1913 LIBERTY NICKEL FIRST SEEN IN 1919

On a rainy afternoon in October 1919 Samuel W. Brown posed for a photograph that could be a key to the sketchy history of the famed 1913 Liberty Head nickel, of which five specimens are known. Brown is shown standing on the porch of the Philadelphia Mint – at the left end of the seventh row of those posing. The photo was taken less than two months before he exhibited an example of the rarity to prominent numismatists of the Chicago Coin Club at its meeting on Dec. 3, 1919. (That meeting, as will be shown here, is now the site of the earliest known display of the nickel that can be supported through a contemporary report – replacing the showing at the next year's convention in that regard.)

Brown was part of a large tour group from the 1919 Philadelphia ANA convention when the aforementioned photo was taken. The convention was held Oct. 4-8, 1919, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The Bellevue-Stratford hotel served as the convention headquarters.

Greeting the show goers at the Philadelphia Mint, on Oct. 6, was Brown's former boss, Dr. T.L. Comparette, head the Mint Cabinet, which was home to the nation's coin collection. Comparette is pictured at the far right end of the same row as Brown.

This was the official ANA convention photo, which could later be purchased, unmounted, for $1 per copy from Henry Chapman. It was reproduced on p. 431 of the November 1919 issue of the ANA's journal, The Numismatist. It also appeared in the November 1919 issue of B. Max Mehl's Mehl's Numismatic Monthly.

Significantly, shortly after the Philadelphia Mint tour, Brown's first advertisement offering to buy a 1913 Liberty Head nickel, “in proof condition, if possible,” was placed in the December 1919 issue of The Numismatist. More significantly, however, is that he apparently had one of the coins within days of his first advertisement going to press (and likely prior to this happening).

Creating a rarity
In 1913 the Mint adopted James Earle Fraser's design for the five-cent piece. Fraser's Indian Head replaced the Liberty Head design, by Charles Barber. No 1913 nickels with the Liberty Head design were to be struck. But today, five are known bearing that date. They are great rarities, selling in the millions of dollars at auction.

Most writers believe they were clandestinely created by Samuel W. Brown, a Mint employee at the time of design change, who in 1920 showed up at the ANA convention in Chicago and left on display one of the nickels.

The exact date of the striking of the five known coins has long been in contention, so is whether they are actually proofs and whether or not Brown had an accomplice in the minting of the coins, who had access to the necessary dies.

Some have argued that the coining could have occurred more contemporaneous with its exhibition at the 1920 convention; others believe the dies for making such coins would have been destroyed long prior to that, necessitating that coins were minted circa late 1912 or early 1913.

A question of appearances
Most who have looked at the background of the 1913 Liberty Head nickel have come to assume that the hobby first learned of this rarity at the 1920 American Numismatic Association convention in Chicago. There were rumors of earlier showings, but contemporary written record has been evasive, leaving until now the 1920 convention as the earliest known mention of the 1913 Liberty Head nickel in print from the time period, other than Brown's advertisements.

However, apparently hidden in plain sight was such an earlier reference. It appeared rather matter-of-factly in the February 1920 issue of The Numismatist, which provided a detailed summary of the 10th monthly meeting of the newly formed Chicago Coin Club.

The meeting was held on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1919, at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago, where Brown (who was listed as being in attendance) was one of 10 new members entered into the CCC's ranks.

Those elected to membership, as noted in The Numismatist's recap of the meeting, were: “Frank A. Johnston, G.W. Tracey, D.A. French, Frank Hansen, Virgil Brand and Roger Graham of Chicago; H.O. Granberg, Oshkosh, Wis.; Samuel W. Brown, North Tonawanda, N.Y.; J.G. Gunderson, Aneta, N.D., and E.D. Bushnell of New York.” More significantly, many brought exhibits to the meeting, including Brown, of whose exhibit it is written on p. 62 of that issue the following:

If reported and transcribed correctly, as submitted by CCC secretary R.E. Davis, here is the earliest published reference to the 1913 Liberty Head nickel currently known.

It would seem from the way the Dec. 3 CCC meeting summary is presented in The Numismatist that Brown had only one 1913 Liberty Head nickel with him at that time, though it doesn't mean he didn't have or know the whereabouts of the remaining four.

Of special note is that the Dec. 3, 1919 date for the meeting is only two days after Brown's first advertisement offering to buy the coins was published in the December 1919 issue of The Numismatist and before that issue was mailed to ANA members.

Bob adds:

To read the complete article, see:
http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/shadowy-rarity-1913-nickel-first-seen-1919-not-1920

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