The American twenty-cent piece

The father of the twenty-cent piece was Nevada Senator
John P. Jones and part-owner of the Crown Point Mine. He
introduced a bill to authorize a twenty- cent piece, one of his
first legislative endeavors. His proposal cited the lack of small 
change in the West. It was endorsed by the Director of the mint
Linderman and other legislators went along with it, largely as a
favor to Sen. Jones. The bill was signed into law by President
Ulysses S. Grant on March 3, 1875. The coin was only used
for 3 years. 

John Percival Jones
(January 27, 1829 – November 12, 1912)

SCHAUMBERG, Ill. (AP) – A rare century-old U.S. nickel that was once mistakenly declared a fake has sold at auction for more than $3.1 million.

The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is one of only five known to exist. But it’s the coin’s
back story that adds to its cachet: It was surreptitiously and illegally cast, discovered
in a car wreck that killed its owner, declared a fake, forgotten in a closet for
decades then declared the real deal.

It was offered for sale by four Virginia siblings at a rare coin and currency auction in
the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg on Thursday, and sold for well over the expected 
$2.5 million.

The winning bidders were two men from Lexington, Ky., and Panama City, Fla., who 
bought the coin in partnership.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A humble 5-cent coin with a storied past is headed to auction and bidding expected to top $2 million a century after it was mysteriously minted.

The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is one of only five known to exist, but it’s the coin’s
back story that adds to its cachet: It was surreptitiously and illegally cast, discovered
in a car wreck that killed its owner, declared a fake, forgotten in a closet for decades
and then found to be the real deal.

It all adds up to an expected sale of $2.5 million or more when it goes on the auction block this spring in suburban Chicago.

"Basically a coin with a story and a rarity will trump everything else," said Douglas
Mudd, curator of the American Numismatic Association Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colo., which has held the coin for most of the past 10 years. He expects it
could fetch more than Heritage Auction’s estimate, perhaps $4 million and even up
to $5 million.

"A lot of this is ego," he said of collectors who could bid for it. "I have one of these
and nobody else does."

The sellers who will split the money equally are four Virginia siblings who never let
the coin slip from their hands, even when it was deemed a fake.

The nickel made its debut in a most unusual way. It was struck at the Philadelphia
mint in late 1912, the final year of its issue, but with the year 1913 cast on its face,
the same year the beloved Buffalo Head nickel was introduced.

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804)

Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father and the first Secretary of 
the Treasury of the United States in the administration of President 
George Washington. He was also one of America’s first constitutional
lawyers and the founder of the American Federalist party..

 

Women’s suffrage campaigner Susan B. Anthony

While a large quantity were produced in 1979, the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin
failed to circulate well (despite the slogan "Carry three for Susan B.") and a minimal
number were produced in 1980. Public reaction to the coin was primarily negative,
with complaints that it was smaller than previous dollar coins and was also too easily
confused with the Washington quarter. Its unpopularity was compared to the greatly
disliked 20¢ piece from 1875, which was also easily confused with the quarter.