This episode of the television program "Hawaii Five-O" shows a very famous American coin rarity, the 1913 Liberty Head nickel, of which only five exist. "Hawaii Five-O" was a one-hour television program which ran on the CBS television network from 1968 to 1980. The program starred Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett and James MacArthur as Danny Williams, two Honolulu-based Hawaii state police detectives specializing in serious crimes. The program was filmed on location in Honolulu and Hawaii. This episode is titled "The $100,000 Nickel" and was first broadcast on December 11, 1973. The episode story was about a master criminal who organizes the theft of an extremely rare 1913 Liberty Head nickel. The episode showed one of the real 1913 nickels along with with a copy. The real nickel was provided by the company which owned it at the time. The episode also displayed photographs of several other American rare coins. The real nickel is known as the "Olsen" specimen; a Fred Olsen was one of the owners. The coin was also owned by Texas coin dealer B. Max Mehl and Egypt's King Farouk. It was sold to World Wide Coin Investments in 1972 for $100,000. It was the first coin to sell for $100,000, hence the title of this Hawaii Five-O episode. The episode depicted a coin show in 1973, before professional grading services became popular and when coin dealers wore suits. The show credited two rare coin dealers at the end: Rare Coins courtesy of .... United National Coin Corporation, Beverly Hills, California World Wide Coin Investments, Limited, Atlanta, Georgia Forty years of inflation have increased the prices of the rare coins in this show, 1913 Liberty nickels have sold for several million dollars in recent years.

Eric Damien is an international criminal who likes to commit high-publicity crimes. He is a very heavy man, and in size and personality, somewhat reminiscent of Sydney Greenstreet in the film "The Maltese Falcon." He has landed in Hawaii with an assistant, a hired killer named Paul Anthony. Damien has never been caught because he eliminates his accomplices after a caper. He has hired Henry Andecker, a convicted counterfeiter and engraver, to convert a 1903 nickel into a rare 1913 nickel. The first scenes alternate between a forger creating a fake nickel and a coin show.

The Ilikai Hotel is hosting a coin show and auction. Motorcycle policemen escort coin dealer carrying the rare nickel to the hotel.

The sign reads: Welcome, Numismatists PACIFIC COIN CONVENTION COIN BOURSE and AUCTION - PACIFIC BALLROOM

In the next scene, the forger is heating the 1903 nickel so that a '1' can cover the '0'.

The coin dealer arrives with the real nickel, under heavy guard. The coin is in an attache case handcuffed to the dealer.

At the hotel the dealer has the coin placed in the hotel safe overnight.

The coin forger Andecker is bragging about his work to someone, and asking for his $1,000.

The other person has a gun, this looks bad for Andecker.

Paul picks up the nickel and then shoots and kills Andecker, leaving his body on a sidewalk. The program title then appears.

Hawaii Five-O officers McGarrett and Dan arrive to investigate the shooting.

A police detective finds that the killer used "mercury core" bullets, McGarrett states that he is a professional, a "pro's pro." Arnie Price, a former carnival worker, is being held in jail for running a booth where he used sleight-of-hand techniques to trick customers out of currency bills by swapping low bills for high ones. Arnie is bailed out by Paul.

Paul drives Arnie to a beachfront where he meets his wife Millie.

Arnie and Millie meet the "Mr. Big" of the operation.

Damien and Paul invite the couple to a beachfront lunch.

Damien introduces himself and discusses Arnie's abilities. He asks Arnie if he can manipulate coins as well as bills, and whether he can do it while wearing gloves. Arnie says that he can. Damien wants Arnie to go to a coin show and auction, and swap a fake nickel for a genuine one being auctioned by a coin dealer named Haviland. Damien has arranged for Arnie to have fake credentials as a wealthy coin collector. Damien promises to pay Arnie $10,000 for the job. Millie tries to convince Arnie not to do it but Arnie wants the money to "start fresh." Arnie and Millie head for their hotel to discuss the situation. Back at the hotel coin show, the real nickel is put into a hotel safe. A series of rare American coin obverses and reverses are shown, with their values. Here are two of them:

The coins shown in the sequence are: Four dollar gold Stella 1879 - $18,000 Octagonal Panama-Pacific Expo $50 1915 gold - $15,000 Round Panama-Pacific Expo $50 1915 gold - $15,000 Silver dollar 1796 - $20,000 Liberty Cap gold Eagle 1795 - $12,000 Arnie and Millie arrive at the coin show, Arnie meets the dealer, his credentials as a wealthy coin collector appear to be in order, and the dealer allows him to examine the nickel. McGarrett and his crew are also at the show.

Millie shows a bit of leg to distract the dealer, and Arnie makes the switch.

Arnie does the coin swap.

Arnie walks through the show bourse (sales area) after completing the swap.

The dealer has discovered that he now has a fake coin and called the Five-O officers. Arnie walks towards the door, but is stopped by a policeman who tells him that no one is allowed to leave the building.

Arnie figures that something is wrong and needs to dispose of the now "hot" coin. Some newspaper racks give Arnie an idea.

