The 1913 Liberty Head nickel should be worth more!

The excitement is waxing in the numismatic circles with the news that a 1913 Liberty Head Nickel will be on the auction block by Heritage Auctions at the Central Numismatic Society's coin show in Chicago in April, 2013.  After hearing early estimates that the coin will fetch between two and three million dollars, I am now hearing estimates as high as five million.  In my view, this would still be a tremendous bargain.

The price should be comparable to the 1933 Saint Gaudens double Eagle, which last sold for $7,590,020.  I note that gold coins generally sell for more than nickel coins and large coins are worth more than small coins.  This fact alone might explain the discrepancy in the price.  If we examine the mintages, a mere five 1913 liberty head nickels were struck compared to 445,500 1933 double eagles.

All five liberty head nickels are currently accounted for.  Two are in museums, leaving only three available for private collectors.  Most of the 1933 double eagles were melted, but some escaped.  The US government's position is that there is only one 1933 double eagle that is legal to own  - a specimen legally exported by King Farouk.  The secret service has been actively seizing 1933 double eagles, stating that they were released illegally.  The same argument could apply to the 1913 liberty head nickels, which were made surreptitiously at the Philadelphia mint.

In 2004, the government seized ten 1933 double eagles from s Philadelphia jeweler who submitted them to the government for authentication.  (read that story here) This means that there are at least 11 1933 double eagles that are accounted for.  There are undoubtedly more that are secretly owned.  The 1913 liberty head nickel, is therefore the much scarcer of the two coins.  In the future, the government could release some of its 1933 double eagles, which would cause their values to plummet.  There is no such risk with the 1913 liberty head nickel.

A good story is an essential ingredient to the value of a coin.  Both the 1933 double eagle and the 1913 Liberty Head nickel have stories -- but I find the nickel story more intriguing.  It began with someone clandestinely striking the nickels at the Philadelphia mint.  Then,as a rouse, a mint employee placed ads offering to buy any such nickels (which were not thought to exist).  Years later, five nickels magically appeared.  One of the nickels was purchased by George Walton, who was killed in a car accident on the way to a coin show.  His heirs recovered the nickel, but it was thought to be a fake -- only to be discovered as real years later.

A great story, and a great nickel -- clearly worthy of a seven million dollar price tag.
Read more about it in the book Million Dollar Nickels: Mysteries of the 1913 Liberty Head Nickels Revealed... or visit my webpage at peterplanchet.com.

"Numismatics" is word of the day

The field of coin collecting was honored during the nudiustertian morning when the word "numismatics" was selected as the word of the day on wordsmith.org.  The weeks theme is words that start with the "new" sound.  Other words in the category include pneumonic and nouveau pauvre

For those unfamiliar with the word "nudiustertian" it means of or relating to the day before yesterday.  I have never used the word before now, and I imagine I will seldom use it again.
The word numismatics, of course, I use everyday at least thrice.

Spielberg's Lincoln: A numismatic mistake

Last night, I saw Stephen Spielberg's film, Lincoln.  I was throughly enjoying the cinematic experience until one of Lincoln's adversaries told Lincoln that people from back home hate him so much, they won't even use half dollars with his portrait on them.   Hmmm.  Lincoln's portrait on the half dollar while he was still alive?  The mere thought is absurd.  Lincoln was the president -- not the king.  Certainly he would not be so arrogant as to put his own portrait on a coin.

The words were supposedly uttered in 1864.  The illustration above shows an actual 1864 half dollar. Is Lincoln dressed as a woman on the obverse or is he in an eagle costume for the reverse?  Probably not. In 1864, the nation was suffering through the seated liberty coin design for all denominations.  No Lincoln to be found.  The only time Lincoln was depicted on a half dollar was in 1918 for the Illinois Commemorative half dollar.  He appeared on the Lincoln cent starting in 1909.

Film writer Tony Kushner has a number of historical inaccuracies in the film.  This is to be expected in a dramatic work.  As pointed out by historian, Eric Foner, author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, the film offers a tremendous exaggeration in Lincoln's role in passing the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery -- an amendment that he did not initiate, and only started to support in mid 1864.  And as I point out, the important contains an important  error in a numismatic reference.