The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-03-18
A BIG FAKE
Deal in Pennies as Result Of a
Smart Advertisement
OF a W. sEINGToN MERCHANT,
Who Offered rs Cents for 100:


Who oifered -" Genus iof i'"'
,,.,o,,
e"'''e'' N ~
,,,,y s,ccuIotors We're
Caught.
Recentlya u clothing store in Wash
ington advertised that it would pay a
noon Saturday, the ith INST, i
cents for 1902" pennies. and because
OF this advertisement practically al
the pennies in the piedemont section
of North Carolina and in a good man,
towns in upper South Carolina have
come into the possession Of a few
Specuiators. The fact that the I'D
vertisement was not Il bonafde pro
position. but a play on words, did moi
become known until Wednesday, wher
it was discovered that, thousand ol
1902 coppcrs had changed hands after
a bip premium had been paid.
The following is the story as tolG
l,v the Charlotte Observer:
For 4 week or ten days it has beer
currently rumored in this city that ;
Washington agency wanted the pen
nieS in question. and it was said thai
the agency was acting for the govern
menU, which wished the pennies re.
called because it had been found that
in coming them a large quantity OF
cold had been accidentally spilled into
the molten copper.
The absurditv of the rumor seemed
to impress no Speculator, and fer the
last four or five days penny-buyine
has been going on here at great
rate.
Early last week Mr.. Edwin 8.
Gresham. Of the firm OF Gresham &
Company. the we'll known railroad
eating house concern. collected all the
1902 pennies he could in banks ano
other business places in Charlotte He
got the pennies at their real value and
before the report of the prmium- Civ
ing had become widespread. a day
or SO after his purchase Mr. Gresham
sold to Baggage Agent Sonner OF the
Southern railway, $50 pennies for S33:
and Sonner stated that the next day
he sold the pennies TO 4 bank IN
Alexandria, Va, at Is cents apiece.
Mr.. Gresham worked assiduousL
and collected many hundred other
pennies. but he was able to sell none
of those at a profit. He still has or
hand enough copper to make lfe-siZed
statues OF both the mayor and the re-
corder.
Mr.. Gresham was not the only man
who bought pennies in large quanti.
Ties. Tom Rowland, the popular
conductor on the StateSville road, de-
voted a large part of his time to cop
per-grabbing and did not desiSt in his
speculative operation until Wednes-
day.
Halt dozen other Charlotte men.
men in near. BY South Carolina towns,
and residents of Salisbury and other
places in this State, made wide search
for last years coppers.
Tie movements Of the spectators
had it's natural effect. and for a week
1902 pennies have been selling high:
iumninr from two and a half and three
cents each to five. seven and ten cents
an;ece
The knowledge that the advertise
ment was inserted with intent to de.
ceiye did not reach here until WedDeS.
day. 1t was said that bags holding
over 6 600 pennies belonging to specu.
lators in this section. reached Wash.
inrton Saturday morning. and, keep,
;nG comnanv with conner that came
fre,,, ,,snv other sonrcos were ahout
tn be taken to the clothing store to be
redeemed at the IS cents valuati ON
when it was discovered that visit tx
the store would provoke ridicule and
allow no profit. 1t was declared that
the first man who entered the store
presented 1850 pennies and demand
ed IS cents for each copper.
"You have misunderstood the ad
vertisement, was the reply.
..Rnt, Won said you would give is
cents for 1902 pennies
"Certainlv. we are prepared now tt
give Is cents for one thousand nine
Teen hundred and two pennies"
Then the would be vendor under
shouldered his cOpperS and walked
away. oOilei ii'eil WIZ ea'"e 0''i i'S
| copper dS prize were lllcU Will