Rare nickel fetches $1.3 at auction

A rare century-old US nickel that was once mistakenly declared a fake, has been sold at auction for more than $3.1m.

The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is one of only five known to exist, AP reported.

But it's the coin's back story that adds to its cachet: it was surreptitiously and illegally cast, discovered in a car wreck that killed its owner, declared a fake, forgotten in a closet for decades then declared the real deal.

It was offered for sale by four Virginia siblings at a rare coin and currency auction in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg on Thursday, and sold for well over the expected $2.5m.

The winning bidders were two men from Lexington, Kentucky and Panama City, Florida, who bought the coin in partnership.