References to Coins in Movies, TV Shows, Etc.

Tyrock

I've seen the thread in the past about famous collectos. I found it very interesting, especially the ones who were movie stars. Being a collector and movie fan, I have seen occasions where coins were mentioned in a movie or TV show. As an example, in The Beverly Hillbillies, Buddy Ebsen (himself a famous collector) says in the premier episode where the oil company wants to but his land, "I've heard of gold dollars, silver dollars and paper dollars, but I ain't heard of no million dollars!". I find references to coins like this amusing. And Jeremy Brett, as Sherlock Holmes, was always making references to "sovereigns." Any examples you'd care to share?

lkrarecoins

I saw an interesting commercial a few months ago (can't remember the product they were selling as usual), but there was a guy metal detecting who finds a 1950-D Nickel.

The commercial was hilarious! It's very cool when other venues mention our hobby.

Len

Rob41281

its a computer game but in hoyle casino 2006 they use peace dollars.

commoncents05

I saw an episode of "Bones" c couple of weeks ago where this coin collector was killed and his coins stolen back in the 50's or 60's. They showed a list of the coins he had, and it included Ike Dollars. At the end of the episode they show them finding a 1943 Bronze Cent, and giving it to the granddaughter of the guy who died. It was interesting. There was another show i saw recently that had coins in it but i can't remember what it was.

-Paul

NowhereMan

Hi! Long time lurker - first time poster...

Last night on the Colbert Report, Steven Colbert was celebrating his 200th episode, and he said "Hey US Mint, it's my bicentennial, where's my commemerative quarter?"

Also, there's a great, but little known, Steve Martin movie called "a simple twist of fate" that revolves around him hoarding gold cons, then having them stolem, then finding them again.

Rex

Tonedbuff

The movie Sahara (with that Mathew Maganahe sp?) guy in it is all about tracking a ship filled with confederate gold coins...
What is amazing is how the main character has one of these gold coins with him throughout the movie, supposedly at that point, the only one of its kind and talked about as a major treasure... and he handled the thing likes its a Susan B dollar...
I hate to be such a collector... but I was griping when I first saw them thumbing the thing, handling it... my wife tells me to shut up and watch the movie... then, later, he uses the gold coin to unscrew industrial screws holding a truck bed to the truck... okay, I was done. I got all riled up, complained about the whole thing, the handling of this supposedly one of a kind coin, whether a gold coin COULD turn a screw of any size... and then my wife told me to leave the room.
I shut up and seethed quietly at that point.
Only movie I've ever watched where being a coin collector sort of ruined it for me.

RichieURich

to the Forums, NowhereMan! Enjoy!

pharmer

There was a movie a ways back about a guy and his hand and a group of golden coins. Western, I think.

PerryHall

In every one of these shows, they always mishandle the coins by putting their fingers all over the face of the coins.

Michigan

I remember an old John Wayne western where he took currency from his pocket to pay someone and I believe it was correct for the
1860s period of the movie. Whether is was real or fake I couldn't tell from the brief moment the camera focused on the money.

Pentimento

I think I have said this before, but my favorite coin scene is from Robert Heinlein's 'Time Enough for Love.' The main character tries to flee from the United States' involvement in WWI after making a double-walled felt vest completely lined with Saints. I like the description of what it feels like to wear a garment covered in little hidden pockets, each one containing a double eagle.

jmj3esq

The movie "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" comes to mind. They are hunting down sacks of gold coins that eventually found in a grave in the desert. I think the movie was supposed to be taken place sometime in the Civil War era.

Also in the movie "Tombstone" they play poker and gamble with silver dollars. Boy wouldnt that be fun? Going back in time to the late 1800's and actually gamble with silver dollars would be a blast.

relicsncoins

In Titanic, when Kate Winslet has Leonardo Dicaprio sketch the nude photo of her, he get's paid with a dime. I have paused it and tried to make out what kind of dime it is, and I believe it to be an actual Barber dime.

