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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,365 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2269 Posts |
A few days ago I decided to watch Season 1 of the HBO Series Rome. In the 9th episode, one of Cleopatra's servant held up a gold Roman coin. Being a collector of Roman Imperial Coins, I noticed a few things about the 3 second shot of the coin. The color was off, the gold coin was way too shiny, almost plastic looking in appearance. The size of the coin was too big and thick to be a gold Roman coin, and the Emperor it depicted was reminiscent of the designs used in later Roman Coinage, not to mention that during Caesar's reign, there were no Emperors, especially one depicted on a coin. It made me think of other inaccuracies I have seen in other movies or television shows regarding coins or paper money.
Almost every time I see a movie or television show, I always focus on any money being used. 9 out of 10 times the money shown, resembles fantasy coinage or in some cases I have seen modern coinage used in a period piece.
I wonder if anyone else notices the same things as I do and if so which television shows or movies have you seen obviously phony money in?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1195 Posts |
When the TV show Heroes was on, alive, and well, aired and set in 2006, the prop paper money that was used in a few scenes had the old, center portrait design and not the offset-left portrait colorized notes currently in use. Very distracting.
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Moderator
 Australia
16830 Posts |
Just for reference, some older threads on the topic can be found here and here, among others. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
526 Posts |
Dr. Quinn - Medicine Woman Back in the mid 1800's, saw several "Double Eagles" being tossed around, literally, and all missed the mark by miles. The Morgans they used sounded like silver when they hit the bar but if you ever caught a close up they were almost blank, no details at all. Drove my wife absolute Bat S**T when I would point things like that out to her.  Edited by Freedom
09/07/2012 08:31 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
Watch "Paper Moon", "Boardwalk Empire", "Dead Presidents".... for real money. I'm sure even Clint Eastwood movies try their best but they never actually show a good shot of any coin to the best of my knowledge. "The Dark Knight" tried hard, but where would you get a Peace dollar with two obverses besides a magic shop? The plot of "Hear No Evil See No Evil" is based on a rare coin but they never explain which one or give closeup shots. It's for the best. "To Live and Die in L.A." tries hard but they have their prop money for the closeups, not sure why since the plot revolves around counterfeit money. One of the bills is from "Z" Federal Reserve Bank. The only thing real about it is the process they show of how to counterfeit it because the production was guided by a criminal who did that and got caught. |
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Valued Member
United States
198 Posts |
I believe (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that there is a fedral law that states that real money can not be in movies.
That is why all the movies use "prop" money.
I have some from the movie ROBOCOP.
Some people like to collect it... unforunatley, you have to time it right with the popularity of the movie to sell it.
When I show the prop money to people and tell them it is fro Robocop, I have to explain the premise of the movie.
I quit carring it.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
If you think about it why should movie producers worry about trivial items like the correct money. Today they spend many millions to make a movie and what is the correct coin is way to trivial. I've seen movies of the roaring 20's with TV antenna on roofs. Once saw a Cowboy/Indian movie where a plane flew by in the distance. Most of the old cowboy movies had everyone shooting six guns many, many times past 6. Also, Roy Rogers never had his hat come off in those fight sceens. And if you added up all the people killed in all the movies, there would be no one left to read this.
So don't worry about the correct coins in movies, just laugh and enjoy the rest.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
One reason you don't see many good close-ups of the coins and currency in movies is because there are people like us out here that will watch them closely and jump on any errors in the use of the coins shown.
Any yes it USED to be against the law to photograph paper money for movies and television. The rules have relaxed some and now they can use real currency but unless they need to do a close-up it is cheaper and easier to use prop money. As far as coins for a long time it was also illegal to do pictures of them except for educational purposes. Sometimes in older movies or shows you will see accurate images of coins but it is unusual. Real coins do show up more in modern movies and programs.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2269 Posts |
I remember seeing the movie Goonies when I was a kid. At 9 years old I was amazed when they showed all the gold coins. Now when I watch it with my own son, I am more amazed that they sound like plastic when dropped.
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Valued Member
United States
196 Posts |
Wow, I just watched National Geographic special on the SS Republic.It was a paddle wheel boat that went down just after civil war. They found countless gold and silver coins in the special. It was on netflix if anyone wants to watch it. I can't imagine. So many of the coins were mint state.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,365 |
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Posted 09/07/2012 08:30 am
