Remember back in the 1930's and 1940's there were machines at amusment parks where you would put in a nickel and get a elongated/pressed penny back with just about anything impressed on it. Well my friend Ray who is 85, God bless him, showed me this souvenir of his. It is a pressed penny with the ' TEN COMMANDMENTS ' on it. BUT it done horizontally. upon searching for some history on it all I have found are the ones done vetically without the Roman numerals. The ten commandments is supposed to be one of the all time favorite pressed penny. Has anyone ever seen one like this and know the history behind it? Back in those day we kids would tie a string to it and pin it to the inside of our pockets. It didn't take much to amuse us back then. And we'd better not lose it bcause it cost a nickel to get this penny and that was considered pretty dumb if not extravagant. As a side question how did the term ' Nickel Millionaire ' originate?-------------zeke
Here is a link to an old article in Life Magazine for May 7, 1956. Nickel Millionaire means to live large on a shoestring budget... It was also in the title of a song: "Nickel, Nickel Millionaire" http://books.google.com/books?id=V08EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=%22nickel+millionaire%22+definition&source=bl&ots=nwuZWI6Je8&sig=pDmp-x1EpUN1kFxX0_2V0eCP0Tw&hl=en&ei=eoUbTJTfLoT_8AaV-PnaCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
I weighed this souvenir of Ray's and it came 2.7 grams. This puzzeled me for a while and the I figured it out. It the hole where you tie the string . That the difference between the 3.11 grams(copper cent) and the 2.7 grams of this pressed penny. DUH! lol zeke
My apologies Zeke, but this sort of thing brings out the engineer in me, so please forgive me for the following. I estimated the area of the hole where the string is tied to be about .93% of the original area of the smashed cent (after smashing, but not yet holed, and using a defined eliptical shape that closely approximated the size and contour of the smashed cent). If the cent were of uniform thickness, the weight removed by the hole would be approx. .029 grams, far short of the .410 gram difference in the weights that you mention. Can you tell that I am a bit bored tonight ?
You went over my head in the math department. Not bad for being bored. But I get what you are saying. I checked my scale and weighed other coins and everything was right on. Then reweighed this elongated cent( EC ). 2.7 grams came up again. Unless the copper cent was very worn or damaged where would the difference come from?? Did I state above that the EC is not attracted by a magnet. Maybe it is not a copper cent but a non magnetic metal of some kind. Any guesses?
Is there any trace of the cent design on the back of the "penny"? It's very interesting. I have some squished pennies but nothing like this. I guess that's it's also possible that the edges were uneven from the squishing and were then trimmed.
I JUST MADE SOME MEASUREMENTS: Length = 1.437 in = 1 7/16 in Width = 0.750 in = 3/4 in Thickness = 0.0156 in = 1/64 in Hole Diameter = 0.0468 in = 3/64 in Here is what the revese looks like: This EC is beginning to not look like a cent to me. I seems very rigid. Could it be brass?