New York
New York is such a huge place, there have to more penny smashers than just the ones I've found, If you know of any, let me know.
"1973-2001 - New York" Sent to me by vard, don't know where she got it.
"Central Park - New York City" - Jonna sent me this one a while back, she's great. You can see her in her one-woman show, "Jonna's Body, Please Hold" (The website was done by her super duper husband, Anthony. You ought hire him to do your website.)
Central Park Zoo - New York City - I've walked through Central Park many times. One time I saw Jack Warden sitting on bench. You'd recognize him if you saw him. Anyway, I think the machine at the zoo is fairly new. I got this one in early July 2003.
Central Park Zoo - New York City - The zoo in Central Park is on pretty much the main walkway through the park, just north of Grand Army Plaza. We seem to always walk this way when we're there, right through the zoo, but never going in. I guess I'm satisfied peering over the fence at the seals.
Central Park Zoo - New York City - Whenever we do go to Central Park, I always go to see the Balto Statue. You should too.
Central Park Zoo - New York City - I like monkeys. If you don't pay to get into the zoo, you won't see any monkeys in Central Park. One thing you can see for free, at the model sailboat pond are Red Tailed Hawks.
Yup, this is the "Empire State Building" I really like the simplicity of this design, whoever designed it did a good job. I got this one early in the morning one July day in 2003.
"Statue of Liberty" This is another nice design, but the machine is from the Empire State Building, not the Statue of Liberty.
As of July 2003, There were 3 4-die handcranked machines on the second floor of the Empire State Building. You don't have to pay to get to them, but you ought to bring your own quarters. "To Protect and Serve - NYPD - New York, USA"
"Empire State Building" This one is interesting, the World Trade Center still seems to be in the skyline. I got this one one morning in July in 2003.
"NYC 9-11-01 - Never Forget" This one came from the Empire State Building along with 3 other memorial coins.
"World Trade Center NY" A tribute design from a machine at the Empire State Building
"Watching Over" This one shows the NY skyline, Statue of Liberty, and a guardian angel over all of it.
"Never Forget - NYC" The last of four coins memorializing the World Trade Center and the victims.
"New York - The Big Apple" I'll give you a tip about the Empire State Building (where this coin came from): Don't enter on 5th Avenue, go in through the door on 33rd Street, it'll save you some time.
"Empire State Building" This one has King Kong , a really extra big King Kong, hanging off the Empire State Building. I don't think they could've shot him down with a biplane if he was this big in the movie.
"Brooklyn Bridge" This one actually came from the Empire State Building, there are 3 4-die machines on the second floor (no admission required) because of it, I had to walk all over the lobby scrounging quarters from the merchants.
I got this one in 2003 at the Empire State Building, back in 1998 they only had a machine up on the observation deck, and that one was run by an attendant, when I was there that time, it was a guy named Jamal...
Brady was in New York in February 2001 and made a special trip to check out the report that there was a machine at FAO Schwartz. Now, that's love.
Here's Brady's account of getting smashed pennies at FAO Schwartz, "Horrible! Miserable! I didn't have any change and no one would give me any. I had to go from counter to counter, I wanted to dump you."
These 4 pennies from FAO Schwartz represent Brady's love for me. I keep them in a special place... where she'll never see them and never be reminded of the experience. (I hope she doesn't read this and decide to dump me.)
This one has a clock face and a whole bunch of nursery rhyme characters on top, in case you we wondering. One final bit of advice if you decide to get these pennies: bring your own quarters and pennies because FAO Schwartz doesn't deal with small change.
Back in January 2000, I was in New York on business. I love the Statue of Liberty and I had never been up inside it, so I forced Brady's aunt Diane, a lifelong New Yorker, to go with me. She had never been there! So, the ferry to the Statue also goes to Ellis Island, which has been turned into a museum. That's where this penny came from.
"Ellis Island" This penny shows the silhouettes of three people waiting in line to see the statue of liberty. Of course not. The Ellis Island Museum is housed in the refurbished main building, you can see the great hall where thousands of european immigrants waited to enter the US.
