surprise, surprise, samuel brown. >> seven years later the statute of limitations had passed for anymight have been committed, so all of a sudden there's a huge story that five coins that had never existed were now going to be at the chicago coin club show. jamie: four years later all five coins are purchased by a single wealthy collector for $3,000. -- $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 farooq 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. jamie: 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 i

. >> samuel brown was a mint employee at the time when they transitioned from the liberty head to theuffalo nickel. there was speculation he had them made and put them away. >> five specimen made their way. the seller was samuel brown. >> the statute of limitation had passed and so all of the sudden, there is a huge story that five coins that never existed would be there. >> four years later they are purchased by a single wealthy collector for $2,000. and early 1940s in st. louis that the set of five nickels is solid. egypt's king picked up one and so did the prominent coin collector ryan gibbon's uncle. george walten. enter into the benefactor. >> tell me about uncle george. >> he was a collector. he had books and almanacs and coins. >> ryan didn't know uncle george well and neither did anybody else. he was a lifelong bachelor and an estate appraiser. he lives in a series of hotels from north carolina are to florida. exactly how walten came to acquire his 1913 nickel is murky. the most odd told story 1946 he traded 3750 worth of cold for the rare nickel. and it may or may not an heir

with this family gone, brown devised a plan to have him shipped -- have himself shipped north in a crate, sort of like ups or whatever it was back then. in march 1849, samuel massachusetts born white shoemaker packed around into a rectangular box, even too small for a coffin. it measured only three feet long , and dispatched him by rail and steamboat to philadelphia. upon brown's arrival after a trip of more than 250 miles that took nearly 24 hours, miller mckim, and abolitionist tapped on the crate asking, all right? all right, sir, can the reply. how step around. with a phase radiant with joy. good morning, tillman! and then brown is quickly sent to new york and then to massachusetts. you could not be safe in the north, even after he escaped because their slave captures around. around eventually goes to england where he spends the 1850's and becomes a sort of anti-slavery lecturer. his exploit maxima very celebrated figure. juan: you argue in your book the underground railroad was not merely humanitarian enterprise but it really was a key spark for what later became the civil war. >> the number of fugitives -- there were 4 million slaves in 1860. even th