What Happens to Retired Disneyland Pressed Coin Machines?

Based on our "Indiana Jones" or is it a "Disneyana Jones" adventure :-) starting around 1990 or so... We've found that Disneyland coin press machines, signs / marquees, elongated coin dies and related Disneyland pressed coin items have met with a wide variety of fates. The number of pressed coin dies, machines, and marquees disposed of in one particular way or another is hard to determine. However, we can estimate the total number of marquees painted or printed in the days of non-video machine cabinets and the number of dies engraved based on related ParkPennies guides, documentation, news. We can also weigh recollections of past Cast Members, findings of fellow collectors, observations, and our decades long searches in some of the most extraordinary places including but not limited to Southern California Disneyana Shows, garage sales, online auctions, etc. So, even if no official records of the ultimate disposition of these Disney arcade related treasures exist or ever existed, we have grounds to share some wildly incoherent (non-actionable) opinions with you here. :-)

Most retired Disneyland elongated coin dies (also known as pressed coin “Plates”) were likely canceled or destroyed on-site by Disney. We have welcomed both anony-mouse visitor reports and direct reports by trusted sources to ParkPennies.com / ParkPennies Staff stating that many dies, once taken offstage to be retired, were appropriately canceled by Disney in a manner like the Jack Steiner die via the word "Retired" or Mulan dies via a small Tinker Bell image acid etched within the field of the die's original design area. We applaud Disneyland Management for their choice to cancel so many coin dies. Coin dies that have been canceled / destroyed can never again be used to press additional, "original coins". So, park guests who have spent just a few minutes to press a single 50 cent treasure or spent decades and thousands of dollars to build a prized world-class collection can be confident that the Disneyland Resort pressed coins in their collections made by coin dies now canceled, will remain collectable park memories of the past, treasured bits of history and never will be re-issued. (An unnamed well-meaning amusement park in Fl°o°rida, that is conspicuously absent from our guides, thought it a good idea to resurrect their original four play penny press machine after it had been retired for a decade or more. We heard from upset collectors who had gone to great trouble and / or expense to obtain examples of early coins from this original machine before it was placed back onstage. I hope the folks in Florida also heard from them and will opt to provide the high level of guest experience and support that Disneyland Resort guests currently enjoy. Sorry, I digress. :-) Anyhow... If these reports made primarily over the years from 2004 to 2011 are correct, a majority of all retired Disneyland penny press dies ever onstage have been canceled or destroyed. That said, as of 2017, only a small number of these canceled die proofs, that is coins rolled from canceled dies, are known to have been released to the public e.g. Mulan. Once canceled, some coin dies and / or canceled coins are known to have been given to Cast Members, others were said to have been archived and / or eventually destroyed.  ParkPennies would very much like to eventually add “canceled” notes in our guide listings for all pressed coins / coin dies that have been canceled or destroyed.  (This is in part the reason for the addition of coin die numbers to our guides and at long last, shared a list of coin dies we believe have been canceled on this page.)

Some Disneyland penny press machines, pressed coins, marquees and coin dies were auctioned or otherwise sold by Disney, past Cast Members or their estates. Although many machines, cabinets, marquees, mechanisms and coin dies have been "recycled" that is, rebuilt, reused, remodeled, refurbished, updated… for reuse over and over. Advanced collectors are well aware that Disney and the estates of some longtime Cast Members have auctioned, gifted or sold some neat arcade coin press related collectibles from time to time. Disney offerings seem to be full spectrum in both value range and uniqueness. Estate sale offerings, albeit in small numbers, have often included desirable personal keepsakes which were preserved by Cast Members from their early years at Disneyland when coin press history was just beginning.

