Am I the only coin geek who likes to do this?

When watching a period movie and money is used in a scene, I have to do a slowmo to see if they used the correct coins or currency. This is one of my favorites. Its a screen grab from Public Enemies on Blu Ray..

 

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I did it for Titanic and do it for some commercials. So, no, your not the only one.

But............I'm not a geek!

 

Oh, I'm a geek... And I'm proud of it!! LOL

 

One of my biggest let down's was from the TV show Las Vegas. There was a scene with a poker game and Tom Selleck's character tossed an "1895 Morgan" into the pot. One of the other characters reached in to examine it, I did a quick pause and could make out the date. It was a common date. But in the show it was accepted as what it was supposed to be..

 

I look too. I once saw on the old TV show Bonanza a person pay his tab with two Roosevelt dimes and a Washington quarter ...

 

Yeah, I do that with all shows, even ones about the ancient world. My most period correct seen was from the series Rome where the doctor examined all gold coins offered in payment and threw one out as being brass. Not many people know that half the small change in the Roman era was orichalcum, an early form of brass, and if still fresh from the mint looked very much like a gold coin. That series got very high marks from me due to that scene.

 

You don't think so?

 

Actually, to the outside world, we're all geeks.........

 

Is that from Public Enemies when Depp said he doesn't want their money but the bank's money?

edit - lol, you said it in your OP

 

@miedbe7 Why yes it is..

 

I LOVE that series. I wish they had made it for more than 2 seasons. Lucius Vorenus was rolling in the dough before the black blood flux took his spoils. And Titus Pullo sitting there having had BRAIN surgery. The physician recommends offerings to gods as well as surgery. I wonder if the skull plate he hammered in would've been silver too for it's antibiotic properties... Awesome series.

 

I never did it for coins but did do it for syringes, which I made for 38 years. One scene in Con Air and another in Dawn Of The Dead both used Becton Dickinson syringes.

 

Interesting enough, at our coin club meeting I presented coin moments in cinema and television.

Regarding movies, we discussed:

River of No Return (1954) – Marilyn Monroe singing “One Silver Dollar”
Gold Diggers of 1933
Three Stooges – Cash and Carry (1937)
UHF (1989) , where the homeless dude with the "1955-D double die" cent saved the day
Ghost (1990)
Getting Even with Dad (1994)
Titanic (1997)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Dear John (2010)

Regarding TV moments, we discussed:

Dennis the Menace – Dennis’ Paper Drive (1960)
The Lucy Show – Lucy the Coin Collector (1964)
The Beverly Hillbillies – The Big Bank Battle (1965)
The Dick Van Dyke Show – “The Great Petrie Fortune” (1965)
Hawaii Five-O: ”The $100000 Nickel” (1973)
The Streets of San Francisco: “A Collection of Eagles" (1973)
The Simpsons – All About Lisa (2008), where Bart and Homer were at an auction to collect the "1917 double struck kissing Lincolns" cent

I did not have a chance to talk about the Seinfeld episode where George found the Mercury Dime in Jerry's pad.

Some guy asked if the propped coins used in the movie Gangs of New York required approval from the U.S Treasury. He was not joking.

 

How about the opening shot in To Kill. Mocking Bird? Anyone see that? The kid has a book with a mix of wheat and Indian head pennies he found in a tree.

 

Here's one I remember from when I was a kid. Invaders From Mars (1986 remake). They are all saved because they were able to make the alien weapon work by loading a "Mint Condition 1958-D Wheat Penny" LOL..

 

From Goonies.. A half dollar with whom Mouth mistakes "Martin Sheen" for JFK when they were at the bottom of the wishing well. Hahahah..

 

I think the 1973 Hawaii Five-O episode with the stolen 1913 Liberty Nickel shows the coin collecting theme as much as any TV episode out there.

 

The best all around movie for a coin theme most certainly has to be Sahara.

Civil war era CONFEDERATE gold coins, lost in the Saharan desert from a fricking iron clad. I mean it's seriously my top choice for any coin related cinema.

 

Absolutely not the only one that does this. I did it on the Hawaii-Five O episode that was titled the $100,000 coin. It was the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel; and YES it was the actual coin. I found out that the actual coin was used. The actor handled the coin correctly too; holding it using the edges.

Every time I see a scene in a movie that involves money I have to rent it or rewind and check out if they are using the correct currency for the time period. You want to have some fun...go and rent an older movie called “Somewhere in Time” starring Christopher Reeve and observes all the mistakes they make. It’s fun.

 

My problem is that I dont just do it for money. I try to find any and all errors that I can when it comes to movies that i watch.