Logistical Question re Pressed Pennies

[kevgraub]

Just to clear up the date thing - in 1982 they started making pennies mostly out of zinc rather than copper because copper was becoming more expensive. There is still some copper in newer pennies, but they are mostly zinc. The new pennies will press just fine, but sometimes when they are pressed you will notice a kind of streaking on the penny caused by the different metals.

Its not that the new pennies don't work, they can just turn out a little bit streaked. For most people that is not a major deal at all, but if you want perfect pennies, then try to get some pre-1982 pennies and shine them up.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

The last post is right. Every post 1982 penny (at least this goes for american ones) I've ever pressed has had that streaky look. Some are worse than others, but the bad ones distract from the design. I found cola to work better than ketchup for cleaning them. I put a layer of paper towels in a shallow dish and spread the pennies out and cover them with a layer of cola. I tried just a couple in a dish the first time and I found that if the pennies touched each other, or the plate, those parts didn't shine up as well, so by putting the paper towel down and spreading them out, it makes sure that all surfaces of the penny are being touched by cola. I would pour a little out and add a little fresh cola every time I drank it. Oddly enough, even seeing how shiny they came out still hasn't deterred me from drinking it.

 

[MamaCrush]

The last post is right. Every post 1982 penny (at least this goes for american ones) I've ever pressed has had that streaky look. Some are worse than others, but the bad ones distract from the design. I found cola to work better than ketchup for cleaning them. I put a layer of paper towels in a shallow dish and spread the pennies out and cover them with a layer of cola. I tried just a couple in a dish the first time and I found that if the pennies touched each other, or the plate, those parts didn't shine up as well, so by putting the paper towel down and spreading them out, it makes sure that all surfaces of the penny are being touched by cola. I would pour a little out and add a little fresh cola every time I drank it. Oddly enough, even seeing how shiny they came out still hasn't deterred me from drinking it.

How long did it take to shine them up??

 

[MamaCrush]

I just "layered" an M&M tube. I thought I'd report that one tube holds 20 layers of 2 quarters and 1 penny.

 

[lnh'smom]

I just "layered" an M&M tube. I thought I'd report that one tube holds 20 layers of 2 quarters and 1 penny.

Thanks! Now I know how many M&M tubes to buy!

 

[kevgraub]

For those that want to use the copper pennies that are from 1981 or before, but don't want to mess with shining them up, there is another option. You can purchase rolls of uncirculated pennies at many coin shops or on ebay.

My initial reaction to purchasing 50 cents worth of pennies for $3.00 or so was "why in the world would I do that?!?!?" However, when I hear about the lengths some people will go through to get their pennies perfectly shiny (buying cleaners, rubbing each penny with something, etc) it did not seem so crazy.

If someone were to say to me - hey, if you pay me $3 I will take those 50 pennies and make them look like brand new, I'd probably do it without thinking twice so I did not have to mess with them. Really this is no different.

Just another option to throw out there. If you don't want to mess with trying to shine up your pennies, buying a roll or two for $3 a piece might be a good option.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Buying them would work as long as you had some sort of guarantee they were all pre 1982 coins, I'm not sure I'd trust it from eBay.

The cola shine technique took me about 2-5 days depending on how nasty the coins were. I didn't try to get them to brand new condition, as long as they were decently shiny I was happy.

Speaking of pennies though, has anyone tried pressing one of the new 2009 pennies with what I believe to be a lumberjack on the back? They feel a little different than older pennies and I was wondering if any issues came up with them?

 

[kevgraub]

Buying them would work as long as you had some sort of guarantee they were all pre 1982 coins, I'm not sure I'd trust it from eBay.

The cola shine technique took me about 2-5 days depending on how nasty the coins were. I didn't try to get them to brand new condition, as long as they were decently shiny I was happy.

I was just experimenting a little yesterday with some pretty typical looking pre-1982 pennies.

I stuck one in a package of Taco Bell hot sauce, waited about 15 minutes then took it out and rinsed it off. It looked really good. It did not have a great shine, but the tarnish was definitely all gone.

I then took about 20 pennies and put them on a plate in some BBQ sauce (we won a gallon of this sauce, and hardly ever use it). I waited about 15 minutes, and again they were perfectly clean, but not extremely shiny. Definitely good enough at that point. I then went ahead and took a little baking soda and water and made a paste with it. Rubbed the penny between my fingers for a few seconds, and the thing shined like brand new.

If you are good with pennies that have the tarnish off of them, but not necessarily totally shiny - then about 15-20 minutes in ketchup, hot sauce, bbq sauce or vinegar should work fine. If you want them to look really great, then you can do the baking soda thing (although I have been warned never to do that one on a collectible coin).

 

[siropa]

We just got from WDW in which we did lots of penny pressing. Here is what we did and it worked well.

Pre-trip we gathered up our pre 82 pennies. I think we had around 200. We shinned them up in vinegar for a few minutes then washed them in fresh water and dried them. it only took about 30mins to do the whole lot and it worked well. i've in other posts were peoples pennies got tarnished again, but we didn't see that happen. Maybe the fresh water rinse and drying helped with that.

We packaged up the pennies into small (but strong) ziplock baggies. 25 pennies and 50 quarters per baggie. I carried these all in our carryon for the flights and had no issues with security.

Once at WDW, I kept one baggie in my fanny pack for use and a couple of extras in the backpack. the rest were in the resort safe. I think the most we ever did in one day was around 60 pennies, so that worked. After pressing a penny I just dropped it back in the baggie with the rest of the coins.

When we go back next year we'll use the same system. worked perfectly for us.

 

[zoemurr]

Only one word of warning...may be totally unnecessary, BUT when I took a roll of quarters through security at the airport, it TOTALLY freaked out security. They had to look through my bag and had a good laugh among themselves when they discovered the roll of coins. Not sure WHAT they thought it was...

Make sure you take them out of your carry on and put them in the box. My husband got a stern, "You should have known better" and has told us several times to make sure we remind him to take them out this year.

 

[DisneyPeanut]

why does airport security have a problem with the coins? just curious.

 

[zoemurr]

it shows on the xray that you are carrying a bunch of thick metal bars in your bag that could be a weapon.

They were fine with it after we pulled them out.. but it did slow down the line a bit.

 

[DisneyPeanut]

oh thanks. i had no idea.