A routine stop near a collectible souvenir machine took an unexpected turn when one observer spotted something strange inside.
On Reddit, user teddynsnoopy shared a post showing a photo of a souvenir pressed penny machine.
The original poster (OP) wrote in the post that the picture shows that the machine, “doesn’t use real pennies anymore.”
A Curious Find
In the image, the souvenir machine’s display compartment—meant to show the coins used to create elongated penny keepsakes—looked filled with copper-colored discs that did not resemble standard U.S. currency.
Pressed penny machines are commonly found in tourist spots, museums and amusement parks. Visitors typically insert a penny along with a small fee and turn a crank that presses the coin through engraved rollers flattening it and stamping a design into the metal.
One Reddit commentator reacted with disbelief, declaring: “LIES! There are some real pennies in there!”
Another pundit joked that the machine seemed to defeat its own purpose: “So it’s just a copper slug machine now.”
Why Modern Pennies Look Different
The discussion turned to the composition of U.S. pennies and why the machine may have contained substitute coins.
A Reddit contributor explained the change in detail.
“Since then they’ve been 98.5 percent (97.5 percent edited) zinc with a copper coating,” the contributor wrote.
“If you hold it with a pair of pliers and blowtorch it, the zinc melts collects at the bottom and will fall out. As zinc melts at a much lower point than copper.”
The contributor added that melting pennies would not be a practical source of metal writing: “This is not a way to source zinc should you be attempting to make an alloy such as German Silver or Nordic Gold.”
How Pressed Penny Machines Are Calibrated
Another Reddit commentator, who identified themselves as an elongated penny collector, said pressed penny machines are often designed with specific coin types in mind.
“Most machines nowadays are calibrated to zincies,” they said, noting, “They take less pressure to roll than pre-1982 copper pennies do.”
Coins Continue to Capture Public Interest
Interest in coins, whether everyday currency or rare collectibles, remains widespread.
Newsweek reported about a high schooler who discovered a rare coin in lunch money and found out that it was valued at almost $1.7 million, following the owner’s death.
Don Lutes, Jr., of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, found the bronze 1943 Lincoln cent in the change he was given at his school cafeteria in 1947, according to sellers Heritage Auctions.
Newsweek also covered the case of a man who was left frustrated after his wife decided to trade in his collection of more than $3,000 worth of rare coins for just a, “couple of one-dollar bills.”
Newsweek has reached out to teddynsnoopy for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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