A little thingie I found whilest surfing around

(D) ENCASED CENT GOOD LUCK COINS
Encased coins are customarily used for advertising purposes, but they differ from regular advertising good luck coins in that they consist of an actual piece of money, usually a copper cent, encased in an aluminum frame which bears the advertising message. The frame is most often disk-shaped, like a coin, but horseshoe-shaped encased cents are not uncommon. In addition to the advertising message, the aluminum frame often bears a slogan such as "KEEP ME AND NEVER GO BROKE." Many encased coins display the typical North America lucky icons, especially the horseshoe, four-leaf clover, and wishbone. The date on the encased coin is usually the date of manufacture, as these tokens were customarily given away to customers upon the issue of the new year's coinage. The height of their manufacture seems to have been in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, although they continue to be made to this day.

Perhaps the most notable encased coins are those that were produced by Earl Fankhauser, "the Penny Man" of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Beginning in 1954, Fankhauser "signed" the encased advertising coins he sold to customers by adding his own name in tiny type to the aluminum die. Bryan Ryker has written a marvelous book on Fankhauser's encased coins which provides illustrated biographical information on Fankhauser, a checklist of the 650 different known patterns of Fankhauser coins, and technical data on the manufacture of encased coins in general. For more details, see Bryan Ryker's Encased Coin Web Page.