1) I am a coin collector but not in the usual sense. I collect"elongated" coins. (Coins which have been run through a machine and having an image pressed upon it). The usual cost is 2 quarters and the one penny for "smashing". Lots of places will offer to give you change and there are even some places that offer you a free penny as well. (Like the San Jacinto Monument in Deer Park). These coins fascinate me and I have collected many in just recent years. I started collecting them one or two now and then when I would pass by a pressed coin machine at zoos, amusements parks, and other such attractions. Then, one day I noticed that I had collected quite a few.
I started looking on line for information and found a website that lists the locations of machine all across the US (incldung Alaska and Hawaii). My new Best Friend!! I have used it numerous times to keeep track of my collection (which are all in coin cocllector books which are sometimes available where coin machines are located). For example, there are two different ones from Rain Forest Cafe and several different ones have been available at DisneyWorld...I had all of the coins from all 4 theme parks at DisneyWorld until they changed the name of MGM Studios. I guess I'll just have to go back and get the news ones...and they add many more each year. Sometimes designs retire when new ones are added and other times they just move the machines around the park. There are a couple of web sites devoted just to the DisneyWorld and Disneyland coins that are updated quite often.
So, if you spread out the change in my purse, you are sure to find bright, new, shiny pennies and a few quarters just waing for a penny press (or quarter press) machine to cross my path. I carry them in an M & M's minis tube stacked 2 quarters,1 penny/ two quarters, 1 penny. A regular size tube holds enough for 20 pressed pennies. (At times it may feel bit heavy, but to me the weight is worth it!)
2) The coin dealers I would probably be most interested in would be found through eBay since I would be searching for an elusive or retired coin that has been "smashed".
3) I did go ahead and collect all of the U.S. Quaters that featured all of the 50 states. I also collect Teddy Bears so I have the complete set of 50 Comemorative State Bears for each state/quarter with their respective quarters in a pouch specifically designed to hold it.
I am also in the process of collecting all of the new Lincoln Pennies (they are great to use for pressing...all bright and shiny and the impressions turn out very clear on them).
I have collected a penny, a nickel, a dime and a quarter (or 5 quarters in recent years) for each year since my daughter's birth. Someday she may enjoy showing her great-grandchildren a few coins from before the turn of the century. I also have a set of pennies since my husbands birth year (and some even older than that!) and for my own years. Any time I get an older coin (wheat pennies or other coins prior to my birth) I put them away just because they are older than me.
I have a few coins from other countries as well. I recently went on a trip to Alaska (and collected 34 "smashed pennies" from around the state) and during a brief drive into Canada I receieve a couple of Canadian coins and a coin from Panama. It was the size of a quarter so the cashier probably hadn't noticed that it wasn't American or Canadian. I saved it.
And, as a side note, I did receive a counterfeit one dollar bill in change from Four Corners a few years back on a trip out West. It is fun to show people and it makes a great conversation piece. I have had several offers from folks to buy it (even from my own bank) but it's just a dollar and it's fun to have it around. I'll keep it just for fun.
I guess I'm an occasional collecter of older and foreign coins yet an avid collector of "squashed" ones.
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