I'm sure one of the more senior members here would be able to help!....I've never used a penny for currency in my lifetime!~

Me either, that's the way he described it. I remember as a little kid one of these on the wall of the fish and chip shop, and trying to get my 2 cents (I think) to the bottom many times.

Googling around I found this - way more complex, but the same idea. The ones he was talking about were not big like this - maybe a couple of foot high and were mounted to the wall, but same concept.