The Hollow Nickel Case: A Query 1 1

[Henri Charriere]

I would be curious to know if anyone knows the ultimate fate (present whereabouts) of the hollowed-out Jefferson nickel, dated 1948, but with a war-time reverse (no mention of the mint mark disclosed to my knowledge) which began in 1953 with its discovery by a young Brooklyn newsboy and culminated in the arrest of a Soviet secret spy, Col. Rudolf Abel in 1957 who was convicted and sentenced to a federal prison term and was later exchanged for Francis Gary Powers, a CIA U-2 pilot shot down over Russia in 1962.

The investigation was lengthy with many twists and turns much too convoluted to share here, but it is the fate of that nickel that interests me.  Assumptions may be made, including the Spy Museum or the FBI, but I don't recall a final disposition. Older collectors likely would remember.

[DWLange]

I wrote an article about that incident many years ago and was unable to locate the coin. When a television show staged a dramatization of the story it used a nickel dated in the 1970s, as I recall.