SECURITY FOR THE ANA'S 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL

This brings back some fond memories. I was involved in the room for the Bebees. The nickel was secure in the ANA vault. I made arrangements with police sergeant and ANA member John Anderson to transport the nickel and Robert Hoge from ANA's vault to the designated room in the Broadmoor Hotel. It was the only room in the whole hotel complex that had an operating fireplace. It was on the third floor if my memory serves me properly.

I had a guard on the ground outside the window and balcony of the room in case some smart aleck decided to grab it and throw it out the window. I also had the doors to the room guarded and locked while the nickel was in the room. I also recall Paul Whitnah had an audio tape of the actual auction where the Bebees bought the nickel for $46,000 - a fabulous price at the time.

After the nickel was passed around and people got to Ooooo and Ahaaa, John and Bob returned it to the ANA vault. It was a very special moment for those of us there, and especially me, since I was responsible for the arrangements. Whew! We got through that.

John Anderson later became sheriff of our El Paso county for two terms. He did a fine job and introduced a controversial situation where anyone 26 of age or older with a squeaky clean record could apply for and get a concealed carry weapons permit. This caused a big deal of controversy around the country. But there have been no bad incidents as a result of this. John Anderson continues in the security field and has written one or more articles for The Numismatist concerning security.

John and Nancy Wilson add:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: MCDERMOTT 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL DONATION TO THE ANA (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n30a16.html)

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