[ bird calling ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today, i'm in south west florida, driving through the marshy flatwoods outside punta gorda. you know, not every strange inheritance offers unexpected riches. sometimes it can bring on a massive, screeching headache and a huge mess to clean up. >> i'm lauri caron. in 2005, i inherited an exotic zoo-type wildlife sanctuary from my husband and continues to be wild every single day. [ lion roars ] [ birds chirping ] >> hi, lauri. >> hi. >> i'm jamie. >> nice to meet you, jamie. >> great to meet you, too, at this animal retirement home? >> yes, it's pretty much like a nursing home/retirement village. >> we're not talking about kitty cats or puppies. i heard a roar already. can i take a look? >> absolutely. come on. >> as lauri gives me a behind-the-scenes tour, i catch a glimpse of the 100-plus creatures that currently live at the octagon wildlife sanctuary. [ lion growls ] clearly, the sound of feeding day... >> yes. >> ...in the air. >> yes, absolutely. >> lauri tells me every animal here is a rescue, at one time abused or abandoned, that would otherwise be euthanized. animals like lily, a black leopard saved from a closed-down breeding zoo, are given a second lease on life. >> look at her eyes. she's beautiful. >> isn't she beautiful? [ black leopard purring ] >> is she purring at me? >> yeah, she's purring right now. >> or growling? >> right now, that's a purr. >> and this is onyx, an abused bengal tiger lauri personally rescued five years ago. >> they used him as a photography baby. they were gonna euthanize him. >> onyx was malnourished as a cub and continues to struggle with painful swelling and digestive issues. he's now fed a special diet to help reduce the side effects. i just hope tv host isn't on today's menu. >> you want to be very safe. watch his mouth and watch your fingers at all times. >> note that i have 10 fingers starting, okay? >> and i still have mine after 22 years, so, you know -- >> oh, then i'm good. i'm good. >> the first one i'll do, kind of watch me here. >> sure. >> bones and all? >> bones and all. >> o-kay, my turn. aww. >> and now, if you want, just start throwing the rest in there. >> lauri assures me that her fences exceed state and federal codes, which is comforting when it's the only thing between you and a 500-pound hungry tiger. onyx.... i'm you're new best friend. >> hey, the way to an animal's heart is through their stomach. >> kind of like guys. >> yeah. >> so, you have 100 animals like this? >> yes. absolutely, and each one of these animals has a story of what they went through. >> and so does lauri. 26 years old and just divorced, she relocates from illinois to southwest florida in 1993. a few weeks later, she shows up at octagon as a volunteer. >> when i first walked through the gates, i never looked back. >> it's then that lauri first takes note of the sanctuary's 54-year-old, eccentric owner and founder, pete caron. kevin shirley was pete's attorney and friend for over 15 years. >> he was a unique character. people recognized him by his hat and by his gruff voice. >> we use like 26,000 lbs. of chicken or beef every six weeks. you know, that's just the chicken and beef part. that's not all the rest of it. >> he was never too busy to stop and talk about his animals. this was his life. >> right here. come right here. i need to get some love. >> like lauri, pete also migrated south in search of a fresh start. >> back in 1970, the former air force pilot and his retired father move here from new hampshire and buy 10 acres of secluded, undeveloped land. as they ponder what to do with the property, fate comes knocking with big, hairy paws. >> he started it, basically, with a couple of bears. >> florida wildlife officials come across two adult brown bears in a broken-down trailer but not just any bears. these were actors left behind after filming wrapped on the hit tv series "gentle ben." the state considers euthanizing them, until pete steps in. pete, who'd worked at a wildlife sanctuary a few years before, now figures he'll start his own. he tells state officials, "i'll take those bears." within 72 hours, pete and his father have an enclosure built and lure the bears into the cage with a blueberry pie. pete is soon licensed to handle exotic animals and becomes the go-to guy in southwest florida when creatures are abandoned or removed from homes. lenny barshinger worked as a state fish & wildlife investigator for 27 years. over that time, he brought more than 60 animals to the sanctuary. >> why'd you pick here? >> at that time, there was no place in -- in collier county that i could take the animals to. >> what kind of reaction did you get when you'd call pete and say, "i got a lion, a tiger, an elephant?" >> it didn't matter