"United States - Ellis Island" Anyway, these pennies all came from the same machine. It's in the hallway between the snack bar and the gift shop. But hey, if you go to Ellis Island, don't go to the Statue in the same day, it's just too much. The line to get up into the Statue is just too darn long and it's exhausting to do both. If you have to do both, then go to Ellis Island first. That's my NY tip of the day.
"Ellis Island - 1892-1954" That's the period that the island was active as a processing center. There are database terminals in the main building that visitors can use to look up ancestors who may have passed through Ellis on their way into the US, mine came through Boston a bit earlier than that, I believe.
"Deno's Wonder Wheel Park - Coney Island, NY" Molly sent this one to me. The only time Brady and I went to Coney Island was in the dead of winter; the Wonder Wheel closed and gate was padlocked. Thanks Molly!
"The Empire State - New York 1995" Like everything in New York, this one cost twice what it would anywhere else. The difference was that there was a guy on the observation deck with a hand crank penny smasher. It was the only one I've ever seen. Does that make it worth a buck, though?
The Statue of Liberty. This one's cool because it has the date we were there on it: 1995. I don't think I actually got it at the Statue; I can't remember.
So, in October 1998, I was in New York for business. The first day I had some time during lunch to walk over from Times Square to the Empire State Building (actually my plan was to go to the World Trade Center during lunch but I realized that that idea was pretty implausible). Anyway, the next 4 pennies are from that trip.
"Good Luck Penny" - It turns out that some of the things I wrote about the two pennies I got in 1995 were correct, they do cost more than other places (two for two bucks) and there is a guy turning them out by hand. He'll even punch a hole in them and give you a cord for you neck if you want.
"Statue of Liberty" - One of the differences is that they don't have the date on them anymore, I guess that saved the die makers a little money.
"World Trade Center - New York" - Don't get confused, this one is still from the Empire State Building.
"The Empire State - New York" Look familiar? Yup, it's exactly the same as ol' penny #1 from up at the top of the page (except for the date, of course). This one came from the World Trade Center, as did the next 6.
"I Love You - New York" First of all, it costs twelve bucks to get to the top of the World Trade Center (more on that later), second of all, there are three 4-die machines up there with 7 total different dies, and, third of all, they aren't all that inventive and some of them virtually duplicate the ones at the Empire State Building.
"My Lucky Penny" This one shows those same lucky motifs as the ESB version above: a four leaf clover, horseshoe, and the Yankees logo. (The Yanks were lucky when I was there, I saw game 1 of the AL Division series...ok, it wasn't really luck.)
"Statue of Liberty - New York 1886-1986" This on is my favorite of the WTC pennies. I'm not sure of the significance of the dates, maybe you can tell me.
Update: People have written to me about this penny.
"Statue of Liberty" This one is virtually the same as the one from the ESB, kinda makes me wonder why I have both in my collection. I'll tell you though, I can tell the difference.
"World Trade Center - New York" When I went to the World Trade Center, it had been raining all day. I got to the spot where you get in line and the security guard there told me, "Vsibility is zero, don't waste your money, come back another day." I said, "All I want to do is visit the gift shop, I don't even care if I see anything, can't I just go up anyway." She thought for a minute, and said, "Just follow along, we'll talk to the boss."
She made up a story about how I was visiting from out of town, had been there the day before, bought a gift for my young daughter, and then lost it on the subway last night. I looked into his eyes and said, "I just want to go up to the gift shop." He let me go. It was really weird up on the observation deck, visibility really was zero, I mean, you couldn't see a thing, the attendants were bored, the snack bar was dead, and the penny machines were there for the smashing.
"New York World's Fair - The World of Tomorrow 1939" It depicts the two symbols of that exposition, the Trylon and the Persisphere. I got this one at the Alemany Flea Market in San Francisco along with a few others. I paid a little more for this than I do for pennies I smash myself, I guess it's authentic, but who knows. It's on a Lincoln Head dated 1912.
