United States (YES): The United States Codes under Title 18, Chapter 17, and Section 331, "prohibits the mutilation, diminution and falsification of United States coinage." However, it has been the opinion of some individual officers at the Treasury Department, though without any indication of approval, the foregoing statute does not prohibit the mutiliation of coins if done without fraudulent intent or if the mutilated coins are not used fraudulently.

United Kingdom (YES): It is also legal to elongate coins in the UK for the same reasons at it is legal in the US. A common misconception is that it is illegal to elongate the coin because it defaces the image of the queen, however, we have been assured by a collector in the UK that it is not against the law to flatten the Queen's head... so long as it is on a penny.

Canada (NO): Section 11(1) of the Currency Act states that "no person shall, except in accordance with a licence granted by the Minister [Minister of Finance], melt down, break up or use otherwise than as currency any coin that is current and legal tender in Canada." Furthermore, Section 456 of the Criminal Code of Canada makes it a criminal offence to deface circulation coins: "Every one who: (a)defaces a current coin, or (b)utters a current coin that has been defaced, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction." The offence is not dependent on fraudulent intent.
-Royal Canadian Mint

What you are seeing is zinc, not silver. Before 1982, the U.S. minted coins that were about 95% copper and 5% tin & zinc. Beginning in 1982, the proportion of each metal was reversed because the value of the copper in a penny was becoming more valuable than a penny. When you elongate a post-1982 penny, the elongation process will reveal the zinc below the copper. [See Collecting Tips]

We intentionally make the sleeves tight in the PennyCollector books so that air will not get to the coins and tarnish them. However, because every penny from a different year has a different composition of metal, and machines can be set to varying degrees of pressure, the variances of the length of the rolled coins can be substantial. [See Collecting Tips]

Canadian pennies prior to 1997 were approximately 98% copper and 1.75 % zinc. From 1997 to 2001, Canadian pennies were modified and were minted as copper-coated zinc wafers. A recent scanning electron microscopic examination of a 2001 Canadian penny indicated approximately 96 % zinc. Today's one-cent coin, modified in 2001, should be made of copper-plated steel (94% steel, 1.5% nickel, 4.5% copper). So, a pre-1997 Canadian penny (aside from being illegal to smash in Canada) should give you a decent result after elongating.

Note:
Do not attempt to elongate a "Loonie" (the non-round coin). It will squish far too short and you will loose part of the design.

The best solution is to clean your pennies before elongating them. Post 1982 pennies are predominately zinc (see above) and once elongated the zinc can become noticeable as 'silver' streaks on the surface of the penny. Once the zinc is exposed it becomes difficult to polish since zinc tarnishes to a very dark grey appearance. That said, please visit our Cleaning Tips Page for cleaning solutions.

On some pennies you will find small numbers and letters near the catch notch. The letters indicate the company that engraved the die. For Instance, 'LE' stands for 'Lodestar Entertainment' (our company's former name), 'PC' stands for 'PennyCollector' (our new name), 'E' stands for 'Eurolink Manufacturing Corporation', etc. The numbers indicate the sequence in which each coin was produced. In our company, Sea World was the first location to have a custom coin made, and that coin has no number. Next came Six Flags (02), Universal (03), Busch Gardens (04), and so on.

Here's the Master List of coin initials we know of. If you know of others, please contact us and we'll add it to the list. If you can solve the mystery of who the designers are for those with a "?", please tell us.

