| ORLANDO, Fla. – In 1973, Hawaii Five-O aired an episode titled, The $100,000 Nickel. “In the episode, Victor Buono played a thief who used a slight-of-hand trick to steal the 1913 nickel from a coin auction at the Ilikai Hotel. The thief drops the coin into a vending machine, but the money from the machine is collected before he can retrieve it” according to a Jan. 11 article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin. The nickel in question was a 1913 Liberty Head coin, one of only five known of that specific date and design. Even in 1973 the coin was so rare that the real coin was only used in close-ups and a “stunt double” coin was used for most of the episode. If the Hawaii Five-O episode was filmed today the title would have to be changed to The $3.7 million Nickel. That’s what it sold for on Jan. 7 during an auction conducted by Heritage Auctions at the Orlando Convention Center during a coin collector’s convention. The nickel has more than a starring television role to its credits. It was also once owned by an infamous Egyptian King and a Los Angeles sports team owner. “It is probably the most famous United States rare coin because it was seen by tens of millions of viewers in an episode of Hawaii Five-O,” said Greg Rohan, President of Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. “The winning bidder is a very advanced, East Coast coin collector who was filling a hole in his collection with the addition of the 1913 Liberty nickel. The under bidder who also wants to remain anonymous is a sophisticated business executive who has just re-entered coin collecting circles.” Although the name of the seller also was not disclosed, previous owners of this 1913 Liberty nickel included a roster of the rich and famous. “In the 1940’s this coin was in the collection of the notorious King Farouk of Egypt who was deposed in 1952. Los Angeles Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, paid $200,000 for the coin in 1978, and it changed hands several times since then, crossing the million dollar mark in 2003. Now it sold for over $3.7 million in spirited bidding,” said Rohan. The price includes the 15 percent buyer’s premium and represents the actual total price the winning bidder is paying for the coin. “The U.S. Mint struck tens of millions of Liberty Head nickels from 1883 through 1912, but switched designs in 1913 to depict a Native American on the head’s side and a bison on the tail’s side. However, five nickels with the new date, 1913, but the old design of the symbolic Miss Liberty secretly were made at the Philadelphia Mint and eventually sold to collectors.” One of the five fabled 1913 Liberty nickels is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; another belongs to the American Numismatic Association (ANA) Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and the three others, including the coin in the January auction, are privately owned. Contact: (800) 872-6467, www.HA.com |
