History of the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel
Only five 1913 Liberty Head nickels exist, and none of them should. The Liberty design was officially replaced by the Buffalo nickel in 1913, yet five coins dated 1913 surfaced in 1920 — all traced to Samuel Brown, a former Mint employee, leading most historians to conclude they were struck clandestinely.
The five coins — Eliasberg, Olsen, Walton, McDermott and Norweb specimens — are numismatic celebrities. The Olsen coin appeared on Hawaii Five-O; the Walton coin spent 41 years mistakenly labeled a fake in a Virginia closet. Recent sales have ranged from $3 million to over $4.5 million.
The 1913 Liberty nickel was struck in 1913, unofficially in copper-nickel. Production took place at Philadelphia — struck under mysterious circumstances.
How much is a 1913 Liberty nickel worth?
Condition drives everything in numismatics. A heavily worn 1913 Liberty nickel and a pristine one can differ in price by a factor of ten or more, so treat the figures below as broad retail ranges for problem-free coins rather than fixed quotes.
All five specimens are accounted for in museums and private collections, so any "1913 Liberty nickel" offered for sale is an altered 1903, 1910 or 1912 coin — a fact worth remembering when the classified-ad listing looks too good to be true.
Printed price guides age quickly. The most honest benchmark is what comparable coins actually sold for, which is why CoinVault Pro shows live values built on Numista catalog data and real eBay sold results whenever it identifies a coin.
- Any genuine example: $3,000,000+
- Finest known (Eliasberg specimen): $4,500,000+
How to identify a genuine 1913 Liberty Head Nickel
Before you get excited about a potential find, confirm that the coin in your hand matches the genuine article. Work through this checklist:
When a coin fails any of these checks, treat it with suspicion. Modern counterfeits can be convincing at arm's length, but weight, dimensions and die details rarely lie.
- All five genuine examples are documented and photographed; new discoveries are effectively impossible.
- Altered dates from 1903, 1910 and 1912 coins are the standard fake — the 3 usually shows tooling.
- Even museum-grade replicas must be marked COPY under the Hobby Protection Act.
Check your 1913 Liberty nickel with CoinVault Pro
The fastest way to find out what you have is to photograph the coin with CoinVault Pro. The app identifies it using Gemini AI combined with Coin-CLIP image matching, estimates a grade on the full Sheldon 1–70 scale, and shows live market values built on Numista catalog data and real eBay sold prices.
From there you can add the coin to your collection, track its value over time, put upgrades on your wishlist, or list it on the in-app marketplace with escrow protection. The app is free to download on iOS and Android.