Walton 1913 Liberty Nickel stars in TV show “Accidental Fortune” on The Learning Channel, May 2nd
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By PCGS on Monday, April 19, 2010
The headline-making authentication of the long-missing Walton specimen 1913 Liberty Head nickel by a team from Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) in 2003 is the subject of an episode in a new program, Accidental Fortune, to be shown on The Learning Channel (TLC) on Sunday, May 2, 2010.
Viewers should check their local listings for the time the program is scheduled to be shown in their community.
The segment will feature interviews with Paul Montgomery, who offered a minimum $1 million reward for the coin in 2003 on behalf of a division of PCGS’s parent company Collectors Universe (NASDAQ: CLCT), and Ryan Givens, nephew of George O. Walton who had an appraisal business based in North Carolina.
Walton was killed in a 1962 car crash and the 1913 Liberty Head nickel was among the many coins recovered from the wreck. When Walton’s estate was settled among his heirs, Givens’ mother – Walton’s sister – received the coin.
Givens lives in the Virginia house where his mother unsuspectingly kept the famous coin in a closet for 41 years after she was incorrectly told in 1962 that it was a fake.
When he made the reward offer, Montgomery, President of the Professional Numismatists Guild, was President of Bowers and Merena Galleries, then owned by Collectors Universe.
The reward was a publicity stunt created by public relations consultant and former American Numismatic Association Governor, Donn Pearlman, as a tie-in to the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Baltimore, Maryland in the summer of 2003. The show was to feature a display with four of the five known 1913 Liberty nickels, the first time they were to be together since the set of five was broken up in 1942
Givens, his sister Cheryl Myers and her husband, Gary, brought their inherited coin to the ANA’s 2003 Baltimore convention where it was first examined by Montgomery, Mark Borckardt and John Dannreuther. Hours later they joined a team of PCGS experts led by PCGS Co-Founder and Collectors Universe President, David Hall, who examined the coin along with the four other specimens in a secret, midnight authentication meeting held in the security room of the Baltimore Convention Center. They unanimously concurred that the Walton coin was genuine and, indeed, the long-unaccounted-for specimen.
Montgomery told the Walton family members that night, “It’s genuine, it’s worth significantly more than a million dollars, and God bless you.”
The TV episode has a recreation of that authentication meeting along with information about events leading up to it.
“This story, kept alive by the Givens family, brings to life what our hobby is truly all about,” said Montgomery. “This episode of Accidental Fortune was a blast to work on, but for me was simply the next chapter of an already great story. It makes me wonder what’s next for the Walton nickel?”
The Walton heirs still own the coin. Following the 2003 ANA convention they placed it on long-term loan to the ANA and it has been exhibited at the ANA Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado and various ANA conventions around the country including the recent National Money Show in Fort Worth, Texas.
Accidental Fortune is produced by Mike Mathis Productions of Pasadena, California.
An extensive account of the Walton nickel saga is contained in the book, Million Dollar Nickels (Zyrus Press, 2005), co-authored by Montgomery, Borckardt and Ray Knight.
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thank you
She was Stacks'd.
JH
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Which one of them will be branded with the nickname "Hollywood"?
Will QDB have an Alfred Hitchc o ck-esque cameo?
* * *
Quentin D. Bowers . . . hotel bartender #2 (non-speaking role, per SAG regulations)
<< <i>LOL!!! I love the fact that Mark Borckardt and Donn Pearlman have actors playing them! How many numismatists can make that claim?!
Which one of them will be branded with the nickname "Hollywood"?
Will QDB have an Alfred Hitchc o ck-esque cameo?
* * *
Quentin D. Bowers . . . hotel bartender #2 (non-speaking role, per SAG regulations) >>
Love your scenario....this show may just need a 'Longacre style' numismatic actor that can create a frothy frenzied drama!
<< <i>
<< <i>LOL!!! I love the fact that Mark Borckardt and Donn Pearlman have actors playing them! How many numismatists can make that claim?!
Which one of them will be branded with the nickname "Hollywood"?
Will QDB have an Alfred Hitchc o ck-esque cameo?
* * *
Quentin D. Bowers . . . hotel bartender #2 (non-speaking role, per SAG regulations) >>
Love your scenario....this show may just need a 'Longacre style' numismatic actor that can create a frothy frenzied drama!
Brad Pitt has already agreed to portray Longacre in the episode.
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>LOL!!! I love the fact that Mark Borckardt and Donn Pearlman have actors playing them! How many numismatists can make that claim?!
Which one of them will be branded with the nickname "Hollywood"?
Will QDB have an Alfred Hitchc o ck-esque cameo?
* * *
Quentin D. Bowers . . . hotel bartender #2 (non-speaking role, per SAG regulations) >>
Love your scenario....this show may just need a 'Longacre style' numismatic actor that can create a frothy frenzied drama!
Brad Pitt has already agreed to portray Longacre in the episode. >>
Longacre, Mr. Pitt couldn't carry your "je ne sais quoi numismatique."
Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
misc. coins strewn around the ground, and an
altered date Liberty Nickel (1913, of course) to be
'found in the wreakage'.
Before anyone says the coin wasn't found raw in the
car wreakage, etc. - it's called a re-enactment for
dramatic purposes.
The Production company was going to use all of us
who were there in Baltimore that late-night in 2003,
but due to production times, camera crews, etc., it
just didn't work out. We were going to be filmed
either at the February Long Beach show, or a few
weeks after that at PCGS. They got David in there,
it appears! (and Paul Montgomery, of course!)
