Elongated coin

A souvenir coining or medal is a keepsake item. It is made from a circulating coin of a coin, medal or metal shaper, by forcing it between two steel rolls through.

There is an engraving ( Scene ) on one or both roles, and as soon as the coin passes through the rollers, the subject is injected under pressure (several tons). In this process, the coin into a flat, elliptical plate with a motive. Therefore, these coins are called in the USA " Elongated Coin", which means prolonged coin.

Some call Quetschmünzen, other names are souvenir coins, souvenir medals, souvenir coins or Elongated Coins.

Origin

At the World's Fair Columbian Exposition in Chicago 1892-1893 was a machine that made elliptical imprints of different coins.

In Europe

In 1898 there was the first embossing machines in Europe, in Vienna on the anniversary exhibition.

Souvenir medals can be found in almost all European countries, for example in Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. In some countries ( eg Croatia ), it is forbidden by law to destroy cash.

In Germany

In 1969 there were on German soil already embossing machines. They stood during the Münzausstellungen on American military bases in Ramstein and Sembach. These imprints are in collectors' circles as the first German souvenir medals.

Today you can find vending machines in museums, amusement parks, zoos, churches, castles and palaces, airports, radio towers and on ships and on mountains. At exhibitions, which took place only for a certain period, there were also machines - such medals are then mostly rarities. This is usually around anniversaries or fairs.

Some machines have fixed their sites for years and there are still the same motives exist. When converting from DM to Euro some machines were converted, others were new or revised designs. However, many are also just a short time.

Known are currently already more than 1800 different designs from Germany alone.

Collecting

Souvenir medals are considered collectible and are sold in flea markets, internet markets and the like. Due to the now widespread use, there are also collectors forums and collector pages.

The storage should be as airtight as possible, since the coins otherwise oxidize quickly and form a patina. This can vary depending on the used blank either from blank (2 or 5 cents) or from the subject even come.

The souvenir embossing machines

Either do the Souvenirmünzprägemaschinen electrically, or, as they mainly take place today, manually with a hand crank.

You throw a coin ( in Germany and other EU countries: 2 euro cents, 5 Euro cents or 10 euro cents) as an embossed blank and a euro as payment a ( to D- Mark time: 2 penny, 5 Pfennig or 10 Pfennig and 1 DM for the payment). At some sites, but are also 50 euro cents, or 2 euro coin pay as necessary.

With the older electric embossing machines you throw first the blank, then the coin to pay. Once the 1- euro coin has been inserted, the machine automatically begins to roll the souvenir motif of each attraction on the coin.

The electrical Münzprägeautomaten have only one motive. For manual Münzprägeautomaten the blank as well as the pay coin is set in a pusher, now the slide is pushed in and the money falls into the machine ( the pay coin in the till and the coin blank in the roller). Now you can turn the crank until the finished stamping out falling down.

In the manual machines up to four motifs are possible, one has to turn before you deposit money with the crank at the subject, this is indicated by a colored arrow usually at the subject.

The souvenir coin minting machines may be completely different in shape, color and appearance. In Germany 10 different models are found. The electric embossing machines are becoming increasingly rare in Germany, since they are more vulnerable and also consume power without constantly use.

Currently more than 670 different souvenir embossing machines in Germany are known.