The 1958 film "Desire Under the Elms" shows some United States $20 gold coins. The film is based on Eugene O'Neill's 1924 play and stars Burl Ives as Ephriam Cabot, an old New England farmer, Sophia Loren as Anna Cabot, his much younger Italian wife, and Anthony Perkins as his son Eben Cabot. The story is set on a harsh New England farm in 1850. In the play and in the film, the father buried the coins several years before 1850 and later his son Eben digs them up without his permission.

Ephriam Cabot is a 70-year old man who has been married twice and three sons, two from his first wife, and Eben from his second wife. In 1840, when Eben was younger, his mother showed him where Ephriam has buried his gold in coins. The coins are later described as "twenty dollar gold pieces." In 1850, Eben's mother is dead, and Eben steals $600 in coins from Ephraim's cache to pay his two older brothers for their share of the farm. The two brothers take the money and head to California to join the "Gold Rush." Ephriam marries a young woman, Anna, and brings her to the house. Anna and Eben start an affair which produces a child, which Ephriam thinks is his. The film ends tragically after Anna kills the child and both lovers decide to take the blame.

The prop coins appear to be copper-nickel tokens of some kind, the number "20" appears on them.

Sophia Loren as Anna Cabot
Anthony Perkins as Eben Cabot
Burl Ives as Ephriam Cabot
Director: Delbert Mann
Writers: Irwin Shaw, Eugene O'Neill (play)