Pressed Pennies

There is no custom more beloved to the North American Werewolf Confederacy and even Out-Pack Wolves and North American Indigenous Wolves groups not recognized by said organization as the practice of carrying pressed pennies.
This custom began after a rumored incident in 1991 in which a wolf went to visit the alpha of a neighboring pack but left home without his letter of introduction, which would verify his credentials with the stamped seal of his own alpha. Barring having the letter and considering the host pack's lack of trust in human identification systems, he desperately attempted to verify his pack affiliation by showing a pressed coin from the state park in which his pack typically operated. The actual verification came with a significantly more reasonable telephone call, but the story nevertheless circulated and entered the collective narrative of American werewolves, then spread throughout the rest of the continent, even affecting some in Europe.
Now, it is almost universal that any pack-affiliated werewolf carries some sort of pressed coin unique to the area in which he lives should such an occasion arise, though the proliferation of pressed coin machines and coin collector trade make the likelihood that this form of identification would ever actually be taken seriously.
In fact, through their travels many Nova wolves collect these coins and can have large collections, even with the relatively short period of time in which they have been relevant. Those depicting wolves are especially sought after, as are ones from the state parks for historical landmarks or national parks for which a local pack is named.

Significance

These coins are collected by all sentient races, but are particularly used among werewolves as a form of amusing identification. There are no recorded incidents of such a coin being used and trusted to identify a visiting wolf, but the running joke has taken off and is now considered to be universally known throughout the continent.

"Impressive Wolves" by MTSOfan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Item type

Miscellaneous

Current Location

North America

Rarity

Very Common

Base Price

$0.01

Raw materials & Components

pennies, coins

"Detroit Historical Museum site visit" by John Kannenberg is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.