what time of the day or night, he would be there, ready to help. >> i feel like i'm the ugliest surrogate mother in the world. >> but pete does not exactly have a business plan. he solicits donations and even resorts to scouring dumpsters for food. >> so, why did he do it? >> he just had a real, real care for the animals. if he ever had to put an animal down, he was genuinely upset. >> when you feed and care for an animal like this for six or seven years and then you lose them, you know, it's -- it's -- you can't describe the loss of a friend. >> but pete doesn't share the same love for the state and federal wildlife agents checking to see that the animals are okay and the public is protected. he quickly becomes known as a loud-mouthed cowboy who's difficult to control. what was his reputation? >> a wild man. >> was he a guy that played by the rules? >> um... no. [ chuckles ] >> did pete have a problem with the government? >> he thought some of their rules were silly. so he would challenge the silly rules. >> "challenge" is putting it lightly. when pete has had enough with the inspectors, he's known to tap his holstered gun and say, "i think we're done here for today." >> was he a bully? >> he wasn't a bully, but he was very forceful. it was his way or the highway, basically. >> pete's abrasive attitude results in some inspectors being particularly tough on the sanctuary. >> we would end up in court from time to time over minor events. a water pan in a lion's cage was dirty, or the food in the freezer was not raised off the floor. >> when you walked into court with pete, did any of the judges' faces say, "oh, here we go again"? >> well, yes. one that just shook his head and thought that the government was -- kept picking on pete. >> whether they're nitpicking or not, the sanctuary isn't without incident. >> any animals ever escape? >> back years ago, we had hippos out in our front pond, and one time, one of 'em decided to take a walk. >> after busting through the sanctuary's fencing, the hippo finds its way to a nearby swimming pool. the shocked neighbor calls authorities, claming a dinosaur had taken over her backyard. pete quickly gets the animal back home before any damage is done. but as much as pete ignored and even battled government officials, they turn to him when an animal's in trouble. >> it sounds like you and pete... butted heads a bit. was it worth it? >> oh, absolutely. we need places like this rather than to go ahead and to euthanize them. >> there is someone who wants to tame pete -- that passionate volunteer from illinois. >> we were actually doing a lot of rescuing together, and it seemed to work really well, and then we decided, "yeah, let's take it another step." [ laughs ] >> despite their 28-year age difference and the fact that pete is twice divorced with three adult children, lauri and pete decide to start dating. then a health crisis throws the future of this wildlife refuge into doubt. >> he says, "my kids will sell this place, and the animals will be euthanized, and that will be it." >> that is, unless pete can find another heir. was it a real marriage, or was it a marriage of convenience to save the sanctuary? >> [ sighs ] >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. is it... the answer in a moment. it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same. but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. ♪ >> so... it's "a," tigers. as many as 7,000 tigers are kept as pets in the u.s. while only 3,000 are found in the wild. for decades, pete caron's octagon wildlife sanctuary is one of the top spots in florida for abused and neglected animals. along with his most trusted volunteer and girlfriend, lauri, the pair take in animals that would otherwise be euthanized, like these former performance bears. >> the previous owner that had them was actually training them with a lead pipe. >> lauri uses a gentler training tool -- doughnuts. one of my volunteers actually taught him some sign language. >> really? >> and... to the point of where, if he was hungry for a sweet, he would actually let you know when he's ready for -- >> how? >> with this little gesture of "please." >> let's see if i have the magic touch, too. >> oh, that was sign language for "doughnut, please." >> yes. >> i think i'm getting the hang of this. >> you are doing well. >> look, i still have 10. >> [ laughs ] >> but things aren't going so well for the sanctuary in the year 2000, when pete, now in his 60s, is diagnosed with coronary heart disease. the crisis forces pete to think about what will happen to his beloved sanctuary when he's gone. >> he says, "my kids will sell this place, and the animals will be euthanized, and that will be it." >> while pete doesn't bother with a will, he does have a plan. he wants to