Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s time to dump out your change jar
From Fark
Good luck and happy hunting!
Hmmmm. . .
Thirty years ago, an episode of “Hawaii Five-O” dealt with the theft of one of the 1913 Liberty nickels. The name of the episode: “The $100,000 Nickel.” That’s about an annual appreciation rate (compounded) of about 8% per year. Not a bad investment.
BTW, the 1883 Liberty Nickel did not include the word “cents” on the back, only a Roman numeral “V.” Some people were rumored to have gold- (or brass-) plated them and passed them off as 5 dollar pieces. I thought it was just a story until someone showed me one. This person was quite proud of having acquired this 5-dollar gold piece. I didn’t have the heart to tell him. . .
I’ve got an 1883 nickel with just a bit of gold paint left over. I do not have any coins worth more then $100 sadly.
That paragon of historical research and accuracy, The History Channel, says that the scam was concocted by a deaf-mute named Joshua Something-or-other. When caught, his defense was that he never asked for change for a five-dollar gold piece; he just handed clerks the five-cent coin (brushed with gold dust) and the clerks gave him back more money. Therefore, he never “counterfieted” because he never claimed the coins were anything but five-cent pieces.
THC says that his name lives on in the term “joshing”. (Of course, this is the same series that said we got the term “doozy” from the Deusenberg automobile.)
We only got 20-30 calls today with people who thought they might have the coin.
A-r-r-r-g-g-h-h-!!!
It’s a stupid publicity stunt. The fifth specimen of this nickel possibly still exists, but it never got into circulation. It possibly resides in some old-time collection. But if you have a few “V:” nickels that came down through the family,…
IT AIN"T THERE.
And please don’t tell me that you have an 1883 nickel, which is older, so it outta be worth more.
:rolleyes:
Out of curiousity, has anyone traced the route of the 5 1913 Liberty nickles? As I recall, it went from Mint-Mint employee-Col. Edward Green, whose heirs then sold the coins individually.
I’ve got a halfpenny from 1723. That’s three times as old so it should be worth three million! Still, seeing as it’s only 1/10th the value of a nickel, I’ll let it go for the bargain price of $300,000. Any takers?
Just in case anyone’s interested–and hasn’t already looked it up–here’s some info on the nickel:
What a rip-off. They’re offering a measly $1 million for a coin that could be worth $1.4 million (per the similar one auctioned off in 1996)? If I would have found it I’d stick 'er on eBay.