Man Discovers 'Extraterrestrial' Coin in Roll of Quarters

An unusual quarter has captured attention online this week after it was found by a Michigan man.

Jordan—who uses the Reddit handle u/albanesegummies327 and preferred not to give his surname—shared a picture of his find on Reddit's r/coins forum, where it grabbed attention as it appears to feature an alien in its design.

Jordan told Newsweek: "Checking coin rolls is a hobby of mine that I love to do in my spare time.

"I was inspecting a large bag of quarter rolls, opening them one by one to look for older pieces with high silver content. In one of the rolls, I was immediately startled by an odd coin featuring the bust of an extraterrestrial. It stood out in stark contrast to the bust of Washington present on the other coins."

After sharing a picture of the coin, Reddit users headed to the comments to react, one user writing: "Oh man! That's nice. It looks like it was designed after hobo nickels."

Named for the people who popularized the craft, hobo nickels were popularized in the early 20th century in the U.S. when homeless people would alter classic coins, engraving their own designs using knives and other tools.

It is believed that as many as 200,000 classic hobo nickels were created from 1913 to 1980, and today modern artists are still practicing the craft—often sharing their contemporary take on the classic art form on social media.

Now, these nickels are often sought-after collector coins and are even re-created in castings.

"Awesome! I love it," commented another Reddit user. But many were interested in what was on the other side of the coin, with multiple commenters asking: "What does the back look like?"

The owner of the unusual piece wrote: "The backside shows the date of the apocalypse, only those that own the coin can see it."

"I would be super excited to find this," said one Redditor on the popular r/coins subreddit. "And a little afraid. But mostly excited."

After spotting the coin, Jordan took it to be inspected by a dealer at his local pawn shop.

"He reassured me that the federal reserve isn't being run by aliens and that the coin isn't all that rare. He identified it as a hobo nickel, worth around $10-$20 to collectors,"Jordan explained.

"Although I was rather disappointed that I hadn't stumbled across proof of a government conspiracy or something valuable, the truth is still out there," Jordan said. "And I'll continue to search coin rolls to find it."