1913 Liberty Head Nickel - Rare coin fetches over $3.7 million in auction Fri Jan 8, 2:15 pm ET -
Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Doina Chiacu
MIAMI
(Reuters) – A rare 1913 U.S. coin once owned by an Egyptian
king and later featured in a famous U.S. TV detective series
was sold for more than $3.7 million (2.3 million pounds) in
a public auction in Florida, the auctioneers said on Friday.
The so-called Liberty Head nickel (1913 Liberty
Head Nickel), one of only five known of that specific date
and design, was sold "in spirited bidding" to a
private East Coast coin collector in Orlando late on Thursday,
said Greg Rohan, president of Dallas, Texas-based Heritage
Auctions. The buyer wished to remain anonymous.
The $3,737,500 price for the five-cent coin
included a 15 percent buyer's premium.
"It is probably the most famous United
States rare coin," Rohan said in a statement.
Once part of the coin collection owned by
Egypt's King Farouk, who was deposed in 1952, the Liberty
nickel changed hands several times and featured as part of
the plot in a 1973 episode of the well-known CBS TV series
"Hawaii Five-O."
The value of the rare coin, which was made
at the Philadelphia Mint with the Miss Liberty design, crossed
the million dollar mark in 2003.