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Elongated Penny Guy Has Smashing Passion
• Thousands share in Oded Paz's hobby.

Oded Paz
[View 1] [View 2] Elongated coin collector Oded Paz of Castaic smashes pennies at the American Numismatic Association's 2006 convention in Denver in August.  (Leon Worden/The Signal)

By Reina Slutzse
Signal Staff Writer
Friday, September 8, 2006

    Oded Paz is not crazy.
    At first he though he was. One day, when he took his family to Universal Studios, he came across a penny-smashing souvenir machine. Put in 50 cents and a penny, and you receive an elongated souvenir cent with a unique design.
    The Castaic resident smashed a few pennies, and then he smashed some more. Machines seemed to be hidden in the corners of gift shops, and they produced unique, intricate designs. He was fascinated.
    He went on the Internet to find that he was not alone. There was a whole Internet group that talked about them, with 35,000 members.
    "And then I thought, 'OK, I'm not crazy,'" he said.
    During the day, Paz is the chief operations officer for H-Studios, a company that produces furniture made of acrylic. But in his downtime, elongated coins are his passion. He both collects them and rolls them on muscle-powered machines.
    "This is my enjoyment," he said. "It's how I relax."
    Born in Tel Aviv, he spent most of his life in Israel, except for four years in New York between ages 8 and 12.
    When he returned to Israel, he spent four years in the army after high school, including a tour in Israeli military intelligence.
    Eight years ago, he decided to move to the United States with his wife, Sandy, and daughter, Michelle, to "start a new paragraph."

Oded Paz
[Enlarge] Paz examines some of the 15,000 coins in his collection.  (Reneh Agha/The Signal)

    He had always been interested in coins and tokens. However, he hadn't been interested in U.S. coins previously because, he said, "they're boring."
    Paz now owns approximately 15,000 coins, which he sorts through at his leisure. He has collected them through eBay, where elongateds have their own category, as well as from estate sales and by trading with friends from England, Australia, Hungary and elsewhere throughout the world.
    Sandy said her husband gets excited when it comes to anything having to do with elongated coins.
    "He's so happy when he finds a machine. He's so ecstatic," she said. "He's like a kid."
    Each elongated coin, whether printed on a penny or a gold-colored Sacagawea dollar, is unique when it comes to design and impression, depending on the plates in the machine that presses them.
    Paz focuses on collecting elongated coins from California, New York and Hawaii.
    He focuses on New York because he once lived there; California because it is where he lives now; and Hawaii because "I'd like to live there."

Oded Paz
[Enlarge] Some of the coins Paz has collected include a smashed 1963 Kennedy half dollar, at bottom, picturing gold dust in the miner's pan.  (Reneh Agha/The Signal)

    "You set up the rules of how you collect and what you collect," he said. "Is there a rhyme or reason? Not really."
    He joined a group called The Elongated Collectors, an organization with 700 paying members, the largest such organization for smashed coin aficionados. Last year he was elected vice president after running unopposed, and is currently considering a run for the presidency.
    According to the group's Web site (tecnews.org), the value of elongated coins depends "on the number rolled, age, denomination, popularity of topic or event, even the condition of the coin."
    Not all coin collectors look favorably upon elongated cent collectors, Oded conceded.
    "They look down on us and say, 'You take good money and destroy it.' But elongated coins demonstrate something. They have significance."
    Rolled pennies actually have a rich history dating back to the 1892-93 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
    Paz said elongated coins serve a variety of purposes today, from gifts at weddings to advertising.
    Meanwhile, there are other collectors out there who are bashful about their hobby, he said, saying they're collecting the coins for someone else.
    But Paz feels there is no shame in his hobby.
    "I am making other collectors know that they're not crazy," he said.

    Paz welcomes inquiries at paz@sbcglobal.net.


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