The Mysterious 1913 Liberty Nickel By B.T. Schneider

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In 1996, numismatic history was made as Jay Parino paid over 1 million dollars for the Eliasberg specimen of the 1913 liberty nickel. This was the first coin to break the million-dollar barrier, with a final hammer price of $1,485,000 after a 10% buyer's fee was added. This amount surpassed the previous record paid, set in 1989, of $990,000 for the Dexter specimen of the 1804 Dollar and the $962,500 paid for the Reed Hawn Specimen of the 1913 Liberty Nickel. The mystery surrounding this coin is that, while there are 5 known specimens, there is no record at the mint of any being produced. Here lies the mystery.

The existence of a Nickel with the Liberty design dated 1913 was not known until the ANA convention in 1920, and even speculation of such a coin was not even thought of until the following ad was placed in the December 1919 issue of the Numismatist.

Even with this ad, no specimens had ever been seen, it was not until the 1920 ANA convention that a 1913 Liberty nickel had been seen. This caused a lot of questions to be asked. The following was in the October 1920 issue of the Numismatist about this event.

Little was heard of these nickels until this ad was placed in the January 1924 issue of the Numismatist. The asking price for the set of 5 coins was said to be $2,000.

The Pedigrees

Although earlier accounts have the coins going from Wagner to Col. Edward H.R. Green, it is now thought that the coins were purchased from August Wagner by Stephen K. Nagy, although the actual purchase price is not known. The coins then went to Wayte Raymond, who sold them to Col. E.H.R. Green. There also exist rumors that B.G. Johnson was involved with Col. Green obtaining the coins, as well as a story that Henry Chapman purchased the entire set from a former Mint employee. The coins remained in the Green estate until after his death in 1936. The coins were sold to Eric P. Newman and B.G. Johnson in 1942. The paths of the coins then went their separate ways. Here is a recount as listed by Q. David Bowers in the 1996 Auction Catalog of the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection

The pedigrees of the five known 1913 Liberty Nickels:

1. The Eliasberg Specimen. The finest known, currently graded PCGS PR66.
   Samual W. Brown, August Wagner, Stephen K. Nagy, Wayte Raymond, Col. E.H.R. Green, Burdette G. Johnson and Eric P. Newman, Abe Kosoff and Abner Kreisberg (Numismatic Gallery), Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr., Jay Parino, Dwight Manley, Edward C. Lee.
   Click here to view the Eliasberg Specimen.
2. The Walton Specimen. Currently in the possession of the Walton family.
   Samual W. Brown, August Wagner, Stephen K. Nagy, Wayte Raymond, Col. E.H.R. Green, Burdette G. Johnson and Eric P. Newman, James Kelly, Dr. Conway Bolt, North Carolina Collector, George O. Walton, Melva Walton Givens.
   Click here to view the Walton Specimen.
3. The Norweb Specimen. Currently in the Smithsonian Institution.
   Samual W. Brown, August Wagner, Stephen K. Nagy, Wayte Raymond, Col. E.H.R. Green, Burdette G. Johnson and Eric P. Newman, F.C.C. Boyd, Abe Kosoff and Abner Kreisberg (Numismatic Gallery), King Farouk, Abe Kosoff and Sol Kaplin, Norweb family, Smithsonian Institution.
   Click here to view the Norweb Specimen.
4. The Olsen Specimen. Currently graded PCGS PR64.
   Samual W. Brown, August Wagner, Stephen K. Nagy, Wayte Raymond, Col. E.H.R. Green, Burdette G. Johnson and Eric P. Newman, James Kelly, Fred Olsen, B. Max Mehl, King Farouk, B. Max Mehl, Will W. Neil, B. Max Mehl, Edwin Hydeman, Abe Kosoff, WorldWide Coin Investments, Bowers and Ruddy Galleries, Inc., Continental Coin Co., Superior Galleries, Dr. Jerry Buss, Superior Galleries, Reed Hawn, Stack's, Spectrum Numismatics, Legend Collection, Midwest Collection.
   Click here to view the Olsen Specimen.
5. The McDermott Specimen. Currently in the American Numismatic Association Money Museum.
   Samual W. Brown, August Wagner, Stephen K. Nagy, Wayte Raymond, Col. E.H.R. Green, Burdette G. Johnson and Eric P. Newman, James Kelly, J.V. McDermott, Aubrey and Adeline Bebee, ANA Money Museum.
   Click here to view the McDermott Specimen.

Display of all 5 known examples. ANA Convention, Balimore MD 2003.

The Lore and the Mystery

Just what makes the 1913 Liberty Nickel so valuable. It is not the rarest of all coins, the 1870-S Half Dime and the 1873-CC Without Arrows Dime are unique. There are other rarities, like the 1894-S Dime and the 1870-S Dollar, but few have garnered the attention of the 1913 Liberty Nickel. Much of the popularity goes to B. Max Mehl who advertised to pay $50 for one in his Star Rare Coin Encyclopedia. Of this, Walter Breen writes in his Encyclopedia:

"During the Great Depression, the Fort Worth, Tex., dealer B. Max Mehl carried on a years-long newspaper advertising campaign (which he later admitted had cost him over a million 1930s dollars!), offering to buy for $50 apiece any 1913 Liberty head nickels offered. This offer was not bona fide, being merely a come-on to promote sales of his Star Rare Coin Encyclopedia, which went through over 30 editions despite being of no numismatic value. The major effect of Mehl's publicity was threefold: It made Mehl very wealthy through peddling his worthless book; it made the 1913 Liberty head nickel one of the most famous of American coins; and it stimulated the ungodly to make thousands of altered dates (mostly from 1903, 1910 or 1912) pretending to be 1913's."

The 1913 Liberty Nickel is one that has been surrounded in mystery since it's discovery. The mystery of just how they came to be will probably never be known. It is known that dies had been produced for a 1913 Liberty Nickel, as the decision had not been finalized to produce the Indian Head Nickel. Breen assumed that someone in the coiners department struck the examples for Brown, who then waited until the "right" people had either retired or died before pretending to buy his examples. Gloria Peters and Cynthia Mohon, in their book The Complete Guide to Shield and Liberty Nickels quoted an article that appeared in Coinage that states that

"It is intriguing - and possibly instructive - to note that 1920, the year when Brown announced his "discovery," marked the expiration of the seven-year statue of limitations for prosecuting anyone who might have removed the coins from the mint in 1913."

David Bowers, in his cataloguing of the Eliasberg Collection, notes several scenarios in which the nickels could have been legally struck. He also notes the Brown was noted as an upstanding citizen and held many public positions, including mayor. Brown never acted as if the coins were illegal to be owned. What really happened to bring about these coins will probably always remain a mystery.
The next mystery is who actually owned each one of these nickels at any given time. It is still unclear if Wagner obtained his coins directly from Brown, and exactly who had the coins between Wagner and Green.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bowers, Q. David, "Brown key figure in '13 nickel's lore", Coin World, January 19, 1977.
Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988.
The Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, Auctions by Bowers and Merena, Inc., 1997.
The Numismatist, Published by the ANA, 1919, 1920, 1924, 1967.
Peters, Gloria and Mohon, Cynthia, The Complete Guide to Shield and Liberty Head Nickels, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1995.