If the TV interviews had been conducted in Long Beach this past February, David Hall and I would have been included. However, the videotaping was moved to Virginia to include Walton's nephew and to show where the coin had been hidden away for 41 years. Paul Montgomery flew there for the interviews, but I had a conflict of schedule and could not. Just as well; there was a mighty bad snowstorm in the Virginia-Washington, DC area around that time. (The only snow I usually see here in Vegas is 40 miles West and about 11,000 feet up on Mt. Charleston.)
So, local actors were hired for some brief recreations scenes to depict me and Mark in 2003, and I believe actors will portray Walton's sister and the family's lawyer back in 1962. I only hope actor Fred Anderson does not include mentioning on his resume' that he portrayed me because that likely would kill any chances for future "legitimate" stage, screen or TV roles.....
-donn-
I'm not Donn Pearlman, but I play him at coin shows.....(and yes, Donn Pearlman has been played many times at shows....)
I can't wait to see the show!!
.....besides you dont expect Donn Pearlman to do his own stunts do you??
www.brunkauctions.com
Edited: I thought my wife had set it, but she couldn't find it...
<< <i>Not listed on TLC here (east coast) any time on may 2nd.
Not on my cable system either....can't find 'Accidental Fortune' listed anywhere in Mass Comcast. Maybe Dish Network has it at my NH place.
It would be interesting to watch, as I was at that Baltimore show (hot and steamy weekend it was), and seeing all the specimens together was one fascinating thing. The announcement that the 5th one was authenticated a mere few hours before walking in that convention center door, boy, it was exciting to see all 5 and not just the 4 I expected to see.
Thanks.
John
-donn-
It would be nice if Donn Pearlman (Halfsense) or someone else familiar with WHEN the show might air would create a new thread and keep everyone updated. As things stand now, this show will air and MOST of us will miss it because of lack of publicity. I know I had to dig deep into my TV listings to find the cable channel number my system carries (TLC) on, and it is a shame that the producers are delaying the airing of this program. PLEASE, those in the know, KEEP US INFORMED AS TO WHEN IT WILL AIR. Thank you.
Steve
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
There are usually five segments in each episode of "Accidental Fortune." Due to timing and other considerations, the Walton 1913 Liberty nickel segment has been moved from episode number one (May 2) to episode number two (May 19) and now to episode number three. However, no air date on The Learning Channel has been announced yet for episode number three.
I am in touch with the production company for Accidental Fortune, and as soon as I'm informed of the (again) re-scheduled broadcast date I will post info on the PCGS Message Board. As Paul Montgomery humorously emailed me this past week, we waited over 40 years to find out what happened to the coin, so we can wait another few weeks until the TV program shows up.
-donn-
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
<< <i>it played 2 straight nights. Was a great episode >>
Care to tell us:
(1) What days and what dates?
(2) What network and what channel in New Jersey you saw it on?
Thanks,
Steve
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
I have Comcast
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
<< <i>Posted: 3:12 p.m. Pacific, Sunday, May 16, 2010: Ah, the joys of TV programming..... The Walton nickel segment got bumped again.
There are usually five segments in each episode of "Accidental Fortune." Due to timing and other considerations, the Walton 1913 Liberty nickel segment has been moved from episode number one (May 2) to episode number two (May 19) and now to episode number three. However, no air date on The Learning Channel has been announced yet for episode number three.
I am in touch with the production company for Accidental Fortune, and as soon as I'm informed of the (again) re-scheduled broadcast date I will post info on the PCGS Message Board. As Paul Montgomery humorously emailed me this past week, we waited over 40 years to find out what happened to the coin, so we can wait another few weeks until the TV program shows up.
-donn- >>
I have full confidence what Donn says above is correct. I do NOT believe the program has aired. I would appreciate if Donn confirms this.
Steve
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
I don't know if the episode will be aired again. I'll watch the TLC web site's listings for Accidential Fortune.
-donn-
Steve
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
<< <i>I am VERY disappointed that a combination of the LISTING of items for the Accidental Fortune program on May 19th NOT showing the 1913 Liberty Nickel segment and the statement here by Donn Pearlman that the show would NOT be broadcast at that time caused ME to miss a program I REALLY wanted to see. I believe there were many others who felt the same way based on the fact that there are over 30 responses here begining back in April. It is all about COMMUNICATION and apparently the producers of this program didn't care enough to get out publicity to the audience that would have enjoyed the program. I bet someone has it on utube but probably can't upload it here because of infringement , etc. It is a shame and I for one am VERY upset I missed it.
Steve
I'm pi$$ed too!!!
You'd think they would have had better PR with the numismatic industry.....not to mention those on this forum that viewed the show and did NOT report it!!!
Bad forum member...BAD!!!
<< <i>
I'm pi$$ed too!!!
You'd think they would have had better PR with the numismatic industry.....not to mention those on this forum that viewed the show and did NOT report it!!!
Bad forum member...BAD!!!
Michael,
Your original post here from the PCGS website was the first I knew about this program. I don't recall any follow-up by PCGS either. This thread brought publicity but obviously people here who were in position to KNOW the facts failed to do so at the last minute. It is interesting to read Donn's comment about "if you blinked you missed the actor who portayed me". And this after he promised to advise us on this thread WHEN the program would air. I FEEL your pain!
If anyone here knows of anyway we can see this segment via You Tube or download, it would be a wonderful boast to the hobby.
Steve
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
linky poo