You Might Unknowingly Be a Millionaire if Your Grandparents Hung Onto One of These Old Coins
In this season of runaway inflation, it’s nice to think that it’s possible to own money that’s actually gaining in purchasing power rather than being devalued on what seems like a daily basis.
Some people enjoy collecting unique objects as a hobby.
Others own one or more collections because they enjoy the challenge of the hunt for unique objects.
That enjoyment might even lead to becoming a professional collector of a particular type of item, according to Invaluable.
Some of the more popular items that people like to collect include stamps, coins, baseball pins, vinyl, comic books, trading cards and toys, according to KOTV-DT.
Of course, the better the condition that something is in, the more it’s worth.
With toys, keeping it in the original packaging often makes a huge difference in its value.
Coins are usually collected by those who are more serious about collecting, as opposed to a hobbyist. This particular type of collection is often passed along from generation to generation.
Such is the case with 1913 Liberty Head nickels.
The 1913 variety is so rare that only five of them were ever minted. So it’s not likely that anyone’s grandparents or great-grandparents kept one of these around.
As the story goes, the plan for the Liberty Head nickel design was that it would be retired in December of 1912, and then the Buffalo nickel took its place in 1913, according to Medium.
A fellow named Samuel Brown, who was the clerk of the U.S. Mint from 1912 to 1913, is said to have created an advertisement in connection to 1913 Liberty Head nickel coins.
He then sewed the ad into the collecting community, according to the Smithsonian.
The ad stated that $500 dollars in cash would be paid out in exchange for 1913 Liberty Head nickels.
The popular belief surrounding the motive for this is that Brown was only using the ad as a way to create legitimacy in connection to the coins, all five of which he already owned.
Over the course of time, the coins were sold as a set to various collectors, and then later broken up and sold individually.
GreatCollections recently purchased one of the rare coins. The owner from whom they purchased it had kept it in storage for nearly 40 years before deciding to sell.
The news of the purchase was publicized on Oct. 16, along with information about other Liberty Head nickel purchases that were previously made.
The most recent Liberty Head nickel purchase was made for $4.2 million dollars.
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