1913 Liberty Head nickel

He had shown the nickel at the Chicago club meeting and had previously placed an advertisement in the December 1919 issue of The Numismatist soliciting information on these coins, offering to pay US $500 for each[4] and ostensibly purchasing them as a result.

[1] If true, this was not a unique occurrence; such clandestine strikes were quite common in the 19th century, with the Class II and III 1804 silver dollars perhaps the best-known instance.

Other numismatic authorities, such as Q. David Bowers, have questioned this scenario, and pointed out that there are several methods by which the coins could have been legitimately produced; e.g., they may have been lawfully issued by the Mint's Medal Department "for cabinet purposes", or could have been struck as trial pieces in late 1912 to test the following year's new coinage dies.

His estate was then auctioned off, and the five 1913 Liberty Head nickels were purchased by two dealers, Eric P. Newman and B. G. Johnson,[7] who broke up the set for the first time.

In May 1996, it was sold at an auction conducted by Bowers and Merena to rarities dealer Jay Parrino for US$1,485,000: the highest price for a coin up until that point.

It has been resold on several occasions since then, fetching US$3,000,000 in a private treaty sale from California collector Dwight Manley to Bruce Morelan and Legend Numismatics in June 2004.

The Norwebs donated the specimen to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Collection — where it remains [15] — in 1978 to commemorate their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

He had promised the show's promoters that he would exhibit the 1913 Liberty Head nickel there, so it was assumed to have been among the coins in his possession at the time of the fatal crash.

As a result, the coin remained in the family's possession, being stored in a strongbox on the floor of a closet in his sister's home, for over 40 years.

[20] The auction buyers, Jeff Garrett, (former ANA President) and owner of Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries in Lexington, Kentucky, partnering with esteemed numismatist, Larry Lee, put it on display at Lee’s store, Coin & Bullion Reserves in Panama City, Florida.

In June 2018 Garrett and Lee sold the 1913 Walton, in a private treaty sale reported to be between $3 and $4 million, to Martin Burns, a lawyer from Las Vegas, and his brother Ron Firman, of Miami.

The coin lost some of its original mint luster in the process, and McDermott eventually protected it in a holder to prevent further wear.

[5] After his death, the coin was then sold at auction to Aubrey Bebee in 1967 for US$46,000, who along with his wife donated it to the ANA in 1989, where it is exhibited in the Money Museum.

A missing 1913 Liberty Head nickel also features prominently in the plot of the 1981 The Hardy Boys book "The Vanishing Thieves".