On January 6, a handful of teens will discover the value of error coins in Coin Heist, a Netflix original movie. In it, the foursome (described as “the hacker, the slacker, the athlete, and the perfect student”) attempt a scheme involving extremely rare error coins. Here’s the backstory: During a class tour of the U.S. Mint, the headmaster of their prestigious private school is arrested for embezzlement, which, as it turns out, has left the school in dire financial straits. His son, a student at the school, joins forces with three classmates in a desperate attempt to restore the money. Recalling something they learned on their tour of the Mint, they come up with a plan: break into the Mint, strike a few error coins, and sell them for big bucks. http://news.coinupdate.com/coin-heist-movie-features-the-philadelphia-mint/ Sounds interesting. Wonder if this will result in a boost of people trying to fake error coins? Will we get a bunch of people selling vice job coins on eBay???
Similar premise to "Who's Minding the Mint?, only in that one they screwed up and had the Mint making paper currency.
Yeah, a lot of teen-angst in that movie.... What was the polishing step they were doing after they struck the quarters?
I think they were trying to create a modern "Breakfast Club" just without the effort. The machine said "begin polishing" but then they just transferred the coins to a steamer or something. They picked up the same tray they put in so it couldn't have done much and the coins didn't move around. Probably just to remove oils/grease maybe. The hand picked up the trays right after they came out. Those were a bunch of Michigan Trout coins.
I made the prop coins for the movie. The Art Coordinator contacted me about a year ago, asking if I could make them from a sketch they supplied. I made three dies: Fish with one fin on top; Fish with two fins on top; Washington (state quarter type). The coins were over-struck on various US Mint Washington quarters. I sent them the over-struck coins and the two fish dies (but not the Washington die, which was subsequently defaced and scrapped). These appeared several times in the movie. The dies are probably the most accurate aspect in the movie since they are the modern US Mint style (so as to fit in my Denver Mint surplus coin press). The Art Coordinator also asked me to send some props, so I provided some of my concept dollar 8-inch acrylic models. Those did not appear in the movie, however. The producer did not consult with me regarding minting technology or anything, except for one thing. They wanted to know an appropriate question that the tour guide could ask the students about minting and errors. I suggested that the guide ask "by what mechanism can the design of one side of a coin be transferred and imprinted on the other side". A version of that question was asked in the movie and the correct answer given by a student was die clashing. The ending credits give a "special thanks" to Daniel Carr (among many others). I have these documented now on my web page (see second section from bottom): moonlightmint.com/other.htm Here is one that was struck over a 90% silver Washington Quarter. The designs are significantly different, so there are some stray artifacts from that:
Too bad the actual Michigan State Quarter didn't look like that. You know Dan, that's one thing I don't get, your designs, 9.9 times out of 10, are so much better then equal that on the Mint. Why didn't you try and get a job at the mint?
Wow! Way Kool Daniel, but the movie sucked. If I was 15 and in Junior High it might have appealed to me, but not at/in my present state.
I agree - movie wasn't that great but the coin parts of it were interesting, and knowing Daniel was involved makes it more interesting!
That is pretty neat. about 174 total minted. With them pouring the coins in a couple containers you would think there were a thousand minted. Any spares laying around I could get .. I'm from Michigan. Or did they destroy the coins?
I did apply one time when the US Mint was hiring a sculptor/engraver. They were specifically looking for someone with experience in digital sculpting. At the time of that application I had already written my own digital sculpting software which I was using to design/sculpt/engrave my own dies. Also at that time I had already refurbished my Denver Mint surplus coin press and was using it to produce items. I noted all that on my application, of course. But I never received a reply from them. But even if I had, I doubt that I would have wanted to move to Philadelphia. Had the opening been at the Denver Mint, I would have been more inclined to accept an offer (had there been one). I have, since then, submitted a couple designs to the US Mint (such as the Baseball coin). None were chosen, however. I will continue to submit designs as any opportunity arises. PS: I didn't actually design the "fish" Michigan quarter. I sculpted and engraved it from a sketch that the movie art director provided. Here is the Michigan design that I actually submitted to the state-run design contest some years ago:
Couple of question: 1. How many did you make? 2. Was there ANY indication from the producers on what they would do with the coins you made after the movie was released? 3. Did you sign a waiver agreeing to NOT produce copies of these coins after the movie was released?
