Coins on Television - The Streets of San Francisco "A Collection of Eagles"

willieboyd2 · Mar 10, 2013

I first saw this television show back in the 1970's and I was a collector then.

I have seen it several times since then, and it has always looked good.

The episode "A Collection of Eagles" was first broadcast on February 1, 1973.

The title of the episode comes from the term "double eagles", which American gold coins of this type were called, they circulated until 1933.

I even owned a double eagle then, a 1927, not one of the rare ones in the episode.

The story was about a criminal rare coin dealer who sets up a scheme to create fake United States twenty-dollar gold coins, substitute them for the real coins being held by a wealthy retired businessman, then sell the real coins to foreign buyers.

The coin dealer's girlfriend is working for the businessman as a personal assistant and she is writing a book about him.

The episode explored details of the counterfeiting, the relationship between the businessman and the assistant, and the research and laboratory work which enable the police to apprehend the criminals.

It is interesting to see how the coin world was back then. The two detectives get to look through "Red Books" and other numismatic literature.

Supposedly a real San Francisco coin shop was used for the filming.

Show title

The episode starred: John Saxon as Vincent 'Vince' Hagopian Jr. Belinda Montgomery as Karen Pearson Joseph Cotten as John R. James Jamie Farr as Ernie Walker Hari Rhodes as Charlie Johnson, the lab technician It was written by Robert I. Holt and Edward Hume, and directed by Walter Grauman.

Joseph Cotten appeared in many films of the 1940's and 1950's, including "The Third Man". Possibly Belinda Montgomery was chosen because she somewhat resembled "The Third Man" actress Alida Valli.

San Francisco lights
San Francisco is "sin city"

The episode starts with Vincent, the coin dealer, in the back of his coin shop where he is making fake coins. He has sent Ernie Walker, a local man, to Mexico to pick up blank gold planchets.

Ernie arrives from Mexico

Ernie has arrived in San Francisco with the goods and is staying in a low-rent hotel.

Vincent's assistant Tommy heads to Ernie's room, kills him, then steals a suitcase. The thief is sloppy and spills some items on the floor.

The police arrive

The detectives Stone and Keller arrive at Ernie's hotel room.

The detectives find a pistol in the room, a 32 caliber, also a round item which Keller says looks like "an old good luck coin".

Item found in hotel room

The police find something unusual in the room

Mr. John James is a wealthy retired businessman who lives in a large apartment in the city, in the wealthy "Nob Hill" area.

James' apartment with coin display case
The nice furnishings here indicate man of wealth and taste.

Close-up of the display case

Mr. James

Mr. James, the wealthy retired businessman.

James has a collection of United States twenty-dollar gold coins, called "double eagles", which he keeps in a display case.

He has a maid working for him, and staying with him is Karen Pearson, a young woman who is writing a book about his life and sometimes acting as a personal assistant. Karen has no interest in coins.

Karen, the personal assistant

He plans to donate the collection to a university, and explains to Karen that when he first moved to San Francisco to start his business, he had a double eagle which he had to spend, and he has always wanted to "have it back".

Karen enjoys hearing his stories of the "old days" in San Francisco. However, she met Vincent on one of his coin-related visits, he romanced her, and now has made her his "inside" partner in his scheme.

Both Karen and James like to wear red clothes, the significance may appear later.

James tells Karen that "I'm an eccentric old man". He also tells her that the coin collection is worth half a million dollars.

James likes to smoke and tell stories to Karen, who is an appreciative listener.

The police laboratory technician Johnson examines the mysterious item from the deceased man's hotel room.

Johnson, the laboratory technician, explains that it is a planchet.

Johnson explains to Stone and Keller

Keller knows what a planchet is, a metal disk that is made to be stamped into a coin. Keller explains that he works crossword puzzles.

Johnson then describes the coin that would be made from this kind of planchet, a twenty-dollar gold piece, about one ounce of gold.

He then hands the detectives a "Red Book". It is interesting that he just happens to have a "Red Book", unless he is a member of the lodge.

The "Red Book" is A Guide Book of United States Coins, by R. S. Yeoman (Author), Kenneth Bressett (Editor), published yearly since 1947, now by Krause Publications. It comes in a red cover, hence the name.

