A reproduction of a Soviet microdot discovered in a hollow nickel. The original nickel consisted of two nickels cut in half. The original also contained a tiny hole drilled into the "R" in the word "Trust." The coin could be opened by inserting the point of a needle into the hole.

In 1953 a newspaper boy dropped a nickel received in change. When it hit the sidewalk, it split into two halves, revealing a hollow that contained a tiny photograph. He showed it to a friend, who showed it to her father, a policeman. The policeman showed it to a detective who passed it on to the FBI. The photograph held columns of five digit numbers. The FBI was unable to decode it until a Soviet defector decoded it for them. The message, including a couple of unexpectedly human assurances, read as follows:

As an outcome of the incident, the FBI was led eventually to another Soviet spy, Rudolf Invanovich Abel, who was convicted and sent to prison. In 1962, he was exchanged for the American U-2 pilot, Francis Gary Powers, who was in prison in the Soviet Union (FBI 2024).