It has been a busy two weeks, but I wanted to write about an interesting transaction which I was involved. My professional life requires me to attend many meetings. One of these meetings involves someone who commutes every week from New York City to the Washington area. Before one of our meetings, he was talking about how he spent Saturday around Times Square and even visited a large toy store chain with his three children. As he was talking, he was jingling change in his pocket.
That is when the ever attentive numismatist in me sprung into action. I remembered the stories about author and former ANA Vice President Scott A. Travers placing 1909-S VDB and 1914-D Lincoln Cents into circulation—reportedly worth about $1,000 and $300 respectively. Travers also spent a 1908-S Indian Head Cent, the first cent minted in San Francisco and reportedly worth $200. I also do not remember anyone saying they found the coins. So I offered to buy all the change in my colleague’s pocket. With the change landing on the table, we counted over $7 in various denominations. I gave him $8 for all of the coins.
After completing the transaction, I began to look at the various cents in the pile. Following a comment of surprise after finding a 1982 Canadian Cent, I was asked why I was checking the cents. When I explained about the coins Travers placed in circulation and figuring that since he was in midtown Manhattan, I thought it was an interesting gamble. The pre-meeting congregants began to show interest in the coins.
Unfortunately, I did not find any of the coins Travers placed into circulation. But I did find a 1950 Washington Quarter along with the Canadian Cent. The quarter looks to be in Fine (F-12) condition and probably only worth its value in silver (approximately $2.67 with silver closing at $14.77 an ounce on May 11). This may be the makeup for my previous 7½ cent loss!
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