Back at the police office, Stone and Keller look at the "Red Book"

Stone and Keller with a "Red Book"

They wonder what was somebody living in a run-down hotel was doing with gold planchets. Keller states that an ounce of gold is worth 65 or 70 on international market.

The Coroner calls detectives, says that the man was killed.

Vincent is hard at work making his counterfeits, they have to match the real coins by date and mintmark, a major operation.

Vincent and Tommy working back of shop

Karen visits Vincent at his shop.

Karen arrives at the shop

She is unconfortable with the scheme and wants to back out, but Vincent talks her into continuing.

Vincent takes Karen out for a walk through downtown San Francisco. Karen gives Vincent a diagram of the coins in the case with locations and dates. Vincent keeps telling her about how much fun they will have with the money from the crime.

Vincent Karen walk down the street
The street is Maiden Lane.

Vince explains why he wants to steal the coins: "Stop worrying, he lives on top of Nob Hill" "I watched while my father pandered to them" "I want to see the world".

Vincent and Karen
Ransohoff's women's fashion store was still in business then.

The St. Francis Hotel in the background
The St. Francis Hotel is located in the downtown area of Union Square.

Vincent and Karen at Union Square
Macy's Department Store is in the background.

They board a cable car.

They hop on a Powell Street Cable Car
One of San Francisco's famous cable cars.

Vincent has made dies for creating the fakes, again, a lot of work.

Vincent's coin stamping die

Tommy does not like Vincent calling Karen, he is almost jealous of her. Vince says that the call "is just business".

Vincent telephones Karen about the scheme.

Back at the police headquarters, the laboratory finds the pistol serial number.

Stone and Keller at the police laboratory

The victim's clothing had salt water and ship paint, which identifies him as having been on a boat near the ocean.

The detectives receive a teletype from San Diego that the gun was stolen, and identifies the thief as Ernie Walker.

Vincent has his fakes labeled and ready to subsitute for the real ones. The holders would also have to match the ones that James uses.

The fakes all ready to go

He decides that Tommy is no longer of use and gives him an extra strong shot of dope.

Mr. James explains to Karen that he is going to give his coin collection to a University and concentrate on growing roses.

James with his roses

Stone and Keller head out to lunch.

Mama's Washington Square restaurant
The restaurant is still in business on Stockton Street

Then they take a walk through the North Beach area. They discuss why did Ernie, who lived in SF, go to San Diego. Because it is close to Mexico and Mexican gold refiners.

Stone and Keller walking

Keller comes up with the idea that the planchets are going to be used for making counterfeit gold coins. They would be hard to sell, because "those guys can tell a phony". Keller plans to call the "numismatic society". Stone tells Keller that he knows what numismatic means, he has a worked a few crossword puzzles himself.

Stone and Keller church

The church in the background is the Saint Peter And Paul Catholic Church, located at 666 Filbert Street.

A second body (of Vincent's assistant) is found washed up near San Francisco.

Stone and Keller have a list of coin experts from the "numismatic society" and they call some.

Vincent gets call from Karen.

Karen calls Vincent

Vincent then gets a call from the detectives who ask him to come in. He is worried but not too much.

Stone and Keller are researching rare coins and attempting to find who has the money to afford them.

They reason that somebody who is going to counterfeit gold coins will do the most expensive ones. They find that a "1907 extra high relief double eagle" is worth $22.000.

A coin expert appears at Stone's office.

Coin expert comes in

Yes, it is him.

The detectives ask Vincent for a list of "all the coin collectors in the city". (That would be some list)

They tell him they are looking for a counterfeiter. Vincent tells them that the counterfeits would be swapped for real coins because "how many coin collectors look at their coins after several years?". He also tells them that the 1907 coin is too rare to counterfeit.

The detectives now have more numismatic research material, including coin magazines and catalogs.

Looking in a coin catalog Stone and Keller find that John James bought a 1907, owns many other rare coins, and lives in San Francisco.

James was not on the list that Vincent gave the detectives, which makes them suspicious.

Stone and Keller call Vincent back to ask him about this, but he has already left for James apartment.

Stone and Keller
Lots of numismatic research material on the desk

Back at James' apartment, he and Karen are getting ready for the evening.

James and Karen

James shows Karen one of his coins, soon they will be gone.

