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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;WingedLiberty, post: 1251684, member: 26030&quot;]I was looking through the Heritage archives and stumbled on this piece of history that sold for nearly 3.8 million dollars in January of 2010.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/1913_LHN.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>I did a little research and dug up this interesting history and thought I would share it with people that might not know the color surrounding this legendary coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>The 1913 Liberty Head Nickel is one of the most prized and valuable coins ever produced. Only 5 Proof specimens are known to exist. Facts are sketchy on the minting of the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel. It is believed that 5 specimens were struck at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia sometime between July of 1912 and February of 1913.</p><p><br /></p><p>One theory says the coins were struck as advanced test pieces in July 1912. Another theory says an employee was there after-hours and struck 5 specimens before the dies were destroyed in preparation for the change to the Buffalo Nickel in February 1913.&nbsp; This second theory seems a bit more likely to me.</p><p><br /></p><p>In either case, the coins left the mint in some sort of unauthorized manner and were kept secret until 1920, until after the statute of limitations for theft ran out.&nbsp; U.S. Treasury officials later ruled that the coins were “legally struck” and were never confiscated like the 1933 St. Gaudens Double Eagles were.</p><p><br /></p><p>Current numismatic information shows the total mintage of the Liberty Head Nickel is 5.&nbsp;&nbsp; However some early evidence might point to a different total mintage.</p><p><br /></p><p>An early owner of the entire set of 1913 Liberty Head Nickels, a man named Colonel E.H.R. Green, had a special velvet &amp; leather case made for them.&nbsp;&nbsp; However few people ever saw the Nickels as he kept them locked away in his safe. However the lore spread about the existence of these rare Nickels.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/EHRGreen.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s noteworthy that this early owner of this rare set of nickels had a very famous mother.&nbsp; He was the son of Hetty Green who was nicknamed &quot;The Witch of Wall Street&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; Hetty Green was a miserly American businesswoman and was the first woman to make a substantial impact on the American Financial Industry in New York.&nbsp;&nbsp; So Colonel E.H.R. Green came from a well connected family with money.&nbsp; It&#039;s unclear to me if Colonel Green was the mint employee that struck the nickels, if he bought the nickels from the mint employee a short time later, or if he had actually contracted with the mint employee in secret to strike the nickels for him.&nbsp; However, considering the look and background of the man, I think it&#039;s likely one of the latter two scenarios.</p><p><br /></p><p>About 10 years later, during the Great Depression, an enterprising coin dealer, B. Max Mehl of Fort Worth,&nbsp; Texas, ran thousands of nationwide ads -- advertising $50 to anyone that could find and send to him a 1913 Liberty Head Nickel (even though they were never released into circulation and finding one was for all intents and purposes impossible).&nbsp; This sparked a national treasure hunt for the nickel that was worth $50, a huge sum of money during the Depression. Cable cars and tramways in big cities would often run behind schedule during this era because the conductor was too busy checking all the nickels they collected in fares.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1936, Colonel E.H.R. Green passed away. When the set of 1913 Liberty Head nickels was finally shown to the public after the owners death,&nbsp; people were shocked to see the special leather and velvet case was made with 6 nickel sized&nbsp; holes -- and one of the holes had been filled by a bronze cast 1913&nbsp; Buffalo Nickel.&nbsp; This led to a lot of conjecture that there were&nbsp; actually six 1913 Liberty Nickels minted and one had been held back in&nbsp; secret by the family or was lost -- and the Buffalo Nickel placed into&nbsp; the case as a filler coin for the empty hole.</p><p><br /></p><p>By the mid 1940’s, the 1913 LHN was an integral part of the national psyche.&nbsp; So when individual specimens were sold off from the original 5 they sold for what was at the time an exorbitant amount of money, as much as $3,800 each.&nbsp; Each time one was subsequently sold, the price got higher and the legend grew deeper. Even King Farouk of Egypt had two different LHN specimens in his world-class coin collection at different times.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fast forward to 1962, and another twist gets added to the story.&nbsp;&nbsp; In March of 1962, an owner of one of the 1913 Liberty Nickels, George Walton, had a mishap with his coin. Walton was driving to a coin show where he had told the promoters he was bringing a 1913 Liberty Nickel so they could display it at the show.&nbsp; Unfortunately, Walton crashed his car and lost his life in terrible wreck while en route.&nbsp; Although the police and rescue found thousands of dollars in coins at the wreck scene, the 1913 Liberty Head was missing.&nbsp; Some people speculated someone had stolen it, others felt it had been lost at the scene.&nbsp; Later in 1962, Walton’s heirs found a 1913 Liberty in George’s home and took it to a certification firm for authentication; however experts at the firm condemned the coin as fake.</p><p><br /></p><p>So for the next 40 years, from 1962 through 2002, only four 1913 Liberty Head Nickels were accounted for.</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally in 2003, the ANA organized a reunion for the four remaining known specimens of the 1913 Liberty Nickel at their annual World’s Fair of Money.&nbsp; To add interest they offered a $10,000 reward for anyone that could lead them to the lost fifth specimen.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Walton heirs having seen photos of other 1913’s and reading about the search for the lost coin thought their coin, previously declared a fake, was worth another look so they brought their coin to the ANA show for examination.&nbsp; Experts at the ANA show were shocked to see this “lost” super-rarity walk through their showroom doors.&nbsp; Six experts at the Fair examined the coin and each one declared it genuine. So the lost fifth 1913 Liberty had been “found” after 40 years!</p><p><br /></p><p>Still questions remain today on a possible 6th specimen.&nbsp; Why would George Walton tell show promoters in 1962 that he was bringing his coin, only to leave it at home?&nbsp; Did he have 2 coins?&nbsp; And was one flung from his car in the crash and lost at the scene?&nbsp; And why did the original owner of the set of Liberty Head Nickels have a special leather and velvet case made for his coins with 6 holes?</p><p><br /></p><p>Over the years, the coins ended up getting named for owners that held them for long periods of time.</p><p><br /></p><p>The five known specimens of the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel are as follows:</p><p><br /></p><ul> <li>The <b>Eliasberg</b> Specimen, <span style="color: #a52a2a">PCGS and NGC PR-66</span>, once owned by Louis Eliasberg was sold in January 2007 by Stack&#039;s.&nbsp; Current owner anonymous.</li> </ul><p><br /></p><ul> <li>The <b>Olsen</b> Specimen, <span style="color: #a52a2a">PCGS and NGC PR-64</span>, named for early owner Fred Olsen, sold in Aug. 2003 for $3 million to an anonymous buyer.&nbsp;&nbsp; Later sold for $3.8 million in January 2010 by Heritage (auction shown above).&nbsp; This coin was once featured on an episode of Hawaii-Five-O.</li> </ul><p><br /></p><ul> <li>The <b>Norweb</b> Specimen, named for previous owner Henry Norweb, is <span style="color: #a52a2a">officially ungraded</span> and in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.</li> </ul><p><br /></p><ul> <li>The <b>Walton</b> Specimen, <span style="color: #a52a2a">officially ungraded </span>but authenticated in 2003 by several experts, held by George Walton&#039;s heirs.</li> </ul><p><br /></p><ul> <li>The <b>McDermott</b> Specimen,<span style="color: #a52a2a"> NGC PR-55</span>, named for former owner (and vest-pocket coin dealer) J.V. McDermott, is currently in the ANA World of Money Collection.</li> </ul><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/1913_Liberty_Nickels.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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