Being at the right place at the right time has been the key to acquiring these treasures. Event souvenirs like the two Villains dies originally sold at the Disneyland Villains Event in 2001 for $300.00 each to a pair of a very lucky collectors to an enthusiastic crowd of event attendees. In 2002, collectors had another chance to own the Divas framed coin die plate when it sold privately for $750.00. In 2015, the Villains framed coin die plate was auctioned on eBay and later sold privately for about twice as much. (Boomer of ParkPennies reported that as of 2015, a single collector is now custodian of the two framed Villains Event dies.) The canceled Mulan dies were offered in 2005 by the Disneyland Resort via Disney Auctionears (a Disney eBay site of the day) and brought winning bids of $300.00, $300.00, and $295.00 each, including some extras at the time. Additionally, ParkPennies "Boomer" reported purchasing a Disneyland Hotel token die for $62.99 including $6.99 S/H eBay Item#222144079838 and later a Scrooge McDuck Disney token die for $76.99 including $9.99 S/H eBay Item# 222170519684 both on eBay in 2016 from seller osbornecoinageco, The Osborne Coinage Company. Coin press machine marquees like the Villains machine marquee or the carousel pressed quarter machine marquee have also been sold over the years via Disney Auctionears etc. Other marquees have been reportedly offered at Disneyana shows by or on behalf of Cast Member estates.

Recollections of Disneyland's liquidation of arcade artifacts are common place at meetings of the Antique Coin Machine Collectors Association, ACMCA¹. Trusted sources there shared that in the last century, early to mid-1990s, the old Disneyland warehouse north of Ball Road in Anaheim may have auctioned / sold off pallets of used arcade equipment to clear storage space. We have heard repeated recollections by people close to Disney arcade liquidations over the years who stated that pallets (sometimes "blind") sometimes including old penny press machines and / or related parts (dies, cases, marquees) were sold / auctioned from the then recently acquired Disney Global Van Lines building on the south side of Ball Road. (This location later became the site of Team Disney, Anaheim.) One representative discussion attended by unquestionably knowledgeable people described the sale / purchase of a particularly large group of ~100 Disneyland arcade machines of various types. Two people familiar with the sales said Disney's motivation was to liquidate older, less profitable or obsolete machines and most importantly to clear valuable storage space. Accordingly, this particular group of various types of retired coin operated arcade machines and games was offered at a very low price per machine. However, the buyer was required to purchase and remove all machines in the group. The principal buyer found a partner and split this particular purchase ~20/80. The principal partner kept only the smaller fraction of the machines, but, the best of the lot. The other partner kept the larger balance of the lot. Sadly, many of the machines in the larger lot were ultimately exposed to weather, abandoned, and / or discarded. The loss of these machines was seen by some as unfortunate at the time. However, given today's value and rarity of these irreplaceable often historic Disneyland arcade machines, it now seems more than tragic to this collector. Fortunately, the better machines of this group were saved. On occasion they have been reported to ParkPennies.com as they were traded or sold from one custodian to another over the years. Other machines found permanent homes with private collectors across the country, to be seen only by close friends.

Occasionally, welcome reports of Disneyland penny press machine finds have been shared with ParkPennies. Most notable verified reports were in around 2002, when the DL0001 and DL0002 Centek penny press machines, less their marquees and possibly some other parts, were reported to have been auctioned some time earlier at the Disney Ball Road warehouse. In 2007, a complete Florida machine with dies was reported as found by a collector. The machine appeared to be the WDW pressed penny machine that had been located at the Florida Visitors Center and had possibly suffered hurricane damage.  And again in 2014, a complete 1990s Disneyland Resort three-play penny press machine with dies was reported purchased from a thrift shop in Idaho, years before, by a very happy family of avid Disneyland enthusiasts. (Who have so far declined to sell the machine, repeatedly.:-) Others have reported that in late 2011, Disneyland Property Control / Cast Connections (The small area that was then behind the gates inside The Company D Cast Member Store on Cerritos in Anaheim, which is accessible by Cast Member's only, not their anxious guests.) offered several penny press machine cases, some including buttons and / or marquees for sale by bid. In 2017, the early version of the Buzz Lightyear penny press machine (Large buttons), less most mechanical parts, was offered for sale via FaceBook Disney Fan page. (The case may have been from the earlier Company D sales?)  The legendary "Wishing Well" coins were also auctioned or offered for sale / auction / bid by the bag to those interested at the DLR. Other items may still await rediscovery. If you have purchased elongated coin related items via these outlets or others, we would appreciate the addition of your recollections / pictures etc. to this archive. If you are searching for one of these pieces of Disneyland history, do enjoy both the adventure and the rewards.
¹ ACMCA Member's collections include slot machines, trade simulators, arcade games, vending, entertainment, and novelty machines that are often very rare and sometimes valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Collaborative comments made by multiple trusted ACMCA meeting attendees including longtime Disneyland Cast Members described past sales of arcade machines by Disneyland which have been documented here by ParkPennies' Robert Hoff an ACMCA member.

