Coins in Movies - His Majesty O'Keefe (1954) - Yap Island stone money

The famous "stone money" of the Pacific Island of Yap get their feature film appearance.

The 1954 Warner Brothers film "His Majesty O'Keefe" is about an Irish-American adventurer David O'Keefe, who lands in the South Pacific Island of Yap in 1870, sets up a company to employ the residents to harvest coconuts and produce copra (coconut oil), and later becomes a "king" of the island.


"King" O'Keefe on his throne

The film stars Burt Lancaster as David O'Keefe and was mostly filmed in Fiji. It is based on a true story.

Examples of the famous Yap stone "money" (sacred stones or "Fei" stones) are shown along with some generic gold coin props.


Yap Island sacred stone "money"

O'Keefe visits the Island of Palau where the Yap natives mine and manufacture the stones.


Yap Islanders manufacturing a sacred stone

Some traditional prop gold coins also appear in the film.


Money on the table
The coins have Chinese and Western writing on them.

The film has been added to my website under "Coins in Movies".

 

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The copper coins as gold coin props:

The top left coin appears to be a Russia 5 kopeks, copper, 32.7mm, issued 1867 to 1912.

The top right coin appears to be a Japan 2 sen, bronze, 31.8mm, issued 1873 to 1892.

The bottom two coins appear to be Bank of Upper Canada tokens, copper, 33.4mm. issued 1850 to 1857.