The "The Andy Griffith Show" was a half-hour television series which ran on the CBS television network from 1960 to 1968. Andy Griffith appeared as sheriff Andy Taylor of the small North Carolina town of Mayberry. He has a bumbling deputy Barney Fife and a sort-of girlfriend Ellie Walker who runs a store. This episode is titled "Mayberry on Record" and was first broadcast on February 13, 1961. Sheriff Andy shows Deputy Barney how easy it is to scam someone with a United States Buffalo nickel. Buffalo nickels are also known as Indian Head nickels. Later Andy suspects that a visiting record producer is a confidence man.

Barney Fife is complaining about his small paycheck.

He complains about taxes and wants a lucrative investment. Andy tells Barney that his attitude would make him prey to a confidence man. He then suggests: Then Andy takes out a nickel.

Andy tells Barney it is worth a lot of money because, due to a mistake at the mint, the buffalo is facing the wrong way.

Copper-nickel, 21.2 mm, 5.0 gm
Buffalo nickels were minted from 1913 to 1938.

Barney offers to buy Andy's nickel and they agree on a price of $75. Barney pulls out what he calls a "regular" Buffalo nickel which implies that they were still in circulation in 1961. These nickels were last minted in 1937 and were replaced by the Jefferson nickels in 1938.

Barney compares the nickels and realizes that they are the same. He sees both buffalos facing the same direction, and gets the point.

Ellie brings in a Mr. Maxwell, he is a music producer looking for folk music which he can record to sell to a music company and produce a phonograph record.

He wants to record some of Mayberry's musicians. Andy brings over a country group and they play a short number.

Maxwell records performances by some other residents. Various townspeople offer Maxwell investment money for his project. Andy declines, stating that Maxwell is probably a confidence man. Maxwell leaves town, causing the residents to have doubts. Sometime he returns and shows Ellie a contract with a record company and a check. They visit the sheriff's office and Maxwell shows the contract and check to Andy.

Andy realizes that he has made a mistake and that Maxwell is honest. Sometime later Maxwell and Ellie bring in the record album.

The final scene shows Barney trying to decide what to do with his money.

Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor
Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife
Ronnie Howard as Opie Taylor
Elinor Donahue as Ellie Walker
Hugh Marlowe as Mr. Maxwell
Director: Gene Reynolds
Writers: John Fenton Murray, Benedict Freedman