JJ

mrcommem

In reference to the Bones episode with the 1943 bronze cent, the episoded showed a list of the deceased coin collection. Among them listed were coins with dates that didn't match the coins. I don't remember exactly which dates were used but I remember some of the coins. A Kennedy half was listed with a 1954 date, a SBA with a 1930 date, Eisenhowers with 1960 dates. Many coins just like that that never existed for that date. The list was only shown briefly but I was recording the show at the time and was able to freeze frame the list. I think they could have hired a professional numismatist to make out a list for them instead of making up dates and coins.

pharmer

<< <i>There was a movie a ways back about a guy and his hand and a group of golden coins. Western, I think. >>



A Handful of Bullion.

FredWeinberg

When I worked at Numismatics, Ltd.,
in Beverly Hills (from 1973-1985),
we would regularly provide coins and
currency for TV Shows and Movie's....

They would "rent" the money, and
most of the time would pick up the
items in our offices, and then return
them 2-3 days later.

Sometimes gold, sometimes silver dollars,
Large Cents, etc. depending on the time
period they were filming.........

SilverEagles92

I was watching a movie based in the early 1900's, and they were paying for something, and they paid in 2004-style $20 bills. Made me sick. Get the facts straight.

Coxe

The Hawaii Five-0 Million Dollar Nickel episode is an obvious classic. There were a couple coin things in the Beverly Hillbillies.

flaminio

There was a recent Mythbusters episode where they took out a couple Morgans and at least one Seated Liberty dollar.

The movie "Gangs of New York" featured a scene where Seated Liberty dollars were displayed somewhat prominently. It's one of those scenes where you just love your DVD freeze-frame features.

Tyrock

I forgot about the "Hawaii Five-O" episode. David Ganz in The World of Coins and Coin Collecting has a photo of actor Victor Buono holding the 1913 Liberty Head nickel (with a stated value of $500,000). That kind of dates the book....

elwood

I was watching King Kong the other night and when the girl actress is caught trying to steal the apple, Jack Black(?) pays the vendor with a Buffalo Nickel.

I thought it was cool.

It's fun to see old coins and currency in movies.

Petarded

In the most recent version of 'King Kong' (with Jack Black), Anne Darrow (played by Naomi Watts) must resort to stealing food before she lands the gig leading to her first date with Kong. In the scene where she meets Carl Denham (played by Jack Black), she steals an apple, gets caught, and Denham intercedes and pulls a Buffalo Nickel out, and claims 'I think you dropped this' as he hands it to her so she doesnt get pinched.

Petarded

Elwood...you beat me while I 'Googled' the cast, as I couldnt remember Naomi Watts name....couldnt make it out from the obverse, but then they show it from her angle, its CLEARLY a Buff.

Classof67

Does anyone remember the episode of "Matlock" back in the eighties that revolved around a theft from "Koskoff" Coins (insider reference to Abe Kosoff?). There was even a shot of the exterior of the shop (I believe it was in Beverly Hills).

JT

messydesk

There is a movie from the mid '90s about a coin heist where, if I recall correctly, rare coins are used as a background to the opening credits and they talk about stealing a shipment from PCGS, busting out the coins, and selling them on the black market. Not a very good movie, of course, and I can't remember the name of it.

19Lyds

<< <i>The movie Sahara (with that Mathew Maganahe sp?) guy in it is all about tracking a ship filled with confederate gold coins...
What is amazing is how the main character has one of these gold coins with him throughout the movie, supposedly at that point, the only one of its kind and talked about as a major treasure... and he handled the thing likes its a Susan B dollar...
I hate to be such a collector... but I was griping when I first saw them thumbing the thing, handling it... my wife tells me to shut up and watch the movie... then, later, he uses the gold coin to unscrew industrial screws holding a truck bed to the truck... okay, I was done. I got all riled up, complained about the whole thing, the handling of this supposedly one of a kind coin, whether a gold coin COULD turn a screw of any size... and then my wife told me to leave the room.
I shut up and seethed quietly at that point.
Only movie I've ever watched where being a coin collector sort of ruined it for me. >>



I'll bet you nearly had a heart attack when all those coins on the ship spilled out onto the deck!

