of stuffed Pooh characters, clothing, slippers and anything else you can imagine.
The new pressed penny machine is just inside the entrance / exit to the gift shop as you head back out into the park. This machine is amazing! Look at that cabinet design, it’s almost like Disney and the manufacturer has finally heard my complaints and requests for more themed machines. It just looks like a couple of oversized books up on the shelf. The colors are great, and I just love it. More please Disney.
The full set of pennies include designs featuring Pooh and all his friends. These designs just seem to be a bit more details than usual which I did notice in another new machine recently. I hope this is the trend we can expect moving forward. Look at that Eeyore design that is fantastic. Keep on Pressing!
With today being Opening Day for the 2025 Major League Baseball Season and a full day of baseball ahead of us, I thought it was a great time to review a new privately designed elongated coin.
The Lost Angeles Dodgers were the World Series Champions, so let’s review how their season went. They won an MLB-best 98 games. They had acquired reigning American League MVP Shohei Ohtani who put together a historic season in his first year as a Dodger. He was the first player to hit at least 50 home runs, and steal 50 bases. They ended the season 1st plan in the National League West division with a 98-64 record. As the playoffs began they faced off agains the San Diego Padres defeating them in 5 games. Next they went up against the New York Mets for the National League Championship taking 6 games to win the series.
In the World Series they found themselves up agains the always powerful New York Yankees. In game 5 the Dodgers upended the Yankees in a historic comeback to win the series and capture their 8th World Series title.
Coin designer Jamie Bennett created a special elongated coin to celebrate the Dodgers win. The design has a nice border similar to the stitching on a baseball. The Dodgers logo, 2024 and of 8x Champions all included in this fantastic coin.
The design was also made available in a denomination set that included a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar. The above photo shows just a couple of the coins from the set.
Now that the 2025 season has officially started, how is your team looking? Need to make some trades already? That’s part of the ups and downs of being a sports fan. I wish you all the best of luck with your teams, and in between watching games be sure to get out there and press some coins.
Some of you may not know that we also have a YouTube channel. There we post videos each week similar to our blog here, all about elongated coins, collectible medallions, unique coins and plenty of tip and tricks to help with your own collections. Well recently we crossed a milestone of 1,000 subscribers which is so amazing.
Now this celebration is no just for me, it’s for all of us as this is such as fun community we have created together. So with that said I want to help one of you create your very own custom elongated coin. At the bottom of this post I have a link to the contest form for you to use to submit your design idea. There is NO specific topic, you can create a design about whatever you like so be creative. You do not need to be a professional artist, trust me I know.
You can create either a horizontal or vertical design depending on what you think will work best for your concept. The second page is where you can fill in your contact information so I can reach out to you. Please make sure you don’t use any copyrighted images or logos, and any design considered inappropriate will be disqualified. Once completed you can then email your entry form to the email address listed on the form. Submissions will be accepted until April 30th, 2025 when the contest will close.
At that time I’ll review all the submissions and pick my favorite that we will then move forward with creating. I’ll cover all the costs to produce and press the elongated coins. The winner will receive 25 elongated pennies of their winning design, along with a special denomination set (penny, nickel, dime and quarter) that will only be available to the winner. We will also create an additional 200 pennies of the winning design that will then be available to all of you for free. But we will go over that in a future post when we unveil the new coins design.
I can’t wait to see what you all come up with and hope you have fun working on your own coin design. Don’t forget you will also get nominated for our Top Voted Coin Contest later in the year. Thank you all once again for your support. If you haven’t checked out our YouTube channel be sure to head over an take look I have it linked here.
It’s been a lot of fun sharing the hobby with all of you and I can’t wait to see where we go next. Good luck and Keep on Pressing!
During our little family vacation to Fort Myers we made a stop at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. This is one of those vacation spots that is probably more for the parents than the kids. At least my kids weren’t too interested in a bit of a history lesson while on vacation but I was just too intrigued by this place not to stop. Plus I’m sure you can guess, they had a pressed penny machine.
What exactly is this place, well it’s the actual winter homes for Thomas Edison (yes that Thomas Edison) and Henry Ford. Edison build his winter home in 1886 along with a second home for a friend/partner and a laboratory. In 1916 Henry Ford purchased the estate next door called “The Mangoes” in order to spend more time with his friend and mentor Thomas Edison. The two vacationed here until Edison’s death in 1931.
This is quite a sprawling property. When you arrive there is a parking lot that first brings you to the gift shop and museum where you can purchase your admission tickets. Inside the museum is a plethora of artifacts and details about both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford’s life, careers and innovations. One of them being Thomas Edison’s 1916 Ford Model T touring car.
In a separate building from the museum is the Edison Botanic Research Laboratory. In 1927 Edison, Ford and Harvey Firestone formed the research corporation and the lab was build in 1928. The lab was designed with one purpose in mind, to find a natural source of rubber that could be grown in the United States. Divided into six sections, parts of the laboratory operated similar to an assembly line, with critical tasks being performed in each area.
With the museums completed, we had to cross the street over the second part of the property where the winter homes were located. The landscaping was gorgeous, and well kept. There were pathways that allowed you to explore the entire property including Edison’s personal office, outdoor pool area and other maintenance buildings.
The first home we visited was Thomas Edison’s. It’s two buildings connected by a covered pathway. Visitors are not allowed inside the buildings as they are fully furnished and filled with historic artifacts. But the windows and doorways are open so you can peek inside.
A short walk away is the Henry Ford estate. It was a beautiful look two story home, with a huge porch on the front facing the water. Nearby was a garage that Henry Ford used to house and maintain his personal vehicles, but is now setup like a small automotive museum.
Once we had finished checking out the entire estate we headed back across the street, past the gift shop and just before the parking lot was a covered restrooms area. This is where I found the pressed penny machine hiding. I was a bit worried during our visit as I couldn’t find it in the gift shop, museum or any of the estate buildings and thought maybe it had been removed. Thankfully I was wrong.
It was a nice well maintained CTM group machine. The vinyl wrapping on the machine looked great and I had no issues with pressing my coins.
The penny designs included images of Thomas Edison, a Ford Model-T car, and a few of Edison’s famous inventions including the Lightbulb and Photograph.
I really enjoyed the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, probably more than I initially thought I would. My original plan was to just stop by and press the pennies. However I’m glad we decided to purchase tickets and enjoy the afternoon exploring this amazing property. Keep on Pressing!
Recently I went and spent a leisurely day over at the Universal Florida parks. Part of this was just a day to relax and enjoy the parks, the other part was to work on our coin maps making sure they were up to date. The maps are primarily for elongated coin collectors, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping an eye on for new medallion sets which is what happened on this trip.
I’m not sure why but whenever I visit Universal’s Islands of Adventure park I always head towards Seuss Landing and then work my way counter clockwise through the park. I guess it’s similar to how people have a preference in Epcot going around the World Showcase (Mexica or Canada first?).
This section of the park is certainly geared more around younger guests and their families. However I always enjoy taking my time in this section. The theming, colors, wonky shapes and building designs are incredible, plus if you are lucky enough to have a character interaction they are always a lot of fun an memorable. They do have a few different shops in this area, but one of my favorites is the Gertrude McFuzz Fine Feathered Finery.
This is usually where you can find all your Grinch related items, and during the Holiday season is where the Grinch does his meet and greets.
As I visited this store, originally I was on the look out for the 3-design penny machine that was just inside the doors. Instead of that machine I found a much larger medallion machine in its place.
I love the bright colors of this machine, the red and blue really stand out especially when most of the store is green. The cabinet does have a slight Seuss-like shape to it that I thought was a fun detail.
It has been a little while since I last collected medallions from Universal, and I noticed that the price seems to have crept up a bit on the individual coins. If you only want one it will cost $7.00, but the cost for the entire set is $20. So you definitely get a much better deal per coin picking up all four. The designs include some classic Dr. Seuss characters including The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2, The Grinch and Max, and Sam I Am with his Green Eggs and Ham.
The reverse image is the same for all of the coins in this set and features the Dr. Seuss logo with the Cat’s hat overtop of the “S” and the trademark information along the bottom.
This is another fun set of collectible medallions, but seems to have been released at the cost of a pressed penny machine. I’m not sure how I feel about that since my collection is primarily elongated coins it’s a little upsetting to see them be replaced by these much more expensive medallions. I hope this does not become a trend so we will have to wait and see. Keep on Collecting!
Not too long ago I was written about the Frankford Wonder Ball Disney 100 Collectible Coins. They were hollow chocolate balls with some candy inside and a mystery coin featuring a Disney Character. As finished up that collection I found out that there were other versions and I set out to try and acquire the Mickey and Friends Wonder Mates.
I put quite a few miles on my car driving around to numerous Wal-marts, Targets and Five Belows trying to find as many as I could. Eventually I was able to pick up 16 and that seemed to exhaust the inventory of my local stores. Unfortunately I came to find out that this product had been discontinued meaning stores were no longer getting any more. I visited amazing and eBay trying to pick up any other unopened boxes but was sticking out. This was going to be a bit tougher than I had anticipated.
First let’s review the difference in product names. The other version was called Wonder Ball as the chocolate was a hollow ball. These were called Wonder Mates because the chocolate was formed to create a hollow Mickey. I did try this chocolate and….it’s still terrible so let’s just focus on the coins.
After you open the box, there is a plastic tray that slides out with the foil wrapped chocolate secured on one side, and the coin on the other. The coin is wrapped in a small plastic bag and includes a copy of the collection checklist just as we found with the other set. This set includes 15 standard coins, and 3 rare coins (technically one is super rare) for a total of 18 coins to complete the set.
The coins are very similar to the Disney 100 set. They are solid metal and have some weight to them, however I’m not sure of the metallic mixture they use. The image on the coin is just a colored sticker. As an experiment I did try to remove one and it was on there pretty good so I don’t feel like these will easily peel off over time but you never know.
On the reverse side of each coin is the Disney Mickey and Friends copyright information, and the boarder of the coin has some cute Mickey heads. After opening all the boxes I was missing quite a few of the standard coins, and still hadn’t found any of the rare ones. With a bunch of duplicates I wanted to try and avoid eBay for now and figured my best option for now was to try and trade with some other collectors.
When I was working on the Disney 100 set I had traded with other collectors through the Disney Coin Pressers Facebook group, but it became so popular that the admins decided to create a separate group just for the Frankford Candy Medallions. That’s where I posted a photo of the coins I had to trade, and the list of what I needed. After a few back and forth messages I was able to acquire quite a few that I was missing, and also got rid of all of my duplicates which was a plus.
After a few weeks the traded coins started to arrive and I went through each one to make sure the trades were correct. My set was almost complete but I was still missing one coin, and of course it was the Super Rare coin featuring Steamboat Willie. It seemed that this was truly a super rare coin as there were quite a few people in the Facebook group also looking for that one. With no other option at the moment I headed to eBay. There were a few available with crazy asking prices almost reaching $100. I did find one listing that for some reason wasn’t as high. I submitted a lower offer and to my surprise the seller accepted.
That was it, I had successfully acquired the entire set of this retired collection. You can see the standard coins are all that gold color, and the rare coins across the top are different colors Blue, Pink and the super rare Steamboat Willie was Silver.
I mentioned earlier the included checklist that you got with each coin. This also had a similar offer to the Disney 100 set where you could submit a photo with 6 box bar codes and six coins as proof of purchase to get a collector’s coin book. This being a retired product I wasn’t sure if this would still be honored. Since I really didn’t have anything to lose I went ahead and submitted the request online.
The insert did state it could take 6-8 weeks to arrive and when I thought I was just out of luck, around week 10 it finally arrived in my mail.
The booklet is a twi-fold design made of rigid cardboard. There are cutouts for each coin with a faded image of each design in the designated location. The booklet also comes with a strip of little sticky dots that you apply to each coin and stick into the booklet holding them in place. I tried to not use those but the coins just fall out anytime you try to move it around.
They do look really nice all secured into the booklet. I did contemplate just keeping these in my standard 2×2 cardboard flips but I found I just preferred them in this booklet. It is very heavy when all the coins are loaded inside so be careful moving them around.
Once again I had a lot of fun running around trying to find the chocolate mickey’s and tearing into each box to see what coin I received. It was a nice accomplishment to eventually get the entire set, however it seems like I only just barely was able to finish it. Frankford does have a few other similar sets featuring Jurassic World and Super Mario that I’ve thought about trying and just haven’t yet. Since both this Mickey & Friends and Disney 100 sets are now retired maybe they will release a new Disney set and I might just wait for that.
In 1999 Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa started a tradition. Their talented pastry chef’s designed and decorated a life sized Gingerbread House and it immediately became a fan favorite attraction.
Then during the holiday season for 2024 they celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Gingerbread House.
For those of you that may not have been able to visit the Grand Floridian during the holiday’s, it’s truly a magical experience. The gingerbread house is huge, probably standing about 10 feet tall at the highest point.
The details are incredible, and there are so many hidden mickeys and other easter eggs you could spend all day searching for them.
It takes hundreds of pounds of honey, sugar, flour, chocolate and spices to decorate the entire house. You can even see the individual shingle and pieces of gingerbread used all around the outside.
This is also not just a facade, but actually has a store inside. Cast members are located inside behind a counter and sell all different holiday treats including the famous gingerbread shingles.
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Grand Floridian’s Gingerbread House designer Joe Watts created the above elongated coin design. He pressed the design on silver quarters for a unique collectible. The details of the house, the Mickey head border really make this a great new design and a perfect addition to any Disney coin collector.
Knuckledusters, knucks, iron fist, paperweight, all better known as Brass Knuckles. A melee weapon used primarily in hand-to-hand combat. They are fitted and designed to be worn around the knuckles of a human hand. Despite their name, they are often made from other metals, plastics or carbon fibers, not necessarily brass. They are designed to preserve and concentrate a punch’s force increasing the damage inflicted on the target and reduces the likelihood of damage to the attacker’s fingers. This weapon has been controversial for its easy conceivability and is illegal to own and use in a number of countries. Their origins date back to ancient times and have evolved over centuries.
They are probably most recognizable from appearing in movies and tv shows depicting stories of gritty street violence, crime dramas and maybe most notably the mafia.
Continuing with her Pressed Penny Mafia PPM themed elongated coins, designer Amy Brennan has released her latest offering. The design features a set of Brass Knuckles front and center, with the year 2024 inside each of the finger holes, and PPM Hooligan along the bottom. If you are interested in this coin, or any of Amy’s other elongated coins you can contact her through her Facebook group Pressed Penny Mafia – PPM.
Stay safe out there, and as always Keep on Pressing!
David's Coin Travels 