Cold War Spy Nickel Revealed

A new episode of the History Channel’s series Mysteries Unearthed, hosted by actor Danny Trejo, has a tantalizing numismatic focus. Season 2, episode 11, titled “Puzzling Finds,” which aired on February 26, spotlights a Cold War espionage mystery that was solved thanks to a paper boy counting change on a step in Brooklyn.

No Ordinary Nickel

In June 1953, 14-year-old Jimmy Bozart had just finished his paper route on collection day. He sat down on the stairs of an apartment building to see how much he had received in tips when he dropped a nickel. It fell to the ground and split in half—this was no ordinary 5-cent piece. The inside was hollow and contained a tiny piece of microfilm. He took it home and held it up to a lamp. Bozart was an avid reader of spy comic books, so when he saw the strings of numbers on the film, he knew it was a secret code. 

Bozart showed the nickel to his friend’s father, who was an NYPD officer. The officer gave the nickel to federal agents, who agreed that it was a message intended for a spy. An inspection of the coin revealed that it was two separate nickels composited together with a pinhole in the R of TRUST, which opened a secret latch to reveal the microfilm message. The FBI’s top code breakers couldn’t crack the message, so they passed it along to the then-nascent CIA. The CIA tried to decipher the code for four years but made no progress.

Mystery Revealed

The turning point came in 1957, when a man walked into the U.S. Embassy in Paris and identified himself as a Soviet intelligence officer wanting to defect to the United States. 

Reino Häyhänen was a low-performing KGB agent who had been summoned back to Moscow. He believed he would be killed if he returned, so he chose to defect. During interrogations, U.S. agents showed him photographs of spy-related material, including the nickel. In a crazy coincidence, Häyhänen gave the key to deciphering it—the message had been meant for him! It contained instructions for how to start his life in America—everything a freshly deployed Soviet spy would need. Decades later, this sensational story of the hollow nickel was featured in Steven Spielberg’s movie Bridge of Spies.  

There is no shortage of fascinating coin-related tales that would pique a hobby newcomer’s curiosity, and this one can be added to the top of the list!