Pressed Pennies

[mommykds]

I keep hearing that the pennies should be prior to 1982? Why & does it really matter? Thanks!

How did you clean your pennies?

 

[Mickey1122]

I haven't heard this. We just use a shiny penny and then keep it nice and safe in our little Happiest Celebration on Earth pressed penny booklet.

 

[ntsammy5]

I keep hearing that the pennies should be prior to 1982? Why & does it really matter? Thanks!

How did you clean your pennies?

I have tons of them and never looked at dates on them. I didn't and don't clean them.

 

[Onceler]

I keep hearing that the pennies should be prior to 1982? Why & does it really matter? Thanks!

The metal composition in pennies changed in 1982 when more zinc was added to the mix. So pennies minted after 1982 will sometimes have a silver colored streak in them when they are pressed.

It only matters if the streaking bothers you. Many people don't care and some actually like it.

 

[Mickey1122]

The metal composition in pennies changed in 1982 when more zinc was added to the mix. So pennies minted after 1982 will sometimes have a silver colored streak in them when they are pressed.

It only matters if the streaking bothers you. Many people don't care and some actually like it.

I think that it is barely noticible though.

 

[kaabost]

How did you clean your pennies?

Yeah, I would like to know the best way to clean them too. I have tried toothpaste and ketchup. Both helped get them a little more clean but still left alot to be desired. I want my tarnished pennies to be SHINY!

 

[marathonmommy]

There was a post about cleaning pennies some time ago. People tried things like ketchup, vinegar, coke, a pencil eraser, kaboom, etc. I don't think any one strategy was in favor of another. I just look for clean pennies and that solves the problem. They are not too hard to find.

 

[DisneyFreq]

I actually like the streak...it individualizes the penny.

In any case, I think the best way to clean pennies is to soak in vinegar (i heard apple cider vinegar is better and since I keep it on hand I've always used it so I don't know that white vinegar wouldn't be just as good). Soak for 5-10 min. Then drain but don't rinse!

Pour baking soda on wet pennies (they should fizz) and use a toothbrush to scrub. Keep dipping brush in vinegar and brushing with dry soda (abrassive) until you get desired results. Then rinse and thouroughly pat dry. I did this with a "Post-pressed" penny this morning and the results were great! What a differance.

PS...for those of you not aware I recommend a penny book ($6.50 I believe). It is tri-fold and holds dozens of pennies and several quarters. My kids had a blast (they each got to press 10 pennies on last trip) and they're already talking about the pennies they will add this trip. I even had SEVERAL parents ask me where I got it! They sell them in EVERY gift store and if you can't find them (like me) ask several cast members...they don't keep them in the most obvious places for some reason and not every CM can lead you to them! (we went around and around in the ASSp gift store while waiting for our bus but finally found someone that knew where they were.)

 

[marathonmommy]

PS...for those of you not aware I recommend a penny book ($6.50 I believe). It is tri-fold and holds dozens of pennies and several quarters. My kids had a blast (they each got to press 10 pennies on last trip) and they're already talking about the pennies they will add this trip. I even had SEVERAL parents ask me where I got it! They sell them in EVERY gift store and if you can't find them (like me) ask several cast members...they don't keep them in the most obvious places for some reason and not every CM can lead you to them! (we went around and around in the ASSp gift store while waiting for our bus but finally found someone that knew where they were.)

They now often (but not always) keep them on top of the pressed penny machines when located in gift shops.

 

[iHEARTflorida]

people suggest you should use pre-82 pennies as something to do with zinc and copper. and sometimes when using post82 you get white stretch marks on the coin

but most pre82 coins are dirty so you need to clean them or other wise you porbably wont be able to see the design

to clean your coins there are many different ways such as vinger, erasers, metal cleaner, baking soda and toothbrush, kethup etc...

now they seem to be putting the penny books on top of the machines not all machines but some and plus now they have a new penny book that holds ONLY pennies NO quarters and MORE pennies 64 pennies

 

[bopper]

The amount of copper in a penny costs more that 1 cent so in 1982 they started making pennies with a zinc core to reduce the cost of making them. When you squish a post-1982 penny, you see the zinc (it looks silvery) in the design. What I do is take an old film canister and layer 2 quarters and then one pre-1982 penny, and repeat. Then when we want to get a squished penny, we just whip out a set and are ready to go!