make lauri his legal heir and put octagon's fate in her hands. >> he just says, "hey, you want to get married? we really have a lot in common with this place, wanting to keep the place going, and i said, "absolutely." >> so, what did pete give you as an engagement gift -- an orangutan? >> [ laughs ] you would think. >> pete and lauri marry in may 2002. was it a real marriage, or was it a marriage of convenience to save the sanctuary? >> [ sighs ] >> i think it was more a marriage of convenience. i had the experience. i had all the licensing. there was definitely love and respect there, but we knew at that point... anybody else would come in and try to demolish his dream and mine 'cause it had become mine, too. >> in june 2003, pete's health worsens, and he undergoes triple-bypass surgery. >> he actually was in the hospital for about a total of maybe two, three months. >> lauri takes over day-to-day operations of the sanctuary. it's then that she starts to sense the challenges that lie ahead. >> i think i always knew there was gonna be a lot of trouble when he passed just 'cause of the way that he would always handle things with fish and wildlife. >> pete has earned a reputation with government officials as confrontational and hostile. wildlife inspectors will even show up with police escorts. >> they felt that their life was in danger sometimes -- the inspectors. >> and not 'cause of the animals. >> mnh-mnh, but of pete. >> they cite octagon time and time again. whether they're being hard on him or not, lauri tells pete he isn't helping. >> i said, "somebody else is gonna have to deal with the messes that you are deciding here, and he goes, "let it be somebody else's problem." i'm like, "hello?" [ laughs ] i'm like, "but that's gonna be me." >> on may 9, 2005, pete dies in lauri's arms. he's 66 years old. overnight, lauri becomes the leader of the octagon pack -- her strange inheritance. >> that was when the anger just hit, you know, right away. >> anger? >> just, i wasn't ready for him to go at that point. i think it was also fear because i knew... "okay, here comes the test." >> lauri is determined to carry on pete's work, but it's going to be much harder than she ever thought. >> we were one hour away from losing octagon completely. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer in a moment. 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can i do this?" >> that's next. my dell small business advisor has gotten to know our business so well that is feels like he's a part of our team. with one phone call, he sets me up with tailored products and services. and when my advisor is focused on my tech, i can focus on my small business. ♪ a dell advisor can help you choose the right products with powerful intel® core™ processors. ♪ >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> in 2005, lauri caron's husband, pete, dies and leaves her his octagon wildlife sanctuary, along with a parade of problems for her to resolve. she's already been tested by florida wildlife officials and delinquent property taxes, but the headaches of pete's past just keep coming. the irs also came knocking. >> yeah, they showed up and said, "well, we're here to do an audit." apparently, somebody called and said that, even being a nonprofit, we weren't doing anything with our nonprofit, that we absolutely had zero animals here. >> lauri assumes the call came from an adversary of pete, looking to cause trouble for the sanctuary, but the irs finds no misuse of funds. since then, lauri has made it her mission to do all the repairs needed at octagon, including to the relationships pete damaged. >> i really strive to show that we are trying to do the best we can and get out of that shadow. she also has to keep the wolves from octagon's doorstep and her own. the animals need 700 pounds of food every day, and operating costs average $7,000 a month. and it's all on lauri's shoulders to bring in donations and grants, as well as entrance fees, from 30,000 annual visitors. none of the 40 sanctuary workers takes a salary, including lauri, who lives in a small trailer right on the property. do you ever have a day where you think, "i'm not gonna have enough food to feed these animals?" >> absolutely. >> what's that like? >> it's horrifying. >> you think you're gonna be able to pull it off? >> yeah. [ voice breaking ] you know, it's, um... >> for you, for pete, or for the animals? >> the animals. you know, i'm not one to give up easy. [ chuckles ] >> it's a good thing that lauri is a fighter because there will always be animals like onyx, who was once near death, that need octagon. how's his health now? >> he's doing good and very vocal. [ lion roaring ] >> call of the wild. >> yeah. [ laughs ] >> wow, i'm so glad that he made it. what do you think pete's