This episode of the television program "The Lucy Show" television program features some United States cents, called "pennies" in the program, along with a numismatic "Red Book." Lucille Ball was a long-time film actress specializing in comedys when in 1951 she launched her television comedy program "I Love Lucy" which ran for six years. She followed with other television series including "The Lucy Show" which ran from 1962 to 1968, also for six years. These series usually included her friend actress Vivian Vance as her female partner. "The Lucy Show" is a series which starred Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael, a widowed woman living with her friend Vivian Bagley (Vivian Vance) along with Lucy's son Jerry who is around 10 years old. This episode is titled "Lucy the Coin Collector" and was first broadcast on April 25, 1965. Jerry brings home a copy of a coin collector's guide to United States coin values and shows Lucy and Vivian that some pennies are worth lots of money. Lucy and Vivian head to a bank and purchase a bag of 2,000 pennies. They examine the pennies and find no rare ones. They then return the bag and pick up another bag, in this bag they find a rare penny, a 1912-S, worth $16.50 according to the coin guide. They manage to lose the penny in a storm drain, recover it, and lose it again. There are scenes of hundreds of pennies on a table and on a floor. Although this program is fictional there is a hobby called "Coin Roll Hunting" or "CRH" where people purchase rolls of coins in order to search them for rarities or mint errors.

Lucy and Vivian are at home with Lucy's son Jerry. Jerry shows the ladies his coin guide commonly known as a "Red Book" due to it's cover.

The "Red Book" is A Guide Book of United States Coins by R. S. Yeoman, which has been published yearly since 1947. Jerry probably has an early 1960's edition. The ladies look up coin values and find that an 1877 Indian Head Cent is worth $800. They decide to look at lots of pennies and head for a bank where Mr. Theodore Mooney is the manager. He and Lucy do not get along as he controls her husband's estate and limits her to an allowance. The ladies want to borrow a bag of 2,000 pennies and they offer their watches, including a "Mickey Mouse" watch as collateral.

Mooney gives Lucy a $20 bill.

To get the ladies out of his office Mooney loans them the bag.

Mooney drops the bag on his foot; such a bag would weigh around 14 pounds. The ladies take the bag home and drop it on the floor. Lucy then uses a vacumn cleaner.

They then proceed to the sink where they clean them with detergent. Vivian sings coin-related songs "Pennies From Heaven" and "Three Coins in the Fountain."

After finding no rare pennies the ladies head back to the bank.

In the bank the ladies check their pennies.

Vivian is holding the "Red Book." Lucy holds up a penny and asks about a "1912-S."

Vivian replies that it is worth $16.50. Nothing is said about the coin's condition, an important factor in a coin's value. The ladies head outside and they accidently drop the penny into a storm drain. A policeman comes up and asks them why they are crying. Lucy replies:

The ladies try to recover the lost penny.

Lucy finds it.

And Vivian loses it again.

Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael
Vivian Vance as Vivian Bagley
Gale Gordon as Mr. Theodore J. Mooney (banker)
Jimmy Garrett as Jerry Carmichael (Lucy's son)
Ray Kellogg as Policeman
Director: Jack Donohue
Writers: David Braverman, Bob Marcus, Irene Kampen (novel Life Without George)