This episode of the television program "Banacek" shows various large silver dollar sized coins, including a Chinese Yuan ShiKai dollar, a Spanish dollar, a German 5 mark coin, and a Maria Theresa thaler. They are used to represent fictional rare large gold coins. "Banacek" was a one hour television program which ran on the NBC television network from 1972 to 1974. Thomas Banacek is a Polish-American Boston Massachusetts private detective who recovers high value lost or stolen items in return for a percentage of the value. He usually works for an insurance company and lives the high life with a nice house and a chauffer-driven Rolls-Royce automobile. This episode is titled "To Steal a King" and was first broadcast on November 15, 1972. The story was about a man who leaves set of rare coins in a hotel safe and finds them stolen. Banacek is hired to locate the coins and expose the thief.

Allen Markham and his wife Lydia come to an expensive Boston hotel to sell a small coin collection for several million dollars. Allen has spent 15 years assembling the collection, called "The Kings", as the coins depict monarchs. The coins are stored in a special red velvet lined suitcase.

The case is opened to show the ten coins.

Some of the coins can be identified. Maria Theresa thaler, small coin, China Yuan ShiKai dollar, unknown, Spanish dollar, unknown, unknown, Belgium 5 francs, Spanish cob type coin, California slug medal. The hotel room has a large safe with a time lock, Markham puts the suitcase in the safe, and a hotel employee sets the safe timer to re-open it at 9:00am the next morning. Markham looks to spend some quality time with his wife Lydia but finds her asleep.

The next morning Markham gets up and opens the safe to find the suitcase and coins missing.

He calls the hotel security and the police, and Banacek also arrives to offer his services. Markham is worried that he and his wife will be blamed for the theft and called the "notorious coin thieves." While checking around, Banacek encounters Sharon Clark who he knows.

Sharon works for the "Amsterdam Bank" and was in Boston to make a deal with Markham to purchase the coins for her bank which wants the publicity. She tells Banacek that if she is successful she will get a promotion at the bank.

Banacek starts investigating by questioning witnesses. At one point he carries a coin catalog.

Banacek spends some time at a nearby park and there he meets the Garson brothers.

The wealthy Garson brothers Oliver and Roland assume that Banacek will recover the coins. They make him an offer to buy the coins from him directly. Later he encounters Sharon in the park.

They become more friendly with each other. Felix Mulholland is a rare book dealer who also knows numismatics. He describes some of the missing coins to Banacek.

Described as a "$100 gold commemorative 1921 China Republic Yuan Shikai."

Described as a "gold 100 real portrait of Carolus IV 1795."

Mulholland continues to describe the coins.

Sharon comes over for a visit, ending Banacek's coin education.

Sharon apparently spends the night with Banacek. The next morning Banacek encounters Matthew Donniger in the park.

Donniger met Markham and his wife some time ago through coin collecting circles. He had an affair with Mrs. Markham and feels that Markham cost him a lot of money when he bid up the price of a valuable set of coins at an auction. Banacek drives his Rolls-Royce to the large Garson brothers house.

The Garson house is full of antiquities.

He spots a familiar looking case, opens it, and discovers the missing coin collection. He holds up a coin to examine it.

The Garsons tell him that all of the antiquities in the house are copies and that the real ones are housed elsewhere.

The coin collection that Banacek found also consists of copies. The idea of copies gives Banacek the solution to the crime mystery. The principals head back to the hotel where Banacek explains things.

Markham's wife and the hotel manager cooked up the scheme. Markham gets his coins back.

Mrs. Markham then confesses her part in the scheme.

Lydia tells Banacek that she was tired of Markham's travels to coin shows and of him in general. She knew that he was broke except for the coins. She had had an affair with Donniger, her husband had found out, and in revenge, he told her how valuable a set of coins was that Donniger planned to bid for, then he bid up the price causing Donniger to pay a vastly inflated price for the coins. When this transaction became public, coin magazines made fun of Donniger, calling him "rich and stupid." Lydia admits to Banacek that the deal cost her "all marital loyalty" to her husband. The theft involved drugging Markham and moving him to a similar hotel room two floors above. Her accomplice the hotel man put a device on the room safe to record the combination which Markham had set, stole the coins, then moved the drugged Markham to the correct hotel room. The insurance company is happy it won't have to pay the claim, Banacek gets his ten percent, and the wife and her accomplice are presumably arrested. Banacek meets Sharon outside the Amsterdam Bank which has bought the coins and has them on display, which was her mission for the bank. The Garson brothers are left as spectators only.

Banacek and Sharon walk away after their successes.

George Peppard as Thomas Banacek
Brenda Vaccaro as Sharon Clark
Kevin McCarthy as Allen Markham
Pernell Roberts as Matthew Donniger
Roger C. Carmel as Oliver Garson
Logan Ramsey as Roland Garson
Janis Paige as Lydia Markham
Director: Lou Antonio
Writers: Anthony Wilson, Stephen Kandel