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| Rare 1913 nickel |
A century old nickel sold for an enormous price at auction this week.
A 1913 Liberty Head nickel sold for $3.17 million at an auction in Illinois Thursday. The buyer called it, "one of the greatest coins ever sold in that price range."
The coin, one of only five known to exist, had been kept off the market for 41 years because its owner had been told that it was not authentic.
Melva Givens, of Salem, Virginia, inherited the nickel from George O. Walton, who died in a car accident in 1962. Walton, a collector of North Carolina, had acquired the nickel in the 1940s for $3,750.
An expert revealed that the coin was located after a nationwide search and was authenticated by experts at a secret midnight meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, several years ago.
Melva Givens had kept the nickel in a box along with other family items in a closet, and it remained there for four decades, a nephew, Ryan Givens, who consigned the coin with his two sisters and brother said.
Ryan Givens and his siblings brought the coin to the American Numismatic Association World's Fair of Money after they offered $1 million for the coin.
“After seeing rare coins selling for enormous prices recently, I might begin collecting coins myself,” Loyd Russ, 39, of Rochester, Minnesota told YourJewishNews.com after learning about the $3.1 million nickel.
"This is one of the greatest coins in that price range," Jeff Garrett of Lexington, Kentucky who bought the coin together with Larry Lee of Panama City, Florida said.