James explains the 1907 is the rarest he owns and that hepaid a fortune for it. He tell her that he started his collection because his uncle Henry gave him a gold coin on his 7th birthday and he spent it later to buy a train ticket to San Francisco.

Karen tells James that she would rather think of the roses than the coins.

Karen locks up the case for the evening.

Karen locks the display case

But leaves the lock unclosed.

Vincent looking at the display case
While Karen and James are talking in another room, Vincent arrives.

James tells Karen some more about his life
"Then I met this guy named Harry Lime" (No, that is not in the episode).

Karen checks the display case and finds it locked, which means that Vincent has been there.

Karen unhappy

James tells her that the coins are going to the English department, and mentions that he got her name from dean at the university. He also tells her that he wants to name a beautiful rose after her. She is becoming more distraught at the choice that she has made.

The police arrive at James' apartment.

Stone and Keller arrive at apartment

Karen was still in the apartment and heard the police coming. Stone and Keller look at the display case.

Stone and Keller look at the display case

The detectives explain to James that he might have some counterfeit coins, and that they are investigating two murders possibly connected to the scheme.

James tells the detectives that he has 40 double eagles, The detectives ask if he knows Mr. Hagopian, the coin dealer, he replies that he bought coins from him before he died.

Vincent is the son, but, according to James, he doesn't have the love for coins that his father did. Stone calls his office and wants a "make" on Hagopian's coin shop on Maiden Lane. (Maiden Lane is near the St. Francis Hotel and Union Square, very expensive real estate)

Keller puts on white gloves to examine the coins in the display case.

White gloves

He tells James that they have two murders tied to this case.

Stone and Keller with James

Keller is wearing white gloves.

James tells the officers that he has a maid and a house guest (Karen).

Stone and Keller hand the coin to James, who agrees that something is wrong. James examines coin and finds scratches and realizes it is not same coin. James states that it is a 1883 proof with only 40 in existence.

The police want to find Karen and the maid tells them that she drove off in car. James explains that she met Vincent, he introduced them when Vincent arrived one time to make a delivery. James denies her involvement, but then realizes that she had to be in on it.

Back at the coin shop, Vincent is getting ready to make off the real coins.

Karen comes to the shop and tells Vincent about the police at the apartment. She still wants to abort the scheme.

Karen arrives at the shop

Vincent is ready to leave and he tells her: "I don't need you, your whining mouth or you pawing me". He slugs her and knocks her down, then gets ready to inject her with something.

Stone and Keller arrive at the shop, halting Vincent's evil plan for Karen. She gets up to see what is going on.

Stone arrives at Vincent's shop

Vincent pulls a gun and Keller is forced to shoot him.

Stone hides behind a store coin display case

Karen and Keller

Vincent pulls a gun and tries to shoot it out with the cops.

The bad guy gets his

Another case closed by Stone and Keller. Back at the police office, they do the necessary paperwork.

Stone and Keller at the office
Stone is holding a coin magazine.

A man brings in two small wrapped gifts for the detectives. The gifts are from Mr. James and are United States silver dollars.

Stone looks at gift silver dollar

The silver dollars are dated 1882, and look uncirculated. They appear to be in some kind of plastic holders. Stone and Keller look at their "Red Book" to find out how much they are worth.

Looking at the "Red Book"

"We're rich, four dollars apiece!"

Desk with "Red Book", silver dollars, and note

Close-up of the silver dollars

Notes:

"The Streets of San Francisco" was an American television show which ran from 1972 to 1977.

The production was a police drama about a pair of San Francisco plainclothes detectives, Lt. Mike Stone and Inspector Steve Keller, who solve major crimes in that city. Stone was a long time street-smart policeman and Keller was his assistant with a college degree.

The show starred Karl Malden as Detective Lt. Mike Stone and Michael Douglas as Inspector Steve Keller. The show was produced by Quinn Martin Productions and Warner Brothers Television for the ABC Television Network.

This episode was set and filmed in San Francisco, California, but it could have been set in any large American city.

Forty years of inflation have increased the prices of the rare coins in this show, 1907 extremely high relief double eagles have sold for several hundred thousand dollars.

This episode depicted a coin shop in 1973, when coin dealers wore suits.