1913 Liberty Head Nickel

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The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is one of the best-known and most coveted rarities in American numismatics. Only five examples are known to exist: two in museums and three in private collections.

The five known 1913 Liberty Head nickels. Specimens from left to right: Eliasberg, Olsen, Norweb, Walton, and McDermott.

1 Origin
2 Pedigree
3 The Eliasberg Specimen
4 The Olsen Specimen
5 The Norweb Specimen
6 The Walton Specimen
7 The McDermott Specimen
8 References

[edit] Origin

The Indian Head ("Buffalo") nickel was introduced in February of 1913, replacing the Liberty Head design. These were the first official strikings of nickels in 1913; the Mint's official records do not record any Liberty Head nickels produced that year. Liberty Head nickels dated 1913 first came to the attention of the numismatic community in 1920. All five were in the possession of Samuel Brown, a numismatist who attended the American Numismatic Association's annual convention and displayed the coins there. Brown had previously placed an advertisement in The Numismatist in December 1919 seeking information on these coins and offering to pay $500 for each. Ostensibly, the coins had been purchased as a result of this offer. However, Samuel Brown had been a Mint employee in 1913, and many numismatic historians have concluded that he was therefore responsible for striking the coins himself and then removing them from the Mint. If true, this would not have been a unique occurrence; such clandestine strikes were actually quite common in the 19th century, with the Class II and III 1804 silver dollars being perhaps the best-known instance. Other numismatic authorities, such as Q. David Bowers, have questioned this scenario, and pointed out that there are several methods by which the coin could have been legitimately produced [1].

[edit] Pedigree

In January 1924, Samuel Brown sold all five 1913 Liberty Head nickels. The intact lot passed through the hands of several other coin dealers before finally being purchased by Colonel E.H.R. Green (son of the infamous miser Hetty Green). Green kept them in his collection until his death in 1936. His estate was then auctioned off, and all five of the 1913 Liberty Head nickels were purchased by two dealers, Eric P. Newman and B.G. Johnson. The dealers broke up the set for the first time.

[edit] The Eliasberg Specimen

The Eliasberg specimen is the finest known 1913 Liberty Head nickel.

Of the five 1913 Liberty Head nickels, two have proof surfaces, and the other three were produced with standard striking techniques. The finest of the coins has been graded Proof-66 by various professional grading services, including PCGS and NGC.

This coin was purchased from Newman and Johnson by the Numismatic Gallery, a coin dealership that then sold it to famed collector Louis Eliasberg. It remained in Eliasberg's comprehensive collection until after his death. In May 1996, it was sold at an auction conducted by Bowers and Merena, where it was purchased by rarities dealer Jay Parrino for $1,485,000 - the most ever fetched by any single coin up until that point. When it was auctioned again in March 2001, the price climbed to $1,840,000. In May 2005, Legend Numismatics purchased the Eliasberg specimen for $4,150,000.

[edit] The Olsen Specimen

The Olsen specimen was once featured on Hawaii Five-O.

While the Eliasberg specimen is the best preserved of the five coins, the Olsen specimen is almost certainly the most famous. It has been graded Proof-64 by both PCGS and NGC, making it one of only two Proofs (the Eliasberg specimen being the other). The Olsen specimen was featured on an episode of Hawaii Five-O (The $100,000 Nickel, December 11, 1973) [2]. It was also briefly owned by Egyptian King Farouk.

When Newman and Johnson broke up the set of five coins, the Olsen specimen was sold first to James Kelly and then to Fred Olson. The latter collector sold the coin to Farouk, but his name has remained attached to it in numismatic circles ever since. In 1972, it was sold to World Wide Coin Investments for $100,000 [3], thus inspiring its title appearance in Hawaii Five-O the following year. The coin's price had doubled, to $200,000, when it was resold to Superior Galleries in 1978. It has been resold on several occasions since then, most recently fetching $3,000,000 in June 2004 [4]. The current owner's name has not been disclosed.

[edit] The Norweb Specimen

The Norweb specimen is one of two 1913 Liberty Head nickels that currently reside in museums. It is currently an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution.

Newman and Johnson sold the Norweb specimen to F.C.C. Boyd, who then resold it to the Numismatic Gallery (which handled several of the coins over the years). In 1949, it was purchased by King Farouk to replace the Olsen specimen, which he had sold. It remained in Farouk's collection until he was deposed by Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1952. Two years after that, Farouk's possessions were all auctioned off by the new regime. The specimen was once again handled by Numismatic Gallery, and sold this time to Ambassador Henry Norweb and his wife [5]. In 1977, the Norwebs donated the specimen to the Smithsonian, where it remains.

[edit] The Walton Specimen

The Walton specimen is the most elusive of the five 1913 Liberty Head nickels; for over 40 years, its whereabouts were unknown and it was believed to have been lost. George O. Walton, for whom the specimen is named, purchased it from Newman and Johnson in 1945 for approximately $3,750. On March 9, 1962, Walton died in a car crash en route to a coin show. He had promised the show's promoters that he would exhibit the 1913 Liberty Head nickel there, so it was assumed to have been among the coins in his possession when he died. However, although over a quarter million dollars worth of rare coins were recovered from the crash site, the 1913 Liberty Head nickel was not among them. Some numismatists believed that it had either been lost in the crash or had been taken from the site by an unknown individual. In fact, the coin had not been in the vehicle at all. It remained in the possession of Walton's heirs, but was misidentified as an altered coin. In July 2003, the American Numismatic Association arranged to exhibit the four specimens whose whereabouts were known. A $10,000 reward was offered to anyone who could identify the whereabouts of the fifth coin, with the Bowers and Merena auction house guaranteeing that it would fetch at least $1,000,000 at public auction. After carefully comparing their coin to digital photos of the other specimens, the Walton heirs began to doubt the original verdict that their coin was fake. They brought it to the ANA convention, where expert authenticators examined it at length and determined that it was in fact the genuine Walton specimen [6]. The coin is still held by the Walton heirs.

[edit] The McDermott Specimen

Currently held by the American Numismatic Association's Money Museum, the McDermott Specimen has the distinction of being the only 1913 Liberty Head nickel to bear marks of circulation. From Johnson and Newman, it was sold to James Kelly, then to J.V. McDermott; it was this latter owner whose name became most prominently attached to the coin's pedigree. McDermott often carried the coin around with him, showing it off to bar patrons and boasting of its extraordinary rarity and value. Due to this activity, the coin lost some of its original mint luster, becoming circulated in condition. Eventually, McDermott protected the coin with a holder to prevent further wear [7]. After McDermott died, the coin was then sold at auction to Aubrey Bebee in 1967 for $46,000 [8]. Bebee and his wife donated the coin to the ANA in 1989, where it is exhibited in the Money Museum.