THE WALTON 1913 NICKEL REDISCOVERY

 

RETIREE Cheryl Myers has revealed that a coin her family kept secure for years sold for $3.17million in 2013.

The now 71-year-old, who lives in Winchester Virginia, got the rare nickel from her parents, who created a collection for her and their son, Ryan Givens.

The coin was originally obtained from Cheryl's uncle and North Carolina collector George O. Walton, who had purchased a 1913 Liberty Head piece in 1945 for $3,750.

After George passed away in 1962 in a tragic car crash, the coin was left in Walton's estate and retrieved by Cheryl's mom Melva and dad Robert.

One of the coins in the collection was the 1913 nickel, which was first deemed fake between 1962 and 1963 by coin experts in New York shortly after George passed – but later reversed.

My mother obtained the nickel from the estate, placed it in an envelope, marked it fake, and put it in her closet, Cheryl told The U.S. Sun.

And despite them being told it was fake, it was kept secure for years.

When Ryan and Cheryl both found out it could be real, they say were surprised but humble about it.

And even so, the 1913 Liberty coin sold for a whopping $3.17million in a Heritage Auction in 2013.

 

The authenticity of Cheryl's coin only become known after the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and Donn Pearlman, who works in public relations, planned a publicity stunt to track down the only remaining 1913 Liberty coin known to exist and promote it.

At the time, four had been discovered but the final piece was missing.

The ANA and auction house Stack's Bowers both put out a reward for the coin.

Along with Pearlman and ANA, Beth Deisher, editor of the numismatic magazine Coin World at the time, was also trying to figure out where the missing 1913 Liberty piece was.

Deisher said she was familiar with Walton because his collection was quite valuable.

She decided to contact Stack's and asked about Walton's collection that they appraised.

One of those was the 1913 Liberty Head piece that Stack's deemed fake 40 years ago.

While Deisher didn't know for sure that it could be genuine, she contacted Ryan, who had possession of it.

When she first received pictures of the coin, her immediate reaction was "oh my gosh" as she believed there was a "strong possibility" that the 1913 piece could be genuine.

The difficulty was then to convince Ryan to go to an ANA coin show in Baltimore, Maryland, to have it further examined.

Deisher told Ryan, who was meant to work that day: "Would you take off a day and lose a day's pay for a million dollars?

That was enough to convince him to drive all the way to Baltimore from Roanoke, Virginia, and pick up his sister in North Carolina along the way.

When the nickel was taken to Baltimore, it was initially looked at by some experts who felt pretty sure they were not looking at a fake anymore," Cheryl said.

Later the same day, it was examined along with the other four nickels and deemed genuine after 41 years.

To read the complete article, see:
LUCKY DAY I was ‘surprised' to sell a rare nickel for $3.17milllion – it helped me pay for a house and my daughter's student debt (https://www.the-sun.com/money/7913459/rare-nickel-debt-house-sold/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
DONN PEARLMAN ON THE WALTON NICKEL RE-DISCOVERY (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n04a10.html)
NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS WALTON 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n16a17.html)
WALTON 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL SOLD (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n25a27.html)

 

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