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Replying to Thread: Newscaster flips 1913 Liberty nickel on air
Created On Wednesday 8, August, 2007 10:41 PM by Halfsense

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[q]Just goes to show you,not everybody is a coin expert and not everybody knows the value of some coins. UMMM!;)[/q]

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Halfsense
Senior Member

Posts: 485
Joined: Dec 2002

Wednesday August 08, 2007 10:41 PM

Thank goodness for "Cointains."

Mark Concannon, a Milwaukee television anchorman, unexpectedly flipped the Bebee/McDermott specimen 1913 Liberty Head nickel during a live interview segment on WITI-TV's Fox 6 Wake Up News program on Wednesday morning, August 8. (Yes, he'd been politely informed before we went on the air that the "props" for the interview could be handled, but with care.....)

Dawn Haley, Director of External Affairs for the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and I were the interview guests on the segment to promote the opening of the ANA World's Fair of Money. She brought along a few eye-opening items from the BEP's popular Billion Dollar Display including Series 1934 Gold Certificate $100,000 notes and a $500 million Treasury Bond. With the gracious permission of the ANA and the assistance of ANA Money Museum Curator, Douglas Mudd, I had the Bebee/McDermott 1913 nickel which is making its "homecoming" appearance in Milwaukee for the first time in 40 years. Here's a photo of us (shot by the BEP's Karen Smith) on the studio set:

Click here for photo of Dawn Haley, Donn Pearlman and Milwaukee newscaster Mark Concannon

During the interview, newscaster Concannon picked up the nickel and flipped it in the air. Fortunately, it's in a Cointain protective holder, and fortunately, Concannon caught it. A similiar situation occured with me in the late 1990's when I was on KTLA-TV in Los Angeles with Greg Roberts to show an 1894-S dime that was going on display at the Long Beach Expo. Comedian Bill Cosby was also on the set. During the live interview, the Cos came over to look at the coin (it was in a PCGS holder), took a dime from his pocket, put it on the table, picked up the '94-S and began doing a "Fat Albert" walk off the set with the '94-S. It was very funny, and after the segment he graciously posed for a photo holding the coin (which was safely returned to Roberts.)

You can see a video clip of the Milwaukee coin flip. I don't know how long this video will remain online on the WITI-TV web site, but here's a link to a recording of the Fox 6 Wake Up News television interview segment where the 1913 Liberty nickel goes for an unexpected flip:

Fox 6 Wake Up News: World's Fair of Money segment, August 8, 2007

Newscaster Concannon was enthusiastic about coin collecting and genuinely interested in the items Haley and I brought for "show 'n' tell." It was a great promotion for the ANA convention. As a numismatist, I was briefly stunned by the coin flip. As a 30-year broadcaster (before turning to The Dark Side of the Force, PR), I knew it was "good television." But I hope that this was a TV first that has no sequel....

-donn-

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"If it happens in numismatics, it's news to me...."

Edited: Wednesday August 08, 2007 at 11:44 PM by Halfsense