No Nickel-and-Diming at This Sale: Coin Fetches $1.35 Million

An extremely rare nickel dated 1913 sold for a record-breaking $1.35 million at auction, the first U.S. coin to break the $1-million mark at a public sale.

The coin was part of the Louis E. Eliasberg Sr. Collection, sold Tuesday night by Bowers and Merena Inc. The price does not include the 10% buyer’s premium.

The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is one of only five such coins known to have been produced with a portrait of Miss Liberty on the obverse.

The coin sold Tuesday was considered the finest of the five, according to Scott Travers, president of Scott Travers Rare Coin Galleries Inc., a New York coin dealer and author.

The sale of the Eliasberg Collection continued Wednesday with an even rarer coin, an 1873 dime produced at the Carson City, Nev., Mint with no arrows alongside the date.

The Carson City Mint produced 12,400 pieces without arrows, but the only one known to exist is the specimen from the Eliasberg Collection. Travers expects this coin to fetch more than $750,000.