Laura is a star when it comes to both coins and original comic art; here she is pictured in Diamond International Galleries with the original art to the first Archie dailies. The front of the 1913 Nickel is pictured below.

Congratulations to noted comic character collector Laura Sperber (featured as a past Star Collector in Diamond Dialogue), also one of the leading women in the coin collecting world, on her recent purchase of the very rare and revered 1913 Liberty Head nickel. In many circles, this is the most famous coin. In fact, only 5 of these nickels were ever made 2 of which are now in museums (one in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian and one in the ANA Money Museum), 2 are in private hands (one of which Laura has just purchased) and the fifth of which is rumored to be lost.

Laura purchased the coin with two of her partners at Legend Numismatics in New Jersey, George Huang and Bruce Morlan. George is one of the leading, most trustworthy dealers in the country, and one of the top graders in the coin business. Laura, who was also featured in Scoop 8-16-02, was helpful in the establishment of a professional grading service for the comic book industry, and has one of the finest collections of original comic strip newspaper art. In fact she has, in the recent past, spent $250,000 alone on a dozen different Sunday pages including characters such as Little Nemo, Tarzan, Peanuts, Batman, Prince Valiant and others. Though extremely active in the world of coins, Laura sees strip art as grossly undervalued, and predicts a boom this year. She encourages other high-rollers in the coin community to get involved in this very different, but incredibly exciting realm of collecting.

The recent purchase of the 1913 Nickel, however, is making huge headlines in the numismatic world. The coin sold for an undisclosed sum, but reports say the sum was higher than the $1.84 million that the other '13 nickel in private hands sold for. Laura distinctly remembers her first encounter with the coin - back in 1976 at her first American Numismatic Association Convention. She never dreamed she'd one day be the owner of the coin that, when she held it gave her goose bumps, but she always held out hope. Now that the dream has come true, Laura says the coin is not for sale and will be used as part of a collection she's building.

The 1913 Liberty Head Nickel holds so much value because of its mysterious and fascinating origin. The U.S. Mint last struck the Liberty Nickels for circulation in 1912, then switched to the Indian Head, Bison designs in 1913. Someone struck at least five specimens using dies sent to the Philadelphia Mint, however, before Mint officials made the decision that no 1913 coins of the outgoing designs would be struck for circulation. It wasn't until 1919, in fact, that anyone realized these coins existed. That was the year that Samuel W. Brown, a former Philadelphia Mint Cabinet curator, decided he wanted to purchase any samples that may exist. He advertised in The Numismatist and came up with five such samples, which he exhibited at the 1920 ANA convention.

One theory is that Brown, while working with the Philadelphia Mint, had these coins struck - then took out the advertisement as a way to give the coins some legitimacy. Regardless, it is now considered one of the most desirable of the U.S. coins. In fact, it even had a brush with television fame - taking center stage in a December 11, 1973 episode of Hawaii 5-0. This fantastic coin will be on display at Diamond International Galleries in Timonium, MD, to be seen by key ANA coin participants during the Baltimore National Coin Show in July.

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Laura is a star when it comes to both coins and original comic art; here she is pictured in Diamond International Galleries with the original art to the first Archie dailies. The front of the 1913 Nickel is pictured below.		The front of the 1913 Liberty Nickel