saying right now? >> you know, i'm hoping he's proud. i never expected that pete would have passed as soon as he did, but i didn't go through everything to give up and give up on pete's dream and these animals. ♪ >> lauri and pete worked side by side for years here at octagon before they started dating, but is it possible the wild beasts were on to them before they were even on to themselves? several years before lauri came on the scene, pete had taken in a baboon named max from a circus. max instantly formed a bond with pete, then young lauri shows up, and every time max sees her working with pete, the poor guy starts acting out badly. in his jealous rage, max begins to toss, um, his droppings at lauri with impeccable aim. and lauri says that gave her pause, so to speak, to wonder if something just might be going on between pete and herself. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember, you can't take it with you. do you have a strange inheritance story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. ♪ >> on a cool spring evening in north carolina... [ tires screech, crash ] ...a car crash kills a renowned coin collector. he's carrying the crown jewel of his collection. but is it really one of the rarest and most valuable coins in the world or a clever fake? >> i just imagine she's sitting there saying to me, "they say i'm not real. what do you think?" >> half a century passes before the man's heirs -- and the public -- learn the truth about his precious cargo. >> we sat there on pins and needles, and then the numbers started climbing. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby. today i'm in picturesque roanoke, virginia. the name "roanoke" is believed to come from an algonquin word that means "shell money," which is very appropriate to the story of this strange inheritance. >> my name is ryan givens. in 1992, my mother, melva givens, died at the age of 79. as executor of her estate, i found a lock box in her closet which contained a strange envelope. >> ryan, this is the box? >> this is the box that she kept it in in her bedroom closet, and she kept it along with other things in this envelope right here. >> so, it says, "this is a changed date," and what else does it -- "not real"? >> not the real one. >> "changed date," "not real," "1913." melva's terse note reflects what she'd been told about the coin inside -- that it's a clever fake of one of the rarest and most valuable coins ever minted -- the 1913 liberty head 5-cent piece. coin expert and auctioneer paul montgomery wrote a book about the nickels. >> from 1883 to 1912, the liberty head nickel was the design that the u.s. was using for commerce. it was in 1912 that they made the decision to move on to the next design, which was the buffalo nickel. at the end of 1912, they really should have stopped making liberty nickels. instead, somebody made five before the dies were destroyed. >> the five nickels are legal tender, but the u.s. treasury has no record of them. >> samuel brown was a mint employee at the time when the coins were transitioned from the liberty head nickel to the buffalo nickel. there's a lot of speculation that sam brown was the one that actually had them made and put them away. >> five specimens make their first appearance in chicago at a 1920 convention. the seller -- surprise, surprise -- samuel brown. >> it was seven years later. the statute of limitations had passed for any crime that might have been committed, and so, all of a sudden, there is a huge story that five coins that had never existed were now gonna be at the chicago coin club show. >> four years later, all five coins are purchased by a single wealthy collector for $2,000. it's not until the early 1940s, in st. louis, that the set of five nickels is sold in public again. egypt's king farouk scoops one up for his collection, and, the following year, so does a prominent coin collector from roanoke, virginia -- ryan givens' uncle george walton. enter the enigmatic benefactor of our strange inheritance. ryan, tell me more about uncle george. >> i like to refer to him as a professional collector. he had a pretty decent stamp collection. he had books, almanacs, but coins were his main thing. >> truth be told, ryan doesn't know his uncle george well, and neither, it seems, does anyone else. he's a lifelong bachelor and successful estate appraiser, a job that keeps him constantly on the move. he lives in a series of hotels from north carolina to florida. exactly how walton came to acquire his 1913 nickel is equally murky. the most oft-told story is that in 1946, he trades $3,750 worth of gold for the rare nickel. the seller, the story goes, may or may not be an heir to the camel cigarette fortune. >> it was said a member of the tobacco reynolds family, so we can