Coin Collecting portrayed on TV

I was channel surfing yesterday and caught an old episode of "Dennis the Menace" on cable. The episode aired in 1959. The show was about Mr. Wilson's coin collection -- and in the episode he bought a rare coin -- an Uncirculated 1907 $10 Indian Gold piece with rolled edge and periods for $250 (a price portrayed on the show as very expensive). Mr. Wilson even made some comments on how crazy and extravagent a purchase it was.



I was curious how much that $250 coin was going for today. The 2010 Redbook lists it at $105,000 in MS63 condition! That 1959 price of $250 was confirmed by a Type Coin book I have that lists coin prices by decade, and it lists the price of that coin in 1960 at $260. Oh how times have changed!!

It's also interesting how when Mrs. Wilson dropped Indian Gold coin on the carpet they showed it for a few seconds and it looks like they used a REAL Indian Gold coin on the show, as you can see the outline of the distinctive Eagle on the reverse.



It got me thinking ... How often has Coin Collecting been portrayed in TV or in Movies?

From what I've seen and can remember, it's a rare event.
Can anyone think of any other times when rare coins or coin collecting was featured in a TV series or Movie?

Anyway just thought I would share this blast from the past.

 

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In the movie " Dear John", John's father collected mules.

 

Took my girlfriend to see that last Valentines Day. That was before I was an actual collector, but I still thought it was very cool.

 

Well, IMHO, there was nothing better than this one... "The Rare Coin". Here's a two minute YouTube snipet, but you can watch the whole show on the same site. I won't tell you what happens to the coin just in case you want to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz2xeKBYmVk

 

National Treasure is about as close as it comes in my mind. We are being marginalized by the Hollywood Elite! Now that I think about it, I did recently see a movie about an enlisted man whose father had found an error nickel, then spent the rest of his life collecting error nickels. In the end son goes back to the war and uses that original nickel to make decisions on the battelfield. It might be Dear John - not sure. Check out this link: http://coins.thefuntimesguide.com/2011/01/coin_collections.php And for goodness sake! Let's all write Tom Hanks and Kevin Costner and get this unjustice recified! Hmm - maybe we can get Quinton Tarantino on the job . . .

 

Great stories and links so far ... the Amos and Andy was classic!

I just remembered another one from the "Dragnet" show of the late 1960's with Joe Friday (Jack Webb).



One of the episodes dealt with the theft of a $50 Panama-Pacific gold coin from a collector

 

Episode of bones and matlock. Bones was a 1943 copper penny and matlock I think a proof 1942 quarter helped convict a murderer(something like that). Then there was Sahara - wish I found that boat.

 

Nothing comes to mind right away....... I was watching "The Dark Knight" the other day and Two-Face uses a 1922 Peace dollar.... of coarse it's got 2 obverses so its fake anyway......

 

I think there was an episode of Monk where someone from the mint stole a rare coin but had to hide it by putting it in a gum ball machine at a barbershop that happened to be a mob front business. Later the guy came back and shot all the mobsters leading the police to think it was a gang hit.

 

There is a scene in the "Dennis the Menace" movie (1993) where Dennis is stuck inside with Mr. Wilson on a rainy day and Mr. Wilson is cataloging some gold coins with an open Red Book.

 

The 19th season finale of the Simpsons had Bart and Homer collecting Lincoln Cents....last one to fill in the dansco album was the 1917 inverted "kissing" Lincoln.

 

OK....fast forward to about 3:25.....

[video=youtube;sVw4U_AlGOg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVw4U_AlGOg&feature=related[/video]

 

Observe how Mr. Wilson Properly holds the coin........

But no gloves.......

 

Yep, that was Dear John but it wasn't the father who found the mule. It was John. He got it in change from the ice cream truck. They took it to a shop to see what it was and the guy said it was nothing, he'd take it off their hands for some ridiculously low price. John's father, not knowing what it was but not wanting to part with it, said no thanks and kept it. He spent the rest of his life collecting coins. He was autistic and coin collecting gave him something to focus on. After he passed on, John sold his entire collection to a reputable dealer (a guy who had told him the true worth of the coin) but John kept that one coin he had found as a child because it was the most important to him.

I'm not one for sappy movies, but Dear John brought me to tears in so many places. That it had coin collecting as an integral part of the story was a cool bonus.

 

Wow, me too.

 

In a 1964 episode of Ozzie and Harriet entitled 'The Pennies' Ozzie agrees to allow a couple of boys bury their collection of "pennies" in his yard. Later Ozzie had some guys over for poker and they didn't have any chips so he dug up the "pennies" to use in the poker game. Little did he know that the "pennies" were an almost complete collection of Lincoln Cents. Ozzie had to act fast when the boys came back to retrieve their collection.

 

Getting Even With Dad

 

Huh??

 

I remember a movie where a guy practiced swapping coins with slight of hand. He goes to a dealer (at a coin show?) and he swaps out the 1913 Liberty for a fake. When the theft is discovered, he hides it in a gumball machine because they sounded the alarm before he could leave... I think it was in Black and White... or maybe just my TV was!

 

That was an episode of Hawaii Five-O entitled 'The $100,000 Nickel'. Not a bad episode. They used a genuine 1913 Liberty Nickel for the close-ups and stunt doubles other times.