Coins in Movies - Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) - Austrian gold coin
WillieBoyd2
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The 1957 British film "Ill Met by Moonlight" is based on the World War II true story of two British Army officers who land on the Greek island of Crete to kidnap a German Army general and take him to the British headquarters in Cairo Egypt.
The title is a quote from William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The film was released in America with the title "Night Ambush". It was based on W. Stanley Moss's 1950 book Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe.
The British agents are assisted by Cretan resistance fighters who have been fighting the Germans since the Germans invaded Crete in 1941.
Major General Heinrich Kreipe always carries a "lucky gold coin" with him as it stopped a bullet when he was fighting in Russia.
The large coin used in the film appears to be a real gold coin minted by Austria between 1872 and 1915.
Right after the abduction the general complains to the British that he has lost his coin. A British officer offers to replace the coin but the general doesn't want a "British sovereign" because his coin was a German coin.
Later the group is joined by a Cretan boy whose greatest desire is a pair of boots.
The group is near some German soldiers and the general offers the coin to a Cretan boy to take to the Germans to buy boots (The coin would let the Germans know that their general is nearby).
The general makes an offer
A closer look at the coin:
Two views of the coin
The coin appears to be a real gold coin, an Austrian 4 ducat coin.
Austria 4 ducats 1915
This coin is a large thin coin of diameter 40 mm, weight 14 grams, 0.986 fine, gold 0.44 troy ounce.
These coins were struck in Vienna from 1872 to 1915.
They have since been restruck by the Vienna Mint with the date of 1915 for sale as bullion coins.
The film has a happy ending.
On the boat taking the general to Egypt the British officers return the general's medals and original gold coin to him.
The last scene is the boy polishing his new boots.
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