VAN RYZIN UPDATES 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL RESEARCH

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V23 2020 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 43, October 25, 2020, Article 19

In a two-part article published in Numismatic News, Bob Van Ryzin details newly uncovered information on the first showing of the 1913 Liberty Head nickel. The E-Sylum gets a shout-out as well. Here's a very short excerpt - see the complete article online. -Editor

Until my article, “Shadowy rarity: 1913 nickel first seen in 1919, not 1920,” appeared in the Aug. 1, 2017, issue of Numismatic News, most who have explored the sketchy history of this coin recorded that the earliest documented showing of the nickel was at the late August 1920 ANA convention in Chicago. There were rumors that Samuel W. Brown, a former Philadelphia Mint employee, long linked by collectors to the 1913 Liberty Head nickel’s questionable creation, had exhibited the coin at a CCC meeting prior to his bringing it to the 1920 annual convention. However, documentation of such a meeting was lacking, until it was discovered within the club reports in the pages of The Numismatist.

The 1919 CCC meeting, where the nickel was first shown (and later remembered by the “older members” in 1934), was held on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1919.

Tucked away, rather matter-of-factly, in the secretary-treasurer’s report, just after Mr. Boyer’s gold rush $50 slugs and ahead of an “interesting exhibit” of obsolete paper money by Mr. Leon, is this reference to Samuel W. Brown’s exhibit:

“By Mr. S.W. Brown: Proof nickel of 1913, of the old type. Proof nickels are not supposed to have been struck during that year [italics added].”

Here then is the 1913 Liberty Head nickel’s first recorded appearance. The coin was shown that evening to 18 CCC members and guests. Several of these were experienced numismatists who would have recognized the nickel’s import and long remembered their first brush with this mega rarity.

Perhaps of great significance to the 1913 Liberty Head nickel’s arrival on the numismatic marketplace, and largely unobserved, was Brown’s visit to the 1919 Philadelphia ANA convention, where he took part in an American Numismatic Association-arranged tour of the Philadelphia Mint on Monday, Oct. 6, 1919. He is pictured in the official convention photo, taken on the mint steps following the tour. The image was reproduced in the November 1919 issue of The Numismatist and the December 1919 issue of Mehl’s Numismatic Monthly.

Following the nickel exhibit at the CCC meeting in December, Brown ran advertisements in the January through March 1920 issues of The Numismatist offering to buy specimens of the 1913 Liberty Head nickel, but with an increase in the price he was willing to pay to $600 per coin.

Bob places key events in probable time sequence, taking into consideration the lead time needed to submit articles and advertising to print publications, asking "Was the placement of his buy ad so soon after his Philadelphia convention/mint visit a coincidence or an outcome of it?"

He also reviews other 1913 Liberty Nickel buying ads that popped up around the country, including a mysteriously early one by teenage dealer Harry Kelso of Arma, Kansas on January 22, 1920. See the complete article online for much more. Interesting! -Editor