Coins in Movies or on Television

Last episode of HBO Rome, towards the very end, Pullo gives a coin to a beggar. Can't really see the face though.

 

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Apparently, it's a freebe on youtube.

 

This was on the 1960s TV show, "The Wild, Wild West."

 

Double Eagles and other gold/silver coins are plentiful on many of the 1950's and 1960's Western shows. Some of them weren't the most popular, long-lasting ones like GUNSMOKE or BONANZA but shows like Larmie, Rifleman, Have Gun Will Travel, etc.

 

I saw that episode about a month or more ago.

 

The tongue-in-cheek humor is especially funny because Buddy Ebsen had an amazing coin collection. He sold part of it in 1987 for $7.7 million. https://archive.org/details/buddyebsencollec1987supe/mode/2up

 

Just finished watching it--Good movie.

 

I have an autographed first-edition by him...

 

Coins on Television - "Maverick" Seated Liberty dollar

An imitation United States Seated Liberty dollar coin appears in a 1960 episode of the Western television program "Maverick".

"Maverick" starred James Garner as Bret Maverick and Jack Kelly as his brother Bart Maverick. Both were gamblers and constantly getting into trouble.

This episode is titled "Iron Hand", only has Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) in it, and and was first broadcast in 1960.

Bart Maverick takes a job working for a woman cattle rancher to help her drive her cattle to a market town. The lady charms Bart and sometimes offers to flip a coin for his fee.

The coin:


Maverick television program "Iron Hand" - Seated Liberty coin

The Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Company made imitation coins for the film industry for a long time.


Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Company - President Monroe Seated Liberty coin
White metal, 38 mm, 19.52 gm
Obverse:
President Monroe facing half left, wreath and ribbon, no text
Reverse:
United States Seated Liberty dollar obverse with eight stars and date 1866, HONOR on shield
(The original coin has LIBERTY on the shield)

The coin appears several times in the program allowing for a good look at it.

 

Who do you think the 8 stars were for:
Bogey
Bacall
Monroe
Mitchum
Gable
Lombard
Hudson
Day

 

Yeah, I always figured since Buddy was a collector that this scene was his idea.

 

Castle season 6, episode 6. A cryptic scavenger hunt that leads to a lost cache of 1792 half dismes. They get a lot of the superficial stuff and lore correct, as well as the design used for the prop coins.

 

A few I distinctly remember:
2005 King Kong, when the out of work actress got caught stealing an apple, Jack Black's character offered to pay for it with what you could clearly see was a buffalo nickel (movie took place in 1933, the year the original King Kong was released).

1997 Titanic when Rose wanted to pay Jack to sketch a portrait of her, she was paying with what you could clearly see as a Barber dime. Also earlier in the movie when Jack was gambling for his ticket you could see several British coins, mostly featuring George V with a few Edward VII mixed in which made sense for 1912. (I think I may have even seen some depicting Queen Victoria.)

No Country for Old Men at the end of the movie you could clearly see multiple times he was flipping a coin (to see if he would spare someone or not) that was a 1955 sliver Washington quarter. It's currency, not coins, but in the same movie you could see $100 bills that had Michael Brady's signature on them (I couldn't see the treasurer's signature) which were actually anachronistic for the 1980 setting, since the newest bills available at the time should have had Blumenthal and Morton's signatures.

 

Would have been strange since payphones didn't cost 25 cents (for a locak call) until well past the time SLQs were minted. Unless him using an old and presumably valuable quarter was a deliberate plot point.

 

I think my favorite was on Pawn Stars when a guy walked in with a 1888 O Morgan cracked die "Scarface" LDS VAM in high grade. I'm sure the whole thing was staged, but he claimed he won it in a poker game.

 

The film "The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre" (1964) has a creepy old house haunted by 1964 United States coins including silver half dollars, quarters, dimes, also nickels and an encased cent.



Coins in a tray

 

So did Two Face in Batman Forever with Jim Carrey (though the face on the obverse got scratched out)

 

A scene from the 1967 television program "The Invaders" showing that even space aliens disguised as humans had to use pay telephones back then.

 

That's Gene Hackman, right ?