The 1941 film "The Maltese Falcon" shows some coins on a table. They belong to a man who has just arrived from the "Orient." The film stars Humphrey Bogart as Samuel Spade, Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman. A San Francisco private detective gets involved the hunt for a legendary and valuable medieval statue of a falcon. At one point Spade searches Cairo and finds a wallet with several passports and also coins from various countries.

The bridge is the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Private detective Sam Spade is in his office.

Sam rolls his own. Brigid O'Shaughnessy comes to the office and asks him to follow a man named Thursby. Sam's partner Miles Archer joins them.

Archer volunteers to follow the man for Brigid "personally." That night Archer is shot near the intersection of Stockton and Bush streets.

Police detectives come to Sam's apartment to question him after Thursby is also killed.

Sam doesn't tell them much in order to protect his client.

Sam questions Brigid about her story which he doesn't believe. She asks him to trust her. Back at his office, a Joel Cairo visits Sam to offers condolences for the death of Archer.

Cairo offers Sam $5,000 for a "black bird." Sam tells Cairo that he doesn't have it, Cairo then pulls a gun and asks to search the office. Spade slugs Cairo and then searches his pockets and wallet.

Among the items are British, Greek, and Swiss passports, and some loose change.

On the book the coins are United States, British, French, and Chinese coins. The ones in the film appear to be old Chinese "cash" coins with square centers, possibly a 1930's Chinese coin, and some tokens to the right of the key. Later Sam is contacted by a Casper Gutman who asks Sam to come to his hotel room. Casper is also known as the "Fat Man" for obvious reasons.

Casper tells Sam what the "black bird" is, a medieval golden statue of a falcon which the crusader Knights of Rhodes had made to give to Spain's King Charles V in return for the Island of Malta. Pirates took the statue, it has appeared over the years, and at one time someone painted it black to hide it's identity. Casper found the statue in Istanbul, hired Joel and Brigid to retrieve it, Brigid then took it herself, went to Hong Kong, met a gangster named Thursby, then she got a merchant ship captain Jacobi take the statue to San Francisco while she and Thursby travelled to the city on a faster ship. Jacobi's ship finally arrives and he appears at Sam's office with the package.

The package is wrapped in Chinese newspapers. Later the principals meet at Sam's apartment where he will turn over the bird to Casper in exchange for $10,000.

Casper pays Sam the $10,000 in $1,000 bills, which were hard to find items even then.

The bills are copies of Mexican Revolution Sonora "two-head" notes. The value "1000" is printed on the notes.

For more information on these bills please visit: Mexican Revolution Currency Notes.

There is a knock at the door, Sam opens the door, and Sam's assistant Effie is there with the package.

Effie leaves and the others remove the statue from the packaging.

Casper scratches the bird's enamel with a knife to see if it is gold.

The scratches reveal lead underneath; the statue is a fake. Casper, Joel, and Brigid argue about the fake and come to the conclusion that the real golden statue is still in Istanbul. Casper admires Sam's ingenuity and invites him to join him and Joel on the quest.

Casper: "Shall we go to Istanbul?" Sam prefers to stay in San Franciso. He has to come up with an explanation for the murders for the city police. Casper and Joel leave, Sam calls the police and sends them after them. He explains to Brigid that he knows she shot his partner Archer and that he is going to turn her in also.

The police detectives show up, tell Sam that they caught the men, and arrest Brigid. One of the policemen asks Sam what the statue is. He tells them that it is "The stuff that dreams are made of."

The two original film prop statues have both sold at auctions for several million dollars each. Replicas of the statue can be bought in San Francisco stores or on the Internet.

Humphrey Bogart as Samuel Spade
Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy
Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo
Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman
Lee Patrick as Effie Perine
Director: John Huston
Writers: John Huston
Based on the 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett