I remember years ago when you could slide fifty cents into a coin press and elongated whatever penny you wanted, be it a new shiny zinc or a classic copper coin.

Unfortunately in recent years those style of machines have started to disappear, being replaced by preloaded machines that are usually filled with zinc pennies or in some instances dirty circulated coins of various mintages.

This did cause a bit of unhappiness among quite a few in the collecting community who preferred to be able to press their own preferred coin. Well the machine manufacturers seem to have been listening.

I received some news from friend and fellow collector Jim McNally who reported a new penny machine model that has first been discovered up in Michigan at the Detroit Zoo pictured above.

This machine has the standard paper bill payment system as well as a credit / debit card digital payment system we find on the other machines.

However if we take a closer look at the instruction placard we notice it mentions three different payment options. Turn the wheel to the design you want, then chose a payment option cash, card, or coins that also says “Press your own penny!” The machine still costs $1 to use but you can now opt to use four quarters and whatever kind of penny you like. The machine is still preloaded with zinc pennies if you use either the cash bill or digital payment options.

I’m honestly kind of blown away that this is even a thing. It’s something we have been asking for and it’s amazing that the manufacturer appears to have been listening and made it a reality which is fantastic.

Now the big question is….. will we see this new machine model released in a wider implementation. For me since I’m a huge Disney collector I would love to see these related within the parks and resort. The above pictures acrylic version is not the style of machine Disney usually has so I doubt we would see it released there. But the internal mechanisms I’m sure could be used in their existing 3 and 4 design machine models. Putting this in the larger 8 and 12 design machines I don’t think is something we will see.

Just wanted to share this excited news and fingers crossed we will start seeing this new machine model released in the near future. Keep your eyes open and if you come across any before to let me know. I’d love to hear all about them and can’t wait to find one to use myself. Keep on Pressing!