In 1981, I had a commemorative coin minted to celebrate the fifth anniversary of my marriage to Irene Vartanoff. I was working for Psychology Today magazine at the time, where catalogs would continually arrive from manufacturers of merchandising giveaways—key rings, belt buckles, T-shirts, etc.—that could be personalized. And it struck me—why should companies have all the fun?
So I ordered a batch of metal coins incorporating our names, the dates we’d been married, and—here’s the part that tickled me the most—
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… the words LEGAL AND TENDER, a description of our marital status that’s also an allusion to the phrase LEGAL TENDER which appears on U.S. currency.
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The manufacturer had a minimum required order of 250 coins, and allowed for a 10% overrun, which meant that I ended up with 275 of them. Approximately 75 were given out to friends at the time, while the rest …
I’ve been carrying one of these coins in my pocket for good luck ever since I had them created. But never the same one for long. Because I’ve been tossing them in water—whether into the sea from a New Zealand beach (as in 2009), or into a fountain at the National Gallery of Art (which Irene and I did last weekend). I’ve always wondered if any of the coins were ever found, and if so, what people made of them. But I’ve never heard of one turning up in the wild. Until now.
While ego-surfing yesterday, Irene came across an eBay listing for a “SCOTT EDELMAN IRENE VARTANOFF FIFTH ANNIVERSARY TOKEN COIN.” As you can see by comparing the coin in the image below with the fresh replacement above that I started carrying a few days ago, time has taken its toll.
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Intrigued, I reached out to the seller to find out where that particular coin had been spending the past 32 years. And heard back that:
I found the coin in a box I purchased at a yardsale here in Los Angeles. There were a lot of other tokens & coins in the box too.
So I have no idea whether it had been found on a beach with a metal detector or had simply been discarded by an old friend who’d simply decided to get rid of it.
But I’m OK with that. I was tickled by the news of its existence nonetheless. Particularly when the seller informed me:
I haven’t sold the coin, so in your honor I will find a fountain to toss it in when I am in London next week.
Color me pleased.