Initials	Company	Image
AC	Adam J. Cool
BS	Bert Samsa
AG	Alice Goodman
AH
AM
AR	Angelo A. Rosato
AV
AZ	Anita Zell
BCS	Bruce C. Sumner
BE
BG	Bronislaus (Brownie) A. Gill
BJ	Bill Jackson
BR	Banyas Barnesyarde - Brad Ream
BS	Bert Samsa
BX	James Brown and Myron Xenos
C	Cliff Roth
CO-7	James Bond
C-7	Cee Ceven (Betty Kirby and Rudy Skarita)
CAW
CBW	C. B. Weatherly
CC
CEW	Cecil E. Walls
CH	Bud Hicks
CK	Carol Kilcoyne
CL	Charles Lorati
CM	C. Gus Meccarello
CM/CMI	Copper Memories
CMJ
CMH
CMR	Chester M. Rogers
CS
CW	Carl Webster
CW	Claude Waite
CZC	Cindy Calhoun
DA##	Don Adams Specialty Company Over 140 designs showing DA and then the die issue number
DAW	Don A. Wilkinson
DC	Danny B. Crabb
DD	Dottie Dow
DE
DESCO	David E. Stoicheff
DJ	D. Jakebovits
DMH
DBS/DS	Donald E. Sabo
DR	Don Roth
DS	David Spellman
DT	Dave True
DW	Don Wendt
e	Eurolink
EA#	Elmer Anderson
ECHO	W. W. Miller
ED	Ed McClung
EG	Ewell Gunter
EH	Errick Hermann
EW	Ed Weaton
FB	Frank Brazzel
FGS
FS	Frank Spandone
G	Eric H. Goodwin
GFB
GA
GAE
GK	George E. Kesterson
GM	Gus Meccarello
GPB	Gary & Phyllis Bible
GW	George Wanzug
GWE	Gerald W. Elliott
HCS	Harold C. Schmal
HDA	H. D. Alien
HG	Horace Grant
HHT	Harry H.Taylor
HOE/HE	House of Elongateds
HLB
HM	Houston Marshall
HWB	Henry W. Blaha
IG
JB	James Hanna Brown
JD	Jim Dundon Paradise Engraving
JES
JF	Joe Franklin
JGS/JS	John G. Spadone
JS	Jim Singleton (from central West Virginia)
JH	Joseph Hotter
JJ
JK	James Kilcoyne
JK	Jess Kirby
JLB
JM	Jack Meccarello
JR	Jerry Rathburn
JR	Jack Rosenblath
JS
JW	Jack Wilcox
K	C. C. Kemp
KH	Banyas Barnesyarde - Kay Harpold
KH	Kay Harpold
KMCS	Karen San Gregory
L	Lord's Prayer Engravers (Charles Lorati)
L
LB	Lenard Babin
LCS	L. C. Summer
LCS	Lido Coin Shop
LE	Lodestar Entertainment
LEM	Lee Martin
LH	Lurene Haines (2001 TEC membership nickel)
LH	Lurenc Haincs
LHT/LT	Len H. Trump
LS
LW	Lloyd Wagaman
MFT
MH	Millard Hajek
MLBP	Major League Baseball Players
MLH
MM	M & M Elongates
MM	Mary Eggleston
MP	Michael Pcnder
MT	Marie F. Trinny
MTC
MW	Mark Wright
NRM	Norm & Ruth MacQuithy
NS	Nick Salimbene
OLY	Bob Olson, Illionois
OP	Oded Paz
PB	Paul Brenner
PC	Paul Case
PC	Penny Collector
PE	Jim Dundon Paradise Engraving
PJ	P. Janic
PLB	Pearl L. Buoker
PPC
PM	PennyMachines.com
PP
PS
PW
R
RB	Rodney W. Baker
RCK
REB	Robert E. Buoker
RHB
RHJ	Robert H. jacobs
RL	Ray Loutzenhiser
RJ/RJJ	Ralph Jones
RR	Rocky Rockholt
RR	Ronald Readon
RS	Robert & Shirley Stafford
RS	Russ Sears
RTL	Ray T. Leveille
RW	Ray Wagner, Jr.
RWC
RWD	Ray W. Dillard
RWJ	Ralph W. Jobe
RWL/L	Robert W. Luchtman
SAK	Sally & Al Kirka
SB	Steve Beecher
SG	She! Green
SP	Smashing Pennies (Katrina and Zac Gowen)
SPI
SPM	Smashed Penny Museum
TAK
TDT	Tyler Tyson 3326 Exchange Place Wichita, KS, 67217
TG	Tom Gerhardt
TMC
TPP	Carl Webster The Penny Pincher Robinson, Illinois
TR	Tom Russo
TW	Tom Wiebe
TY	Bert Creighton
VCS
VF	Vance Fowler
WDA	Wayne D. Ashford
WDW
WG	William Gardner
WJH	William T. Helmerick
WLP
WLS
WM	William C. Massey (from Luck "e" Penny)
WR	William Rogers
WSA	Whitney, Spero & Alien

The good news is that you are not doing anything wrong to make the pennies off-centered. The bad news is that you CAN'T do anything to make them ON center. If the design comes out partially off the penny, then it is a machine maintenance issue and the coin slot needs to be adjusted to align with the die. All pennies will be horizontally off-centered to one degree or another. The left side will always be on the edge because of the catch notch. When the penny first comes into contact with the die, a catch notch is made which guides the rest of the penny through the roller. So, the left side of the design is always right on the edge of the penny. The right side of the design will usually have a tail of varying length based on the pressure that the die is exerting on the penny. This is adjustable so if there is an unusually long tail, this means that the pressure should be reduced on the machine.

That said, the length of the tail also depends upon the coin that you use. A pre-1982 copper penny will typically be shorter than a post-1982 zinc penny because zinc is softer than copper and will elongate more. However, you could run 50 copper pennies and each might have a slightly different tail length because the amount of copper in the pennies will also vary. Some collectors like a long tail, some don't. So your best bet is to decide what you like best and use copper for short tails and zinc for long tails.

Is it possible that the your coins could turn color after a period of time in a penny book? Anything is possible, but this is very unlikely. Here are tips to keep the coins looking like the first day you made them:

• Use pre-1982 pennies
• Do not let moisture get into where you keep the books
• Make sure the coins ar ecompletely dry before storing them
• And if the coins ever do turn a color you can always take them out and follow our Cleaning Tips to keep the coins looking good.

After selling hundreds of thousands of books we have heard of less than 5 people who have said there coins turned color in the books. We can assure you this was not because of the plastic we use.

Around here the s-shape is affectionately known as "potato chipping". It's all about how the die design takes the copper. The rolls have a contact point which is constant for each set. The only variable is the die engraving itself. We've spent hours trying to develop a device that would output the coins flat. We were successful at doing this with zinc coins on some presses, but the coppers are more resistant to being shaped as they come. The best that we can suggest is to reshape them after rolling.