Save your pennies! Coins in circulation may be worth up to $1,000, says expert
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/01/09/2009-01-09_save_your_pennies_coins_in_circulation_m.html
Save your pennies! Coins in circulation may be worth up to $1,000, says
expert
BY RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, January 9th 2009, 3:10 PM
See a penny, pick it up, it may be worth a thousand bucks.
Noted coin dealer Scott Travers announced three years ago
he had released three rare and valuable pennies into
circulation, but none of the coins has been reported found.
"Not only does it appear that these three pennies are out
there waiting for someone to cash them in for a pretty
penny, there are lots of others that are just like them
that are out there," said Travers, author of the book
"One-Minute Coin Expert."
In a bid to encourage a new generation of coin collectors,
Travers parted with the three one-cent coins in April 2006.
He put the first - a 1914-D Lincoln cent valued at
$300 - toward a pretzel at a vendor outside the Nasdaq
offices at 4 Times Square.
Days later, Travers spent a 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln cent
valued at $1,000 on a bottle of water he purchased at a
different vendor in Times Square. He then walked a block
to a newsstand and dispensed a 1908-S Indian Head cent
worth $250.
In the weeks after his high-profile stunt, seven people
came forward saying they found the $1,000 coin Travers
gave up.
"The coins were real, but none of them was mine,"
Travers said.
The bonanza, Travers said, demonstrated an important
point: There are countless coins worth big money that
are just waiting to be discovered on sidewalks and
streetcorners, and in pants pockets and piggy banks.
"There really are big dollars to be made in small
coins," Travers said. "With these hard times, people
are really nickel-and-diming it and to be able to
make a pretty penny from one that doesn't look so
pretty is an extraordinary accomplishment."
Consumers can get more information about how to
authenticate their coins at money.org, the Web site
of the American Numismatic Association.
..
lorinc...@yahoo.com
> FROM:http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/01/09/2009-01-09_save_your_penni...
>
> ..
Well it ain't me. I started sorting out all pre-1982 copper pennies
from my change about 36 months ago and have yet to get one that old.
Mine thusfar have all bottomed out in the 1940's. Ever since the
economy got bad though, I've been seeing an increase in 1970's issue
pennies that are in fantastic shape. Me thinks people are raiding
their piggy banks.
-beaumon