The 1913 Liberty Head Nickel
The drawer contained colonial cents, half-cents, and most prominent, an almost-complete set of Liberty Head nickels. The coins were made from 1883 to 1912 and depict Lady Liberty on one side and a V, the roman numeral for 5, on the other.
The set, which is worth about $100,000, was missing a piece that would elevate its value to the millions: a rare 1913 version of the coin that was struck by the United States Mint before its run of Liberty Head nickels was canceled. “Since it was discovered, it’s been one of the most sought-after coins in the United States,” says Kendrella.
Just five examples of the 1913 coin are known to exist. One is at the Smithsonian Institution (and was once owned by King Farouk of Egypt), another is in the American Numismatic Association’s Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colo., and three are in private hands.
After more than two decades, Morton-Smith finally completed his grandfather’s collection by purchasing one of those three nickels— the so called “Eliasberg Nickel,” named after its onetime owner, collector Louis Eliasberg, for a reported $5 million in 2007.
Now, as his children auction off the estate, that single 1913 nickel will come to auction at Stack’s Bowers in Philadelphia in August. (The children will not sell all of the set, for sentimental reasons.) The nickel carries a relatively conservative $3 million-to-$5 million estimate.
The family has already begun to auction off other coins, too. A 1794 silver dollar sold in August 2017 for $2.8 million, and an 1804 silver dollar sold a few years earlier for $1.88 million, but the nickel represents the most valuable item in the Morton-Smith collection.
Not coincidentally, the coin was the key to Morton-Smith’s grandfather’s collection.
“The crazy thing,” his son says, “is that it started with that desk.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.