I can hear her now: "Richard, will you shut your friggin mouth so I can watch Matt!!!"

Petarded

Messydesk.....the movie you are referring to is 'Getting Even with Dad'. Ted Danson was in it.

Petarded

Just had to add this one....'The Greatest Game Ever Played'. A movie Bill Paxton (the older brother from 'Weird Science' that got turned into a lump of shyte by yummy Kelly LeBrock, 'Twister', 'Aliens II) directed. Its about Francis Ouimet, from Brookline Mass, an amateur that won the U.S. Open golf tourney in 1913...anyway.....very very beginning, what appears to be a pence of some sort is tossed to a youngster on Jersey Isle in England. Moments later, opening credits, an MS 1900 Barber Half is shown (I paused my DVR and without doubt, it is MS and 1900...actually a nice coin for a 7070 album), rotating (like its being flipped) across the screen. This half is shown flipping around again moments later, but not really as distinguishable as the first time. Late in the movie, after he wins the tourney, his dad and countless others are shown handing him cash (amateurs dont win $$, we all know that, hence the crowd throwing money at him)...with Black Eagles among the currency shown. Besides the coins/currency thing about the movie, this is a MUST see movie...very cool, very well done, very 'feel good' theme....Paxton did a FANTASTIC job with this movie, and it just flat out makes a GREAT MOVIE!

CaptHenway

<< <i>The movie Sahara (with that Mathew Maganahe sp?) guy in it is all about tracking a ship filled with confederate gold coins...
What is amazing is how the main character has one of these gold coins with him throughout the movie, supposedly at that point, the only one of its kind and talked about as a major treasure... and he handled the thing likes its a Susan B dollar...
I hate to be such a collector... but I was griping when I first saw them thumbing the thing, handling it... my wife tells me to shut up and watch the movie... then, later, he uses the gold coin to unscrew industrial screws holding a truck bed to the truck... okay, I was done. I got all riled up, complained about the whole thing, the handling of this supposedly one of a kind coin, whether a gold coin COULD turn a screw of any size... and then my wife told me to leave the room.
I shut up and seethed quietly at that point.
Only movie I've ever watched where being a coin collector sort of ruined it for me. >>



That movie was SUCH a piece of crap.....the plot involved a Confederate "Battleship" crossing the Atlantic at the end of the Civil War, carrying the South's vast treasure of Confederate $20 gold pieces!
TD

cullenbryant

there was a ted danson/mccauley culkin movie that came on one night,
it showed pcgs headquarters and everything (not the actual hq). i didn't watch
it all and didn't catch the name, but it was some sort of coin heist movie.

looked up the name: "getting even with dad"

lasvegasteddy

anyone see the "csi las vegas" where the one actor has a 1909-s vdb that he trades for the 1916-d dime...it caught my attention

CaptHenway

In the WW2 submarine movie "Run Silent, Run Deep," a character at a bar drops a $1 bill face down on the bar as he is leaving, and it shows "In God We Trust" on the reverse. Now, the propman might have been fooled by a Series 1935 Silver Certificate bearing the motto, but those were not issued until 1957.

In the movie "Pearl Harbor," a character in a bar just before the attack is seen paying with a $1 "HAWAII" note, which was not issued until June of 1942.

TD

TheKidCollector1991

Umm The Simpsons...

Mr Burns has a Billion Dollar note...Only one minted ever and he stole it from the french...

TKC!

410a

There is a good book "The seventh deadly sin" I believe the name to be and the movie with Christopher Reed "Somewhere in Time" has coins in it. The movie is good the book, if I got the title correct is very good.

410a

Oh yeah, the Twilight Zone when the coin stands on its edge all day and the Banker who threw it into the box, when he bought his morning paper, can read everyones mind all day. Until it gets knocked over when he picks up the evening newspaper then he can no longer hear what everyone is thinking.

