See a penny, pick it up, it may be worth a thousand bucks.

Noted coin dealer Scott Travers announced three years ago he had released three rare and valuable pennies into circulation, but none of the coins has been reported found.

“Not only does it appear that these three pennies are out there waiting for someone to cash them in for a pretty penny, there are lots of others that are just like them that are out there,” said Travers, author of the book “One-Minute Coin Expert.”

In a bid to encourage a new generation of coin collectors, Travers parted with the three one-cent coins in April 2006.

He put the first – a 1914-D Lincoln cent valued at $300 – toward a pretzel at a vendor outside the Nasdaq offices at 4 Times Square.

Days later, Travers spent a 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln cent valued at $1,000 on a bottle of water he purchased at a different vendor in Times Square.

He then walked a block to a newsstand and dispensed a 1908-S Indian Head cent worth $250.

In the weeks after his high-profile stunt, seven people came forward saying they found the $1,000 coin Travers gave up.

“The coins were real, but none of them was mine,” Travers said.

The bonanza, Travers said, demonstrated an important point: There are countless coins worth big money that are just waiting to be discovered on sidewalks and streetcorners, and in pants pockets and piggy banks.

“There really are big dollars to be made in small coins,” Travers said. “With these hard times, people are really nickel-and-diming it and to be able to make a pretty penny from one that doesn’t look so pretty is an extraordinary accomplishment.”

Consumers can get more information about how to authenticate their coins at money.org, the Web site of the American Numismatic Association.