Rare Nickel Could Fetch $3 Million

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 23rd 2009 at 8:01AM

The rare U.S. nickel above has quite the interesting story. The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is one of only five known of that specific date and design. The coin, which was owned by King Farouk of Egypt was seen by viewers in an episode of 'Hawaii Five-O,' entitled 'The $100,000 Nickel' in 1973. In 1978 Los Angeles Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, paid $200,000 for the coin and it has changed hands several times since then, jumping in value each time.

The nickel will be auctioned off by Heritage Auctions at a coin collectors event in Orlando, Florida on January 6, 2010. It is expected to sell for $3 million or more. The coin is rare because while the U.S. Mint struck tens of millions of Liberty Head nickels from 1883 through 1912, it switched designs in 1913 to depict a Native American on the "head's" side and a bison on the "tail's" side. But five nickels with the new date, 1913, but the old Liberty design were secretly made at the Philadelphia Mint and eventually sold to collectors. One of the coins is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; another belongs to the American Numismatic Association (ANA) Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the three others, including the coin in the January auction, are privately owned by collections.

UPDATE: This coin sold for $3,737,500 at auction. The winning bid is according to Heritage Auctions "a very advanced East Coast coin collector" who had wanted this rare piece to round out his collection.

Tags: coin collecting, CoinCollecting, coins, liberty coin, LibertyCoin, rare coin, RareCoin

Filed under: Auctions

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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)

hedon219 Dec 24th 2009 2:24AM

ok im only 12 not even a teenager but some of these people who think they no everything about everyone are the dumbest people. but ifu ask me i wouldent pay 3 million dollers 4 a nickel unless i was going to give it to my kids and let the cost go up. and that guy who said the rich people need to give us money well ur crazy u need to start saving up money or invest or i dont know GET A JOB. and the other guy who said this previously thank you you have the right idea. and if I personaly wonted to carry it around then why the heck cant I. andgood for your grandma cheryl im vary happy to here that most people don't live that long :-) . I agree with Jacqueline Henry he has the right idea i mean people are homeless and DIEING and we get an edgucation and food and water and even a soda but they get fly guts and slug slime and i just love how you people take all the unnecisary things that you have for grantet and you dont even care. and that guy who said i'll pay 5 cents for that nickel is an smart ass shut up why whould you even post that it's so ignerent of you. Jim i like your story =) but i reall dont have anything to say about it hahaha the oldest thing i have is a 1916 pennie and its in really bad shape i think its still worth one cent. and mintrubble71 I have to agree with you it is vary interesting. wow it looks like i'm a critike or something o well i told out what i belived was apropriate to say and what wasent but who am I tosay what people can and can't say. I never colected money altho i am saving it but about the 3 million nickel honestly im glade that whoever is geting it is geting it because, you have to really wont that thing to pay all that money for it and marry christmas to all of you.

dare2think4uself Dec 24th 2009 2:59AM

Compared to other designs...

that's one ugly nickel...

BAN1ARM Dec 24th 2009 5:05AM

THE VALUE OF A COLLECTABLE IS BETWEEN THE OWNER AND THE SOONTIBE OWNER. MY DAD WAS A STAMP COLOLECTOR ,,, I TOOK 1 OF HIS STAMPS TO MAIL A LETTER ,,, TURNS OUT IT WAS A $500.00 STAMP PLUS IT MADE THE 4 STAMP BLOCK (NOW 3 STAMP) LOL WORTHLESS. AND THIS WAS 40-50 YEARS AGO.

rshocar Dec 24th 2009 5:46AM

Don't take any wooden nickels. Invest 10% of your income for 20 years and you will never have to work hard again. Two bits (that's 5 nickels) of advice from my grandmother, who was right. PS Coins and stamps are horrible investments unless you can play at the level of this coin, then they are a great investment. Very similar to art and other "collectibles". Big difference between Honus Wagner and ARod...

Professor6000 Dec 24th 2009 6:14AM

I have a 1943 steel penny
Could not find the 1943 copper....but still looking

Colin Dec 24th 2009 6:14AM

What does the rich have to do with this nickel? How does this nickel open up so many personal issues? They gave the reasons for it's worth, it's based on rarity, and collecting coins is a very popular hobby. It makes more sense than spending million for a baseball ... or even a baseball card? A jock hits a regular baseball out of the park, and because it's X-number ball hit in his career, or in the history of the game ... the ball becomes priceless? There'a concrete reason the coin is invaluable, and you shouldn't need to be a collector to understand it.

Bryan Jan 26th 2010 10:13PM

i currently own a 1912 liberty head nickel. If anyone is interested you can email me at sgtbeltrez@gmail.com. i really dont know the worth of this coin, but im sure any coin collector would enjoy to own this i believe. Please someone let me know.

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