410a

On Law and Order a whole episode was a story about a Holocaust survivor who got cheated out of his rare coins when fleeing Germany. His wife said: she wouldn't stoop to pick those darn things up if he had dropped them to the ground, but they meant so much to him. He passed away years after the war ended and the coins surfaced in an auction catalog, a lie by the auctioneer, the guys daughter kills the consignor trying to get the coins back. It turns out the auctioneer made up the story about the rarities in order to entice bidders to his auction. He never had the coins. The consignor never had the coins, the daughter commited a murder over nothing, but coins that had never been found.

Gemini

In the movie Moby Dick Captain Ahab (Gregory Peck) nails a Spanish Gold Ounce to the mast of the Pequod as a reward for the crewman who first spots the great white devil whale. There are a some nice close ups of the coin glistening in the sun shown with a cut nail head drove through dead center (not really I hope) The coin shown nailed to the mast is easily identified as a Central American Republic Gold ounce (Eurekas sig coin) which resembles a Brasher Doubloon in design (mountain range with Sun and rays centered) it differs from the one described in the book by Herman Melville which I believe was a Chilean gold coin of different design.

Connecticoin

I remember a re-run of "Dennis the Menace" which involved Mr. Wilson's rare "1919-D dime". One detail I remember is that Dennis somehow got a hold of the "rare" dime -- when they showed a close-up of it, it was a Barber dime!!!

Connecticoin

<< <i>In the movie "Pearl Harbor," a character in a bar just before the attack is seen paying with a $1 "HAWAII" note, which was not issued until June of 1942.

TD >>



Well, no wonder the movie got such terrible reviews! It certainly was not Ben Affleck's fault!

Tonedbuff

<< <i>

<< <i>The movie Sahara (with that Mathew Maganahe sp?) guy in it is all about tracking a ship filled with confederate gold coins...
What is amazing is how the main character has one of these gold coins with him throughout the movie, supposedly at that point, the only one of its kind and talked about as a major treasure... and he handled the thing likes its a Susan B dollar...
I hate to be such a collector... but I was griping when I first saw them thumbing the thing, handling it... my wife tells me to shut up and watch the movie... then, later, he uses the gold coin to unscrew industrial screws holding a truck bed to the truck... okay, I was done. I got all riled up, complained about the whole thing, the handling of this supposedly one of a kind coin, whether a gold coin COULD turn a screw of any size... and then my wife told me to leave the room.
I shut up and seethed quietly at that point.
Only movie I've ever watched where being a coin collector sort of ruined it for me. >>



That movie was SUCH a piece of crap.....the plot involved a Confederate "Battleship" crossing the Atlantic at the end of the Civil War, carrying the South's vast treasure of Confederate $20 gold pieces!
TD >>



Let's just say my wife was generally displeased with me for continually pointing out the shortcomings of the movie... numismatically speaking of course...

GiveMeProof

Just binge-watched a series on HBO Max that I had watched years ago: Carnivale. Kinda freaky but I dug it. First, a woman twice vomits a pile of Peace Dollars. Next a guy is doing the finger roll with a WLH. Then there is change on the table including a SLQ and a wheatie. Then a guy gets slipped a Merc after registering to vote. And finally, a guy gets slipped a dirty Morgan dollar for information. Sorry, no buffalos

Damn, sorry to dredge up such an old post.

The_Dinosaur_Man

In Supernatural, a Peace Dollar was regularly used to identify unsuspecting monsters that might react to silver. Coins are mentioned in more directly in a few other episodes, including one where Sam Winchester spent time flirting with a gas station clerk while looking for pre-1982 pennies for a "science project."

In Agent Carter, there is a scene in which payment is made with a stack of $1,000 bills. The series dates to just after the second World War, such bills would have been in use at the time.

In How I Met Your Mother, Ted Mosby finds a penny from the 1930s on the Subway that became a running gag on the show.