A HUMBLE nickel has the ability to make you a millionaire if you know the details to look for.
A 1913 coin has broken auction records by selling for $4,560,000.
The 1913 Liberty Head Nickel is one of the most famous rare coins in the world.
Only five were ever struck, and two of those are in museums.
So when one of three circulating coins went up for auction in 2018, it commanded record-breaking bids.
“The offered example is the finest of the fine, the rarest of the rare,” read the auction lot published on PCGS.
After a long bidding session, it eventually sold for $4.5 million.
The nickel was a proof coin with a grade of 66.
Proof coins are struck twice, instead of just once like regular coins.
This gives them a shinier, clean-looking finish with a mirror-like background.
The grade of 66 suggests a coin that is “very well struck with minimal marks and hairlines,” according to coin graders NGC.
The 1913 Liberty Head Nickel is considered by some to be the rarest coin in existence, along with the 1804 silver dollar, of which 15 are known.
AN UNLIKELY DISCOVERY
The $4.5 million sale was a big payday for the family of D. William Morton-Smith, who owned the coin.
He was an old-time coin collector whose family had practiced the hobby for generations.
Bill found the coin himself when he inherited an antique desk.
He was amazed to find that the incredibly rare nickel had been sitting there unnoticed, possibly for many years.
MORE RARE COINS
Although few rare coins command over $1 million, there are plenty of valuable nickels, pennies, and quarters lying about.
To know if you have something valuable, first look up the mintage.
That’s the number of copies of that coin that exists.
Generally, the fewer copies there are, the more valuable your coin will be.
If you think you may have something special on your hands, you can check for listings of the same coin on eBay or take it to a coin specialist for a valuation.
