Nickels, Dimes May Be Worth Small Fortune : Numismatics: The promoters of coin collectors convention plan to put rare coins into the O.C. economy.

In the age of the $5 cup of coffee, people no longer covet those little disks of silver and copper that fall between the sofa cushions.

Pennies are deemed passe, and no one gives a plug nickel for the dime. A quarter barely cuts it at the wishing well, and when was the last time someone besides the Tooth Fairy spent a Kennedy half dollar?

But next week, Orange County residents will be asked to change the way they think about change.

In commemoration of the World’s Fair of Money--expected to flood Anaheim with a billion dollars in currency and thousands of avid collectors--rare coins valued at $10,000 will be released into the local economy.

The promotional gimmick, sponsored by the Professional Coin Grading Service, aims to make people contemplate the loot that collects in their lint, to study it before sticking it into parking meters or soda machines.

“The idea is to make people stop and look at the money in their hands,” said Stephen L. Bobbitt, a spokesman for the American Numismatic Assn., which organizes the annual convention. “We want people to come to our show, which is open and free to the public, and find out how vast a hobby this is.”

But before coming to the show, at the Anaheim Convention Center Wednesday through Aug. 20, check your change purse.

You may have a pocketful of miracles.

Convention organizers say they will pay fair market price for any of the following coins, which will be secreted into Orange County’s money supply next Wednesday:

* Lincoln cents, including the 1995 double-die, a coin stamped incorrectly, worth anywhere from $200 to $300 each.

* Buffalo nickels, including 1937-D nickels, worth between $25 and $150 each.

* Roosevelt silver dimes minted from 1946 to 1965 (when the U.S. stopped making coins out of silver), worth 50 cents to $100 each.

Top prize among the coins is one copper penny minted 86 years ago, worth $400.

The penny can be spotted by its date, 1909, and the “S” mark indicating it was minted in San Francisco. On the tails side are ears of wheat and the initials “V.D.B.,” monogram of the coin’s designer, Victor David Brenner.

Fewer than 50,000 pennies were minted with Brenner’s initials.

“With about 300 coins going into circulation in three or four days, we really do expect to see some of these coins,” said Bobbitt, who added that not all collectors applaud the idea.

“Our curator is heartsick that we’re taking perfectly good coins and putting them in circulation again,” he said.

Helping to spend and spread the precious coins will be Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, who once possessed some of the most prized coins in existence, including an 1804 silver dollar now valued at $1 million. Though he sold his collection 15 years ago, Buss said he looks forward to Wednesday because the experience will bring him full circle from a special day in his collecting life.

“Twenty-five years ago I went to a similar convention in Long Beach, and I had my two little boys with me,” he said. “I gave them some money to go down to get a Coca-Cola . . . and out comes these rare buffalo nickels.”

Recognizing the value of the nickels, the boys were thrilled, he said, and their love of coins was minted in cement.

To complete the cycle, Buss said his two sons will join him on the surreptitious spending spree.

“We’ll head for the candy store, probably the bookstore, maybe a toy store--it’ll be a celebration, just like the old days,” Buss said.

Though he thinks some people will trouser the coins without giving them a second thought, Buss expressed faith in most people’s powers of observation.

“People look at their change, they really do,” he said. “If you look at your change at all, these coins look very different from what you normally get.”

But Bobbitt offered less hope to those collectors who fear that, come Wednesday, dozens of special coins will disappear into mayonnaise jars for the next 50 or 100 years.

“We’ve been doing this since 1990,” he said, “and no one’s ever returned coins to claim the reward.”

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Pennies From Heaven

Here’s a look at some of the coins that will be showing up in Orange County, injected into the local economy as a promotion for a coin-collectors convention:

Coin: Lincoln cents

Description: 1995 double-die, stamped incorrectly

Value: $200-$300

*

Coin: Buffalo nickels

Description: 1937-D three-legged buffalo nickel

Value: $25-$150

*

Coin: Jefferson nickels

Description: 1938 to present, including “war nickels”

Value: $5

*

Coin: Mercury dimes

Description: 1916-1945

Value: $2-$100

*

Coin: Roosevelt dimes

Description: 1946-1965 silver only

Value: .50-$100

*

Coin: Washington quarters

Description: 1932-1965, made of silver

Value: $1.30

Source: American Numismatic Assn.