Several penny press machine pressed coin dies and marquees were given as awards or gifts to Disneyland Cast Members. Special event penny press machine dies and or marquees were awarded to Cast Members. Of note, the Pirates of the Caribbean Rehab Team, Ron Dominguez, Bill Hogarth, and Jack Steiner elongated coin dies were respectively awarded. (As examples please see our Jack Steiner retirement gifts page.) Many other more common dies and marquees, once obsolete, were reportedly given away as gifts, paper weights or souvenirs to interested Cast Members in lieu of discarding the very cool mementos. A report made late in 2014 stated that "a few used penny press dies" were offered for sale at a Garden Grove Disneyana Show in the summer of 2014, possibly from the estate of a Disneyland Cast Member. A rumor, with evidence, surfaced in early 2018 that several pressed coin dies, some canceled, and "a group of earlier marquees" were part of an estate that was liquidated in 2017 outside of California. Needless to say, dies and penny press machine marquee signs given as gifts, awards, or salvaged over past decades are often difficult to track down or confirm. Little is known of the what, when, where, or who of these distributions. If you have one of these pieces of history or know of one not mentioned here, please send a picture to share the history with fellow collectors.

Some Disneyland penny press dies and marquees were exchanged / returned / modified / refurbished. Recollections by trusted ParkPennies sources have asserted that some production and / or prototype dies may have been returned to the die manufacturer for replacement / disposal. Sometimes these dies returned to stage after modification as a new penny press die image. One example of many: The DL0021 Donald Duck elongated coin which had " © DISNEY" added to it and became the "new die" DL0061.

A few Disneyland penny press dies failed in service. Park visitors have reported to us that in their presence occasionally dies have failed from cracks or other use-related damage. One Splash Mountain die reportedly broke into several pieces. Some of the broken die pieces followed the path intended for the pressed coin into the hands of a lucky park guest(!) Because coin dies are often onstage for years and even then are usually replaced in full sets, logically, we believe the number of dies lost to mechanical failure is a small percentage. However some older dies, that have "sunk" or been repeatedly damaged by foreign coins, may have reached the end of their useful lives when they are eventually replaced.

Lastly, some Disneyland penny press dies and marquees may have been just plain old lost! This is something I understand more and more as I get older. :-) As time passes, we hope retiring Cast Members as well as advanced collectors and other people in the industry will continue to share their knowledge with fellow collectors via this forum. As coin dies and marquees are discovered / reported we are slowly divining the fate of "lost" items. Eventually, confirmed dispositions of Disney penny press machine dies will be added to the ParkPennies.com coin guides as an enhancement to the existing "Current" and "Retired" notations. New guide notations will eventually include "Canceled" for coin dies that have proven to be no longer capable of pressing an original or unaltered coin again, "Assigned" for sold, auctioned, gifted or awarded coin dies that can still press original coins, and "Lost" for dies that are still unaccounted for and have an uncertain status. Last but not least: in time, we hope to add proof of dies that have been canceled by adding images of coins that were pressed by the dies after cancellation to the Disneyland pressed penny dies and canceled coins guide. and via notes to the Disneyland Pressed Coin Guides.

Have something to add? Please contact ParkPennies by email or anony-mousely if you have an addition, correction or comment to share as this information has been shared with you.

Happy Collecting,
Boomer and the folks at ParkPennies