Stories where a rare coin features prominently in the plot

hookooekoo

Recently, a book I read in 4th grade came to mind, "The Ghost on Saturday Night". It's a story that takes place about the turn of the 19th/20th century in a western town. It involves a bank robbery that gets thwarted by a rare 1877 Indian Head "penny".

First of all, I wonder if that long ago, would the 1877 Indian Head cent already have a premium value? (In the story, the cent was going to be used to by the main character a horse once he had earned enough money to buy a saddle).

Second, what are some other stories where a rare coin was featured in the plot?

thebeav

I believe the name of the movie, and I think originally a play, was "American Buffalo". It was a Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Franz film. The key item in the story was a three-legger.

ricko

There have been several .... and a forum member was compiling a list of these movies and also, I think, TV shows....Try a search, or maybe someone remembers or bookmarked that thread. It was interesting... Cheers, RickO

U1chicago

@ricko said:
There have been several .... and a forum member was compiling a list of these movies and also, I think, TV shows....Try a search, or maybe someone remembers or bookmarked that thread. It was interesting... Cheers, RickO

Here is the thread for those interested:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/970032/coins-in-movies-now-100-films

Smudge

I recall an episode of The Andy Griffin show where Andy had Barney convinced that he had a backwards Buffalo Nickel. Of course Barney fell for it.

WillieBoyd2

Mystery writer Raymond Chandler's 1942 novel The High Window is about a stolen Brasher Doubloon.

It was made into a 1947 film titled, of course, "The Brasher Doubloon".

Mystery writer Linda Fairstein's 2004 novel The Kills is partly about the notorious 1933 double eagle case. Some book editions have a picture of the coin on the cover.

oih82w8

@Smudge said:
I recall an episode of The Andy Griffin show where Andy had Barney convinced that he had a backwards Buffalo Nickel. Of course Barney fell for it.

I used to able to insert a link to my photobucket account which has a video clip of Andy on coin collecting, but its apparently too big to attach (22MB), so here is an image of the video.

"You see that buffalo right there...facing the wrong way"

https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2016/02/coins-star-on-television-like-the-andy-griffith-show.all.html

oih82w8

Here is the youtube link for "Mayberry on Record". The wrong way buffalo nickel is within the first four minutes of the episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bNwJZ_TCFA

sellitstore

I remember an episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show where the Petries and Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam are checking through a bunch of Buffalo Nickels identifying 1913 varieties. In response to Rob saying something about the Buffalo on a plain, Amsterdam comments, "This one missed the plane, so he took the bus." May not be exact but that was the gist of it.

Smudge

Bankers tried to interest "The Beverly Hillbillies" into rare coin collecting. Needless to say the coins wound up in vending machines.

hchcoin

The most famous of all stories but the 2 coins were not rare - the widow's mite:

Mark 12: 41-44

rln_14

Episode of The Twighlight Zone....not a rare coin, but a coin, man buys a morning newspaper, throws a quarter in a box and lands and stays on edge, all of the sudden the man can read minds. He can read minds all day until he goes to the same place to buy an evening newspaper, throws another quarter in the box, knocks over the same on edge quarter he threw in the box that morning
, cant read minds anymore

rainbowroosie

Regarding the Beverly Hillbillies post above, they did not wind up in vending machines, they wound up in Buddy Epsen’s collection. It was stellar.

hookooekoo

@rln_14 said:
Episode of The Twighlight Zone....not a rare coin, but a coin, man buys a morning newspaper, throws a quarter in a box and lands and stays on edge, all of the sudden the man can read minds. He can read minds all day until he goes to the same place to buy an evening newspaper, throws another quarter in the box, knocks over the same on edge quarter he threw in the box that morning
, cant read minds anymore

LOVED that episode... one of my favorite... right after the one about the thieves that stole a bunch of gold, put them selves in suspended animation until their crime was forgotten about, only to wake to a future where gold was worthless.

3keepSECRETif2rDEAD

...how about the Joey-B Omega’s & The Tucson
Two-Step

hookooekoo

@3keepSECRETif2rDEAD said:
...how about the Joey-B Omega’s & The Tucson
Two-Step

Elaborate... as even Google doesn't know that you're talking about (top Google hits we're Cruchfield installation instructions)

sellitstore

Yes, but many here are familiar with that particular episode.

TTTT Omega High Relief might jog a few more memories.

oih82w8

@Smudge said:
Bankers tried to interest "The Beverly Hillbillies" into rare coin collecting. Needless to say the coins wound up in vending machines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EqDXsbsyfI

The Stamp and Coin collection starts at 11 minutes into the video above.

oih82w8

I inadvertently revived on older thread of a similar subject.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/959514/jed-clampett-on-stamp-and-coin-collecting

thebeav

Interesting that the '94 dime (presumably an 'S'), was only good for 12K !
I'm sure Buddy put that into the plot as he was probably the only one on the set familiar with that stuff.

JBK

TV: the classic 1913 V Nickel "Hawaii 5-0", plus there was a Brady Bunch where someone paid his friend with a JFK half dollar to be nice to one of his sisters. There was the recent Blacklist where they focused on a rare 1943 cent but that story line was horrendously inaccurate. There was an even more recent Blacklist where he mentioned a coin but I forget what it was.

MrHalfDime

I'm surprised that it has not been mentioned earlier, but the classic Ellery Queen story https://readingelleryqueen.com/2015/03/30/the-adventure-of-the-presidents-half-disme-1947/ "The President's Half Disme" belongs on top of this list.

topstuf

Good. No one has mentioned the Hannes Tulving story.

Eagleguy

@hookooekoo said:
Recently, a book I read in 4th grade came to mind, "The Ghost on Saturday Night". It's a story that takes place about the turn of the 19th/20th century in a western town. It involves a bank robbery that gets thwarted by a rare 1877 Indian Head "penny".

First of all, I wonder if that long ago, would the 1877 Indian Head cent already have a premium value? (In the story, the cent was going to be used to by the main character a horse once he had earned enough money to buy a saddle).

Second, what are some other stories where a rare coin was featured in the plot?

Wow, did I love that book! Thanks for the memory.

northcoin

A rare coin is featured prominently in the plot of this story:

Photos from an earlier draft. The referenced "perp" heads a rare coin theft ring in Hawaii.