assume that it may have been r.j. reynolds. >> however he acquires it, the 1913 nickel gives walton a special status on the coin-show circuit. >> it was a calling card of sorts because if you were one of the owners of a 1913 nickel, you were an important collector. >> walton plays the role of swaggering, inscrutable collector to the hilt. once he's seen nonchalantly flipping his famous nickel! wasn't he worried about scratching it? his reply -- "no, because it's a fake." >> the reason being since it's a valuable coin, he used it for display rather than the real one. >> he promises to display the real one at a show in wilson, north carolina, where he's a headliner. with about $250,000 worth of rare coins, he sets out on the drive from roanoke to wilson. nowadays you'd be in some sort of, like, armored truck! >> that's how things were back then. you would never see that today, but wilson was having their first show, so it was going to be a big deal. >> it's march 9, 1962. >> he was almost within the town limits... [ tires screech, crash ] ...when he was hit by a lady that was driving a car. apparently, she had been drinking. he was killed instantly. >> george walton was 55 years old. he dies without a will, so his siblings name a bank in roanoke to act as his executor. what was the process? >> the bank sent letters to every bank that they knew in north carolina and virginia and said, "do you have anything there that belongs to george walton?" >> once all his collections are reassembled and catalogued, the family gets some shocking news that also stuns coin aficionados around the world -- george walton's 1913 liberty nickel... is declared a fake. >> the nickel had no value. it was just a piece of junk. >> a piece of junk? could it be? that's next. >> and now for our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the answer in a moment. you know who likes to be in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro. and i'm the founder of ugmonk. before shipstation it was crazy. it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders i have to ship out. shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everything's pretty much done. it's so much easier so now, we're ready, bring on t. shipstation. the number one ch of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free. it's "a," martha washington, who appeared on the $1 silver certificate in 1886. >> on his way to a north carolina coin show in march 1962, eccentric coin collector george walton dies in a car crash. it's front-page news in the coin world. >> george walton was a respected numismatist. he put together one of the greatest collections of all time. the executor calls in stack's, a new york city auction house, to appraise george's coin collection. >> so stack's sent a man to evaluate and catalogue all the coins. it took approximately two to three weeks. >> how much did the family get for what was sold? >> the total came to over $850,000. it set a record for an individual collection. >> it would have been even more -- maybe $60,000 more -- if not for the stunning pronouncement that walton's prized 1913 nickel is... a phony! because the "3" in "1913" is unlike any font used by the u.s. mint, stack's concludes the date has been altered. >> there were so many altered dates out there that it wasn't difficult to take another liberty head coin, such as a 1910, and alter the zero to make it look like a 3. >> in fact, walton has a number of suspect currencies in his collection -- so many that the bank feels it needs to notify the secret service. >> the secret service came and took some of the items that he had because they were either counterfeit, altered, or illegal to own. >> stack's declared the nickel a fake, but the secret service said, "keep it, it's okay"? >> it was not totally illegal to have an altered date, but if you tried to sell it to someone, that was illegal. >> the secret service returns the nickel but warns the family never to try to pass it off as the real mccoy. in the meantime, george walton's reputation as an esteemed coin collector takes a posthumous beating. >> it was just a piece of junk, so it was put in with the odds and ends, so my mom picked out the 1913. she was born in 1913, so that could have been a reason. my other thought was she wanted it put away permanently, and that's what she did. >> to protect his reputation? >> right -- in other words, try to keep it from getting any worse. >> melva givens never wavers in her belief that her brother george had the real nickel somewhere in his vast coin collection, but she accepts that the one in her closet really is a fake. >> she had some coin magazines, newspaper articles, that kind of kept up with other 1913s, so she knew he had it. she just couldn't find it. >> she's not the only