Because Being A Numismatist Just Sounds Dirty

A dirty, filthy numismatist spreads valuable coins around town:

. . . Scott A. Travers is going around Manhattan this week making a few routine purchases and deliberately spending three rare one-cent coins. Mr. Travers is serious about coins: he collects them, writes about them and is a former vice president of the American Numismatic Association. He hopes that the sharp-eyed people who find one of the three coins will be caught up in what Mr. Travers describes as the magic of coin collecting.

“I’m planting a seed and I hope that a new generation of people will come to appreciate the history that coins represent,” said Mr. Travers, who is sprinkling around the pennies to coincide with National Coin Week, which starts Sunday. The pennies are almost a century old and are among the most coveted by collectors.

One was produced in 1909, the centennial of Lincoln’s birth, the first time a United States coin showed a historical figure rather than a depiction of Liberty. The coins had the initials of the engraver, Victor D. Brenner, prominently displayed — too prominently for public taste — so they were hastily removed and the coin was reissued without them. The San Francisco mint, whose coins had a small S mint mark below the date, produced fewer than 500,000 pennies with the offending initials. They became instant collectors’ items and most quickly disappeared from circulation.

Mr. Travers said his 1909 coin was worth more than $1,000. At Brigandi Coin on 44th Street in Manhattan, one of the rare 1909 coins was being offered for $1,200 this week.

The two other coins Mr. Travers is spending, though not as famous, are also worth a pretty penny because only a relatively small number were made. One is a 1914 penny from the Denver mint (a small D is under the date), valued at $350. The other is a 1908 penny from San Francisco with an Indian girl in a headdress, valued at $200.