It’s Your Nickel!

Coming in April, you will have the opportunity to purchase a fake nickel! This particular coin is expected to easily fetch $2.5 million at auction – and maybe even upwards $4 or $5 million. Why would people consider a forged five cents to be so valuable? Because while it was unauthorized, technically, it is still  authentic and legal because it came off of the government mint.

The nickel was struck at the Philadelphia mint in late 1912 by mint worker Samuel W. Brown. He is suspected of altering the date on the coin, casting “1913” on its face (the same year that the more famous Buffalo Head nickel was introduced). Samuel didn’t do a perfect job, as the bogus date bears a slight imperfection on the five coins he is known to have produced.

The set remained together under various owners until it was broken up in 1942. The whereabouts of four of the coins was known, but the fifth nickel remained aloof until recently.

George O. Walton purchased it in the mid-1940s for a reported $3,750. He died in a car crash on March 9, 1962, and it was found with him (and hundreds of other coins) scattered among the wreckage.

“Experts” at that time declared the coin a fake, deceived by the imperfection in the date’s casting. His sister, Melva Givens of Salem, Va., decided to keep the coin anyway. She put the coin in an envelope and stuck it in a closet, where it stayed for the next 30 years until her death in 1992.

Her son Ryan Givens, the executor of his mother’s estate, found the coin and was intrigued. He discovered its real value. The prodigal nickel has been loaned to a Colorado Springs museum, and will next be up for grabs at a rare coin and currency auction.

You and I are a little bit like that nickel. As sinful individuals, we are lost, flawed, and barely worth the value stamped on our face. Some people might even judge us as worthless and pass us over. You might even think this way about yourself. You might be so confused about your value that you wish you had two nickels to rub together.

However, there is more to your story. You were cast and minted by a loving Father in Heaven. Although in His Divine plan might place you in paths where you feel lost in among the debris of a crash site, or like you’ve been stuffed into an envelope and forgotten in a closet, He still knows where you are and what your value is.

When the auction comes, you have a Redeemer in the Lord Jesus Christ. As the only Being who could, He has taken upon Him your sins and imperfections. When it comes to your soul, He has already made the highest bid. The question will then be are you willing to accept His offer? If so, by His grace and mercy, your true value will be much higher than what now appears.

You can take that to the bank.

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