one who's looking. everyone in coin-collecting circles is wondering where the vanished nickel has gone. some assume it must still be by the side of the road where walton crashed and show up at that spot with metal detectors. over the decades, the nickel enters into american cultural lore. it's even the subject of tv episodes on "hawaii five-o" and "the hardy boys." then, in 1992, melva passes away at the age of 79. >> i was executor of her estate, so it was up to me, of course, to go through what she had and split things up between my brother and my sisters. she had a box of items in her closet, and i got the box out. the nickel was there. >> ryan takes the envelope with the nickel in it and places it on his nightstand. >> i used to look at it late at night, and one time i just imagined she's sitting there saying to me, "they say i'm not real. what do you think?" >> with each passing year, the 1913 liberty legend grows, and so does the value of the four confirmed specimens. in 1996, one becomes the first coin to sell for over $1 million. then in april 2003, a cub reporter on a local feature assignment sparks the most stunning turn of events ever in the coin world. everything the experts thought they knew about the most famous coin in the world was wrong. >> i wasn't looking to find the million-dollar nickel. i was looking to tell a good story. >> that's next on "strange inheritance." >> for this "strange inheritance" quiz question, you might want to get up close to your television set. one of the coins you're looking at is a fake 1913 liberty nickel. the other is genuine. can you tell which is the real one? hint -- the numbers tell the story. it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same. but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. >> take one more look. can you tell which is the real 1913 liberty head nickel? it's "b." stay tuned to find out why. >> one of the five super-rare 1913 liberty head nickels has been missing for decades, ever since george walton's was declared a fake after his death in a car crash in 1962. 41 years later, in 2003, paul montgomery's company is trying to come up with a way to raise excitement for a coin show that summer in baltimore. >> our publicist remembered that it was the 90th anniversary of the making of the 1913 nickel. we thought it would be a nice thing to have a reunion for all the coins. >> that prompts another brainstorm. what about a $1 million reward for that fifth nickel, regardless of the condition it was in? i said, "well, sure. i guess i'd pay a million bucks even if it had a hole in it'. >> the press picks up on the story, and within days, a reader of the roanoke times calls the newsroom suggesting a local angle. >> somebody said he knew george walton when he lived in roanoke. we had our research librarian at the roanoke times start digging up information on mr. walton's relatives. >> adams' research leads him to ryan givens. >> ryan knew about the nickel. he didn't know about the million-dollar reward. >> adams' pursuit of a good story sets in motion a series of extraordinary events. >> mason adams also contacted the editor of coin world. she asked him if he knew where the altered-date coin was. so, she finally got in contact with me and said, "we'd like to have that altered-date coin on display in baltimore." >> ryan's uninterested in dredging up the bogus walton nickel tale. but that 90-year-old lady is calling out to him again. >> so i asked my brother and my sisters if it was okay to take it up there, and they said fine with them. >> wow. did you think to yourself, "what if it's real?" >> you always wonder, but i wanted more to find it was real for uncle george because it was basically his reputation. >> on july 30, 2003, he drives from roanoke, virginia, to baltimore and meets with his siblings to show paul montgomery the nickel. >> i was ready to tell them that their coin wasn't genuine, but, at the same time, you always want to meet someone that has history in the business. >> but once he has the coin in his hand, paul montgomery does a double-take. he was expecting to see a fake, but this doesn't look like a fake. paul invites jeff garrett, a numismatist with a pedigree as solid as his own, and four other experts to assess the nickel's authenticity. >> he says, "i think we found the coin" and i was like, "wow! that's almost like goosebumps stuff," you know? >> they were the coin experts, and you try to get some indication from their expression as to whether it's real or not, but they didn't really show any, so i was a little nervous. >> this convention holds an unprecedented opportunity that stack's auction house didn't have in 1963 -- to compare george walton's nickel with the four others that had already been authenticated. >> we spent 45 minutes