Elongated Pennies

I have a new "thing" I want to collect and make a charm bracelet from....the "thing" is elongated pennies. I believe it costs about 50 cents to make the penny and here is a list of machines. I will be happy to reimburse you for the cost to make the penny or trade a penny for inchies, ATCs, etc. I'll be happy to trade pennies for pennies if you want to start collecting! Just email me if you'd like to swap. I am going to join an elongated penny swap on the Oh So Charming yahoo group and will probably get those pennies made locally.

The pennies that work best are those with a mint date of 1962 to 1982. Those pennies have the most copper (95% copper and 5% zinc); newer pennies have more zinc than copper and zinc will show as silver streaks when the penny is elongated in the machine.

Pennies can be cleaned by putting them in a small container with some Coke, swish them around, then give them a quick wash with warm soapy water followed by a rinse and towel dry.