 Bowers and Merena Galleries/AP Photo of a rare 1913 Liberty Head nickel, one of five in the world. |
Posted on 05/26/2003 5:42:21 PM PDT by Pokey78
|
|
|
|
After being born of questionable, some say clandestine, circumstances, five 1913 Liberty Head nickels surfaced in the 1920s. Two are in private collections, two are in museums, but the whereabouts of the fifth has confounded collectors for at least 40 years.
"There's a little bit of gimmick to it," concedes Paul Montgomery, president of Bowers and Merena Galleries of Wolfeboro, N.H., which is offering the reward. "But it's all about trying to find the coin."
The Liberty Head Nickel was minted from 1883 to 1912, when it was replaced by the Indian or Buffalo Nickel.
Five Liberty nickels, however, were minted illegally in 1913, possibly by a mint official. They were never placed into circulation and for many years were considered illegal to own because they were not a regular issue.
In 1996, Bowers and Merena auctioned one of the 1913 nickels for $1.4 million, the first coin to sell for more than $1 million. It is because of that price that the company is offering at least $1 million for the missing nickel.
"Everybody in the industry would love to see it," said Montgomery.
As one story goes, the coin may have been owned by a North Carolina dealer killed in a car crash in 1962. Part of the mystery is a theory that the dealer was carrying the coin to a buyer named Reynolds.
People have searched the roadside, said Lawrence Lee, curator of the American Numismatic Association Money Museum, which owns one of the nickels.
"He was killed on his way there," Lee said. "Did the Reynolds' family actually get it? Was it in the car wreck?"
Beth Deisher, editor of Coin World magazine in Sidney, Ohio, said a nickel was recovered from the wreckage, but it was not one of the original five. The date had been altered.
The dealer "claimed to have access to the genuine, through a client named Reynolds," she said. "We believe he had an altered date coin he often carried with him and put on display."
Lee said many have claimed to have the missing coin.
"There are lots of counterfeits," he said. "We have maybe 50 examples in the museum."
Lee believes publicity from the reward offer will get people to start looking for it again, and maybe it will show up in an estate or a grandmother's attic.
He figures if the owner knows about the coin, "they couldn't resist, sooner or later, bragging to somebody or selling it to somebody."
Thought the 1909S was a penny, not a dime.
;-)
Found one just like that under the floormat of the Elcamino last week,had just enough to get a 40 ouncer.
It's a good thing he has some of his coins stored in books. I prefer keeping mine in the 2x2 mylar protectors, tho. Coins left in jars, etc. can get jostled around and make scratches on one another. Any value they may have will be lessened with more wear, etc. When you handle coins, hold the edges, not the face and back, and get them in better storage. (Even rolled coins is a better way than keeping them in jars, I think).
It is possible you have some that may be worth something. I don't know the current standards now, but I used to subscribe to CoinAge magazine and used the Red Book to keep up with coin values.
I haven't really been an active collector in years. Most of my collection was put together when I was around 16-20 years old and I still have it. (Every last red cent, lol!).
When you sort and roll, try to keep 'type' coins separated and then mark the rolls. Ex: Keep Lincoln wheat pennies in separate rolls from Indian head pennies, etc. At least that way, when you get time to go thru them to see what you have, it's easier to check the value of the coins.
Oh, and you'll have to learn how to 'grade' coins. That is the hardest thing to do objectively, and takes a good eye. (It's ALSO the number one way you can be hoodwinked by a shady coin dealer when he offers to buy your coins. He'll downgrade them. When those shady folks sell them, they UPgrade them too to get more $$$ ! I learned the hard way to watch out for those jerks!)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
