The 1962 film "Zotz!" is about a college professor who is given an ancient coin which has magical powers. The coin and it's powers create havoc in his personal life. The film stars Tom Poston as the professor and a number of well-known character actors appear. It is based on Walter Karig 1947 novel of the same title. The prop coin was specially made for the coin featured in the film. As a promotion gimmick, movie theatres handed out plastic replicas of the coin.

Prof. Jonathan Jones teaches ancient languages at a small Southern California college.

His niece Cynthia lives with him and her archaeologist boyfriend mails her a large ancient coin.

The coin comes from a Greek temple.

The prop coin is the size of a United States silver dollar and only one side of the coin is shown. Prof. Jones offers to translate the inscription on the coin.

He finds that the coin has magical powers which are invoked by pointing one's finger and/or saying the word "Zotz!." Prof. Jones meets newly arrived Prof. Virginia Fenster at a faculty party.

Dean Joshua Updike and Prof. Horatio Kellgore are on the left. Prof. Jones gets involved in faculty politics as the Dean is retiring and the college needs to pick a new dean. Niece Cynthia and a boyfriend drive downtown with the coin.

Prof. Jones, being a patriotic American, and in the interests of National Security, wants to show the coin to the military. He heads for the Pentagon in Washington, DC. He is passed between various officials and finally meets General Bullivar.

The General thinks that Prof. Jones is a crackpot and dismisses him. Outside the office, a window washer / Russian spy is watching. Back at the college, a man approaches Prof. Jones, tells him that the General now believes him, and offers to fly him back to Washington. On the airplane, Prof. Jones makes a discovery about the crew.

The man on the right resembles Nikita Khruschev, the head of the Soviet Union in 1962. Prof. Jones tells the agent that he left the coin back home. The agent searches him, and reluctantly asks the pilot to turn around. Back home, another agent has kidnapped Virginia and Cynthia. The two agents, Jones, and the two women meet. Jones does have the coin, a comical fight ensues, and the women escape.

The agents chase Jones into the streets, and he drops the coin onto a sewer grate.

Plastic, 38 mm, 3.75 gm

Producer/director William Castle used gimmicks to advertise his films. He had these plastic "coins" handed out to filmgoers. The obverse design is similar to the coin in the film and the reverse is blank.

Bronze or copper, 36 mm, 21.53 gm

The origin of this item is unknown. It may have been manufactured in a high school metalworking shop by copying the plastic coin.

Tom Poston as Prof. Jonathan Jones
Zeme North as Cynthia Jones (Jonathan's niece)
Julia Meade as Prof. Virginia Fenster
Jim Backus as Prof. Horatio Kellgore
Cecil Kellaway as Dean Joshua Updike
Fred Clark as Gen. Bullivar
Director: William Castle
Writers: Ray Russell, Walter Karig (novel)