Lifestyle

Check your wallet: Century-old nickel sells for millions

Check your pockets and behind the couch cushions — you could be sitting on millions!

A century-old nickel — minted in 1913 — recently sold for a cool $4.2 million. It is one of only five known five-cent-denomination coins that are 1913-dated and have the Liberty Head design.

Two of these extremely rare coins are in museums.

This nickel once belonged to collector George O. Walton, who died in a car crash in 1962.

At the time of Walton’s death, his family were mistakenly told the coin — which was found in the car he was killed in — was fake, resulting in it spending decades inside Walton’s sister’s wardrobe in Virginia.

The coin is extremely rare and was minted in 1913.
The coin is extremely rare and was minted in 1913. GreatCollections

The coin was purchased by Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections in Irvine, California, who noted it had long been sought.

“The coin was off the radar until 2003, when a nationwide search was conducted and Walton’s nephew and nieces submitted it for authentication to experts at Professional Coin Grading Service,” Russell said, per PR Newswire.

The design of the five-cent piece was changed in 1913 from the Liberty Head to one that features a Native American on the front and a bison on the back.