DONN PEARLMAN ON THE WALTON NICKEL RE-DISCOVERY

As a follow up to the January 17, 2016 E-Sylum item, VIDEO: REDISCOVERY OF THE WALTON 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL, I thought readers might want to know some of the background about how the Walton 1913 Liberty Head nickel became a subject for a segment of the popular Fox Business Network program, Strange Inheritance.

As you may recall, I created the publicity stunt in 2003 that, Surprise! Surprise!, actually led to the re-discovery of the Walton nickel that had been off the hobby's radar for four decades. George Walton's heirs brought it to the 2003 ANA Baltimore World's Fair of Money where it subsequently was authenticated by a team led by PCGS Co-Founder David Hall in a secret midnight meeting of experts at the Baltimore Convention Center. The story of the publicity stunt and subsequent authentication are excellently described in the book, Million Dollar Nickels, by Paul Montgomery, Mark Borckardt and Ray Knight.

About three years ago I learned that Towers Productions, a Chicago-based TV production company, was launching the show Strange Inheritance and producers were looking for subject material. As a former Windy City broadcaster (25 years with CBS/Chicago -- with scars to prove it), I was familiar with this first-class production company, and thought the Walton nickel saga would be a perfect fit for the planned show.

I contacted the producers and helped them get in touch with Walton's heirs, Montgomery, Hall and Heritage Auctions which had sold the coin several months earlier at the 2013 Central States Numismatic Society convention. Unfortunately, I had a conflict of schedule and was unable to be available for a requested on-camera interview during the production of the segment. However, I provided some of the photographs I shot in Baltimore in 2003 that are shown in the second half of the TV segment. (The link in the January 17, 2016 E-Sylum was for the first part of the segment.)

Every time I think about the Walton nickel (and another story in which I assisted Strange Inheritance producers, the "Black Swamp Find" of $2+ million dollars of century-old baseball cards found in an Ohio attic), I wonder: "What other great discoveries are yet to be made in coins and other collectibles? And will I get to help with the publicity?"

With an armed security guard outside, happy participants posed for a photo after the initial examination of the Walton 1913 Liberty nickel in the cramped Show Manager's office at the Baltimore Convention Center in July 2003. From left to right: Gary Myers, Paul Montgomery, Cheryl Myers (one of George Walton's nieces), Ryan Givens (one of Walton's nephews), John "JD" Dannreuther and Mark Borckardt. Cheryl and Mark are jointly holding the nickel that's inside the custom-made holder in which the nickel was housed when it was recovered from the 1962 car crash that killed Walton on his way to a North Carolina coin show. Photo by Donn Pearlman.

Exhausted but elated, the Professional Coin Grading Service team that authenticated the Walton 1913 Liberty nickel in a secret midnight meeting pose with all five 1913 Liberty nickels on the table in front of them in Baltimore, Maryland at about 12:45 am on July 29, 2003. Front row left to right: John "JD" Dannreuther, Paul Montgomery and Mark Borckardt. Top row left to right: David Hall, Fred Weinberg and Jeff Garrett. Photo by Donn Pearlman.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
VIDEO: REDISCOVERY OF THE WALTON 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n03a11.html)

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