A First in Authenticated Fine Art: the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel Painting Raises $5,650 for the ANA

A painting of the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel has sold at auction for $5,650, with every dollar going to the American Numismatic Association. The work is the first large format piece of fine art made on a canvas that authenticates itself.

The coin behind the painting

Only five 1913 Liberty Head Nickels are known to exist. The specimen depicted here is the ANA's own Bebee Specimen, held in the association's Money Museum. Artist Laura Verschoore painted both the obverse and the reverse against an American flag, on a canvas measuring 14.5 by 20.5 inches.

What makes the canvas different

The painting is the first large format application of NFP.io's patented secure substrate authentication, a technology originally built for high security documents and banknote substrates. During manufacture, UV reactive stochastic markers are embedded permanently throughout the three dimensional structure of the canvas itself.

Because those markers settle at random, their arrangement forms a physical signature that cannot be duplicated or reproduced, in much the same way a fingerprint cannot. The identity belongs to that one canvas and stays with it for the life of the work. The practical consequence is that the piece can be verified through its own physical structure rather than through paperwork alone.

As NFP.io founder and CEO Yury Shapshal put it, the technology "embeds a permanent forensic identity within the canvas."

Verschoore created the company's earlier 1804 Dollar prototype, an 8.5 by 11 inch proof of concept. The Liberty Head Nickel painting carries the same method onto a full scale work.

A charity auction during America's 250th

The painting was offered with no reserve through DLRC Auctions, the online auction division of David Lawrence Rare Coins, and bidding closed on 27 August 2026 at $5,650. One hundred percent of the proceeds support the ANA's work in numismatic education and preservation. The sale was timed to the celebration of America's 250th anniversary.

Why authentication keeps coming up

Provenance has always been the traditional answer to the question of whether an object is genuine, and provenance is a paper trail that can be lost, forged or simply disputed. Embedding the proof into the object itself is a different approach to the same problem, and it is the same instinct behind third party grading in numismatics: move the evidence closer to the object and further from the claim.

If you are new to how certification works on the pieces we sell, our guide to grading explains who grades, what the numbers mean and why a sealed holder carries weight. The slab label guide covers how to verify a certificate number for yourself.

Sources: the NFP.io announcement of 11 August 2026 and the DLRC Auctions lot listing. FORYM™ is a brand of Elite Coinage Co.

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