talking about the different nuances of the coin. >> the experts hone in on that strange "3." what shocks them is that it's identical on all five coins! >> it took a long time, but, finally, paul called us over. they had all decided... that it was real. >> the very defect that caused stack's to declare walton's nickel phony proves, four decades later, that it has to be real. what's more, its mint condition and incredible story make it worth much more than the million-dollar bounty montgomery was offering. >> i am the only dealer in the history of our industry that has gotten to tell a family who thought they had nothing that they indeed had millions of dollars, and that is the best thing that happened to me in my career. >> the givens are newly minted millionaires. >> it was almost like having a lottery ticket. >> all they need to do is cash in -- but not so fast! that's next on "strange inheritance." ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ well i'm gone >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> in july 2003, ryan givens and his siblings find out that the strange inheritance they thought was fake is real and they can cash in for millions. >> it was very clear to me that this was a family that was not interested in selling the coin. ryan will tell you he would much rather have the coin because he loved having it in the family. >> they don't have the money to insure the coin, so they loan it to the american numismatic association, which displays it at its museum in colorado springs. then, in 2013, the liberty head nickel's 100th birthday is approaching. >> we started to realize, "hey, we're not getting any younger." we knew we'd have to sell it, and it was part of my mom's estate, so any one of us couldn't hold on to it. >> paul montgomery introduces the givens to greg rohan, c.e.o. of heritage auctions, the world's largest coin auction house. >> the 1913 nickel is arguably one of the most famous coins there is, so for the opportunity to handle one is like a paintings collector getting the mona lisa. >> $1,000. >> heritage sets a date of april 25, 2013, in chicago -- fitting, since that's where the five liberty head nickels were first revealed back in 1920. >> the auction shut down and said, "now we're gonna prepare for this very, very special offering," so we sat there on pins and needles, and then the numbers start climbing. >> $180,000. now $190,000. bid $190,000. >> then jeff garrett, one of the experts who helped authenticate the nickel in 2003, decides to place his own bid with another collector, larry lee. >> i was sitting in the audience, and i send a text to larry. i said, "larry, this coin's gonna to sell in about 15 minutes." i said, "last chance to bid," kind of almost half jokingly, and he calls me. he says, "what do you think it'll bring?" and i bid $2.1 million. >> jeff and larry bid against another collector as the price rises by $100,000 each bid. jeff and larry win the auction. how much did they pay for the nickel? >> the total price on it came to $3.2 million. >> it was almost a surreal experience, really, 'cause from a personal perspective, it was kind of like my everest. it was like the chance to handle one of the few great coins in numismatics. >> larry lee, now the nickel's sole owner, puts it on display at this coin shop in panama city, florida. the givens siblings split the net proceeds four ways and donate $100,000 to the american numismatic association in honor of uncle george. any regret in not waiting to sell it for more money? >> if you hold on to it, it'll keep growing and growing, but how long do you think you're gonna live to enjoy it? >> although the mystery of the walton nickel is solved, george himself made noises about knowing of a sixth 1913 liberty head nickel out there somewhere. in fact, we can't know for sure how many 1913 liberties were minted. think about that if you inherit some of grandpa's old stuff. there could be gold in those drawers or sofa cushions. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance," and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. >> i'm bob massi. for 32 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas. i help people with all sorts of real-estate problems, from trying to save their homes to closing major deals. eight years ago, 6,000 people a month moved here, looking for employment and affordable homes. little did anyone know that we would become ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. now, it's a different story. the american dream is back. we're gonna meet real people who faced the same problems as millions across america, and we'll dive deep into a city on the rebound because las vegas was a microcosm of america, and now vegas is back. 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