| The Liberty Head Nickel came in with a bang and | | | | Depression and fifty dollars was a great deal of |
| left with a bigger bang. When Charles Barber | | | | money. The real intent of Mehl's campaign was |
| designed the coin as a replacement for the Shield | | | | peddling his "Star Rare Coin Encyclopedia." Mehl |
| Nickel he placed a large Roman numeral V on the | | | | never did purchase a 1913 Nickel but he did |
| reverse of the coin to represent five cents. | | | | manage to produce and sell 30 editions of his |
| Because the coin was roughly the same size as | | | | encyclopedia and became very rich in the process. |
| the five dollar gold piece a whole group of | | | | Today, two of the coins reside in museums , one |
| enterprising crooks began gold plating the coin and | | | | in the Smithsonian Institution, and one in the |
| passing them off as five dollar gold pieces. The | | | | American Numismatic Association's Money |
| coin was quickly redesigned and the word "cents" | | | | Museum The other three are in private collections. |
| was added to the reverse, thus ending a very | | | | The finest known specimen sold for $1,840,000 in |
| profitable business for the criminal class. Production | | | | a 1996 auction, and later resold for $4,150,000 in |
| was fairly steady for the rest of the production | | | | 2005. The "Olsen specimen", famous for having |
| run. The series was officially ended in 1912 to | | | | been featured on an episode of Hawaii Five-O, |
| make way for the Buffalo Nickel. However, an | | | | brought $3,000,000 when it was auctioned in |
| enterprising mint employee struck five 1913 proof | | | | 2003. |
| coins with a master die and then slipped them out | | | | Type Information |
| of the mint. | | | | The general type coin collector will normally obtain |
| The coins first appeared to in numismatic circles in | | | | one example of the Liberty Nickel. |
| 1920. However, it is interesting to note that the | | | | For the specialized type coin collector two major |
| coin collecting community was not even aware of | | | | varieties of the Liberty Nickels were minted, one |
| the coins until a dealer named Samual W. Brown | | | | without the word "cents" one the reverse and |
| place an ad offering to buy any proof examples in | | | | the other with cents added. The first variety was |
| the December 1919 issue of the ANA journal | | | | minted in 1883 and the with cents coin produced |
| "Numismatist". Then during the ANA convention in | | | | from 1883 until 1913. |
| 1920 he offered to pay $600 dollars for all | | | | Collector Points |
| examples. Since he actually owned all five | | | | With the exception of 1912, all Liberty Nickels |
| specimens, this was just a way to build | | | | were produced at the Philadelphia mint. The three |
| speculation and establish a market value for the | | | | are low-mintage issues were produced in 1885, |
| coins. This was enough to create a stir among | | | | 1886 and 1912-S-but there are no great rarities. |
| coin collectors but it took another enterprising coin | | | | The 1912-S, at 238,000, is the only coin with a |
| dealer to make this one of the most famous | | | | mintage below a million. |
| coins in America. Coin dealer B. Max Mehl begain | | | | Proofs were struck every year and at relatively |
| one million dollar advertising campaign nation wide | | | | high mintages for the period. |
| in 1930 that offered $50 for every 1913 Liberty | | | | Because of a better design, the "V" nickels are |
| Nickel sent to him. This created a sensation and | | | | well struck. Because of this collectors should avoid |
| people around the country began searching for | | | | weakly stuck coins. There good quantities of well |
| the elusive nickel. | | | | struck coins available. |
| The nation was in the early stages of the Great | | | | |