By ALEXA VALIENTE
via GOOD MORNING AMERICA
April 26, 2013
Two men became the new proud owners of a rare 1913 Liberty Head nickel, which was hidden in a closet for 41 years after its owners were mistakenly told it was fake.
Larry Lee, 63, from Panama City, Fla., and Jeff Garrett, 54, from Lexington, Ky., paid $3,172,500 for the coin from Heritage Auctions in Schaumburg, Ill., on Thursday.
“I love rare coins,” Lee told ABCNews.com. “For anyone connected to coins, this is like a dream come true.” Lee and Garrett bought the coin in partnership. ...”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/04/your-nickel-could-be-worth-4-million/
“The coin’s former owner, George Walton, died in a car accident in 1962. His family recovered the nickel from the car wreck but was told that the coin was counterfeit. Walton’s sister kept the coin anyway, stowing it away in a closet with the label “It’s not real.”
Walton’s sister’s four children inherited the coin and brought it to auction this year, after learning more about its authenticity at the 2003 American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Baltimore.
Attempts by ABC News to contact the heirs were not successful, but Cheryl Myers, one of the four heirs, told the the Associated Press, “The sad part is my mother had it for 30 years and she didn’t know it.”