Friday, March 03, 2006

Pinched, Stretched, Squashed, Elongated

So, without looking, did you know what I was talking about?? This just happens to be one of my most soulful collections. I love pennies. I stop and pick them up off the sidewalk, to the total embarrassment of both my kids. But I don't care. "A penny saved is a penny earned." Every million dollars begins with a penny.



I'm fortunate that Donica loves this collection as much as I do. In fact, while I'm the one who has the luck in finding discarded pennies, she's the one that usually sees these penny-pincher machines before I do (which may say something about the level of where our eyes are gazing?). I can't believe that of all my hundreds of digital photos, I don't have one of a machine. So I had to scan this one from when we were in Bar Harbor, ME back in 2000.



I'm quite sure you know the drill. Put your 2 quarters in for the cost of the machine and one penny for your souvenir and start cranking away. It makes for a very cost-effective, doable collection, as far as I'm concerned. Right up my alley. In fact, when placed in these nifty Penny Passports, it's downright fun. I love the feel of the pennies in my hand; I love the feel of the passport books.


Just for the halibut, here's what I have thus far (in Passport book order):

Atlanta Braves (4)
Turner Field, Atlanta, GA
Dillard, GA
Six Flags Over Georgia
Zaanse Schans, Holland (Netherlands) (2)
Nova Scotia (Canada)
Peggy's Cove, NS
Acadia National Park (Maine)
Bar Harbor, Maine
Nashville, TN, Country Music Capital of the World
Tennessee Aquarium (Chatanooga, TN)
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, CA)
Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans, LA
Mardi Gras World, New Orleans, LA
Cafe du Monde, New Orleans, LA
Tower Bridge, London
Royal Fusiliers, HM Tower of London
Mount Washington, Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
Mt. Washington Cog Railway, NH
Harbor Town Lighthouse, Hilton Head, SC
Hilton Head Island, SC
The Cinnamon Bear Country Store, Hilton Head, SC
The Crayola Factory, Easton, PA (2)
The Poconos, PA
Bushkill Falls, The Niagra of PA
Catalina Island, CA
Berlin
Brandenburger Tor, Berlin
Fernseh und UKW Turm, Berlin
Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland
Goslar Kaiserpfalz, Harz Mtns (Germany)
Endangered Species Store, Honolulu, Hawaii
Waikiki (HI)
King's Village, Waikiki (HI)
Hilo Hatties, The Store of Hawaii
Atlantis Submarines, Hawaii
King Kamehameha, Hawaii
Matsumoto's Shave Ice,Waleiwa, Hawaii
Byodo-In Temple, Hawaii "May Peace Prevail on Earth"
Dole Plantation, Hawaii
Hanauma Bay, Hawaii
Salzburg, Mozartstadt (Austria)
Festung Hohensalzburg (Austria)
Mozart, Salzburg (Austria)


Hmm. Nothing from Barcelona or Rome or Brussels, I see. Maybe some places just don't have the machines. Guess I'll have to put a bug in their ears ("Get with it!"). Or maybe I could start a new career selling machines wherever I go….

19 comments:

  1. I know where this Bar Harbor machine is. And I know where I saw this before. Heh heh.

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  2. I won't tell if you don't tell, Jeff :)

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  3. James, you'll just have to get yourself a nifty Penny Passport book! Don't know where else to get them but at least you can get them on eBay.

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  4. I have never come across this before. I think its a great idea as a souvenir of places visited.

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  5. Hmm, DW. So you haven't seen these in South Africa or New Zealand? That would truly upset me if I traveled that far and couldn't find any :(

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  6. These are a great way to remember your trips. Wow, you've been around!

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  7. Ginnie that is way cool. I never knew either that there are penny passport books. IT would have made for better places to put those pennies I just had to have. Where did you find the books? So interesting you have so many! I bet you can add up how much it cost you too... :)

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  8. Ruth: I wish everywhere we've been had the machines. Now THAT would show we've been around!

    ET: Go up to my comment right after James' to see the eBay link I included. I really don't remember if I bought mine off of eBay or found them at a craft store (like Michael's). I'm trying to remember what coins you use in Europe as to whether it costs more there. But still, as far as collections go, this is not an expensive one, nor does it take up much space.

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  9. Wow, you've got quite a collection of these pennies! Sounds like a great hobby.

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  10. Oh I love those penny things! I have just a few and my two favorites from Wernigerode (of the Rathaus and the castle) sit in my printer's drawer with my other miniatures I display.

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  11. Mike: Thanks for the nice visit. Yes, we've been to all those places and more. Too bad they don't all have penny pinchers!

    Tim: It's very fun and cheap!

    Dixie: Nice to see another fan of pinched pennies :) I see you're in Magdeburg. Any penny machines there that you know of?

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  12. "See a penny, pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck. See a penny, let it lay, bad luck you'll have all the day."

    Wow, what a fantastic collection. I think we have a squished penny from Berlin lying around somewhere but I didn't even know there was a Penny Passport. I'll have to show that to my boys.

    When we were kids we used to leave pennies on the railroad tracks to get flattened by the next train. Same concept, just not as pretty. :-)

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  13. WOW, a really impressive list. We have such a machine here where I live ... if you want to add one more location ... you know what do do ;-)

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  14. Christina: I woke up this morning thinking about those pennies on the railroad tracks. I never did it but had friends who did. I think I'd like to try it some day, just to say I did it :)

    I bet there are 100's of penny quotes, just confirming my propensity to pick them up!

    KPK: Hmm. Who knows. Maybe that will happen one of these days/years :)

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  15. I used to put pennies on the railroad track near my great grandmother's house in Texas as a child. (We were not supposed to be near the railroad tracks.)

    Your Penny Passport books came from the gift shop at the top of the lighthouse in Harbor Town-Hilton Head, SC.

    I had no idea we had collected so many of these!!!

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  16. I shoiuld have known, Donica, that you'd remember where we bought those Penny Passports! And yes, we really have collected a lot!! Too bad we haven't found them everywhere :(

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  17. >So you haven't seen these in South Africa or New Zealand?<
    No, and I asked around to see if anyone else had seen any in NZ :(

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  18. Rats! Wonder who it is that's responsible for setting up the machines? The same people who set up coke machines, I bet--or some entrepreneur like that. Hmm. Well, I'd still go visit NZ! Wonder if they have a machine by where they filmed LOTR. Wouldn't THAT be cool. A LOTR pinched penny :)

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  19. My kids used to LOVE these when they were young - we'd stop on the Jersey turnpike, and they'd make us give them pennies and quarters to pinch a "turnpike" penny.

    Your photo of the pennies with your collection is really, really good!

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