Arnie deposits the real coin into a newspaper rack.

The coin shown is a 1910 nickel. McGarrett talks to the dealer, who is upset at losing such a rare coin. The dealer gives a list of names of people who handled the coin to McGarrett.

After a while, people are cleared to leave the hotel. McGarrett has credentials of people who handled nickel checked. Arnie and Millie watch the newspaper rack and finally the vendor shows up and opens the newspaper rack to retrieve the coins.

He opens the rack and loads the change into a cloth bag, which he takes to his car. Meanwhile, McGarrett receives a report that one of the people who handled the coin was using false identification.

Arnie's credentials prove to be false, and an officer reports that he was bailed out of jail. His record as a sleight-of-hand artist is now known and an arrest warrant is issued for Arnie. Arnie and Millie follow the news vendor to an alley where Arnie runs up and grabs the bag. The vendor pulls a gun and they struggle, with the vendor getting shot.

The coin bag spills the coins onto the street. Arnie wants to stay and pick up the coins but Millie is urging him to leave before somebody reports the gunshot and the police arrive.

McGarrett learns that there has been no contact with insurance company, so the coin wasn't stolen to sell back to the company.

Damien is waiting for Arnie's telephone call, it has been too long after Arnie went to the hotel. He gets worried and sends his man to Arnie's hotel.

The police laboratory confirms the mercury core bullets killed Andecker, and that the bullets were made in Belgium or Germany. A criminal record check finds Andecker's conviction in Europe for forging stock certificates, which would mean that he was an engraver. McGarrett believes that the Andecker killing was connected with the fake coin. He and Dan learn of the vendor shooting for $50 in change and connect this to the coin.

McGarrett had heard of a master criminal Eric Damien from previous reports, and he suspects that he is behind the crimes. He calls Hans Vogler of Interpol in Zurich, and receives a photograph of Damien. Vogler warns McGarrett that Damien is accompanied by a professional killer. McGarrett vows to pass out copies of the photo so that police will recognize his "pudgy mug." He pays a visit to Damien to "welcome" him to the islands. They have a short conversation, McGarrett asking him about the dead forger and the coin theft. Damien claims to know nothing. McGarrett has brought a search warrant.

Arnie and Millie return to the alley and pick up some more spilled coins, then an old man and his grandson come by. The grandson picks up a coin and hands it to his grandfather, who says, "1913, that's the year I was born."

Millie hears this and the pair follow them. They head to a store where the child buys some candy.

A woman gets some change and the pair watch her possibly put it into a vending machine.

Arnie asks Millie to put other coins into the machine hoping to pop out the nickel, while Arnie follows the woman to a restaurant. A thief steals the woman's purse, Arnie chases the thief, recovers the purse, but it does not contain the nickel. Millie reports that the vending machine didn't have it either, and the pair give up and head for a bar.

They are wearing matching green outfits. Arnie orders two drinks, "Scotch on the rocks", for $1.30 and pays $2.00. The bartender gives them change on the table, and the 1913 nickel is there.

The nickel is joined by a 1968 silver Kennedy half dollar, still in circulation then.

They wonder where the nickel came from and a man from the store who must have had it. They finish their drinks, and walk out. A police car pulls up and the police arrest Arnie for the shooting.

Arnie is taken to police headquarters and then to McGarrett's office.

McGarrett tells Arnie that although he is "small time", he is in "big trouble", but "lucky" as the vendor who was shot has survived and Arnie won't face a murder charge. McGarrett also lets Arnie know about Damien's penchant for eliminating people who work for him.

McGarrett persuades Arnie to call Damien and set up a meeting. Damien and his man have kidnapped Millie and the three are riding in a car. Damien has a "mobile phone" in a suitcase.

The flashing red light means it is on. Damien takes the call and proposes that they meet at a cement plant. Arnie shows up and is ordered into the car. Damien asks for and receives Arnie's nickel. Damien notices Officer Chin following him in a car.

Paul is driving the car with Damien and Millie.

Damien has a clock attached to a time bomb in his mobile phone suitcase, and he turns it on.

Damien then has the car stopped and he gets out. Paul is driving the car and he fires a pistol at Chin's car. Arnie grabs hold of Paul and they struggle, causing the car to swerve around.

They were headed for the same place that they had lunch at the beginning, but go into the water.

The three are slightly injured, McGarrett and his crew pull up and take them into custody. The car bomb explodes.

Millie and Arnie have some blood and Millie, realizing that he saved her life from Damien's killer, says "Arnie, I love you."

McGarrett and his crew head for Damien's house and arrest him. Damien hands the nickel he got from Arnie over to McGarrett.

Damien gives McGarrett the nickel, but McGarrett says it is worthless, and uses sleight-of-hand to pluck the real nickel from Damien's ear.

McGarrett tells Damien "This is the one we're looking for." He gives the final line: "Book them!"

Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett
James MacArthur as Danny Williams
Victor Buono as Eric Damien
Eugene Troobnick as Arnie Price
Hildy Brooks as Millie Price
Director: Allen Reisner
Writers: Leonard Freeman, Dick Nelson