The first category I ever searched & bought on ebay was...the "smashed penny."  Thankfully one seller on ebay listed a penny as xxx Smashed / Elongated Penny & I quickly realized it had a name.  Otherwise, my collection would have remained limited to those souvenir locations that I visited personally which had a "penny smashing machine." 

Now...my collection is vast.  I got on ebay 5 years ago.  My first smashed penny came from a 6 week history trip around the United States when I was in high school...a long time ago ;)  My favorites are those from old World Fairs I have purchased on ebay!  I learn a little about history this way too.  They originated in the late 1800's as a great inexpensive souvenir.

The most interesting elongated penny I ever got was in San Francisco about 15 years ago.  A man was pressing the pennies in a really old "turn of the 20 th century" hand held antique souvenir machine he purchased from someone.  The shape of the finished coin was a little more elongated & pointed edges.  The ones I get from the machines today are very uniform in shape as they primarily come from machines from the same vendor.

Most machines have a hand crank where you first turn the arrow until you get to the design you want...then you press in your 1c + two .25c quarters... then you turn & turn until it feels tight & that time around the penny has dropped into the right place & is now being pressed with a whole lot of force to smash it & emboss the design you pick on the front side.   On a rare occasion you will find a machine that will print something on the back side too.

They even make souvenir books which will hold rows of your pennies.  Although, I used to make coin holders & I know vinyl can react with the metal of coins...so I have never seen these books after many years of storage.  I am assuming they are made of another material?

It is a fun collection which takes up very little space...so ENJOY Collecting them.  I hope your life takes you to many places where these machines are located...In my opinion...it means you are having fun.  Don't forget to have some fun!  Life is too short to not take time to "smell the roses."

My favorite search tip... notice how the word penn-ies & penn-y in my title both start with a penn... you can use the asterick / star / * ...elongated penn* as a "*wild card" to pick up both words, ways.   I found some great items this way & you can too when searching your favorite category as people list singles & groups / lots.

Peace, PaCRat! 
I bought these pennies under my other account PaCRatzCollectiblez (Over 500 positive feedbacks)
aka...iCanSell4You