"The Virginian" was a 90 minute television program which ran on the NBC television network from 1962 to 1971. It was inspired by the 1902 novel The Virginian written by Owen Wister. The series is set on the Shiloh Ranch, a Wyoming cattle ranch in the period around 1898. The main character is "The Virginian", the ranch foreman, who is never named and the only thing known about him is that he served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. This episode is titled "A Man Called Kane" and was first broadcast on May 6, 1964.

Two ranch employees find a cave and then a cache of British gold guinea coins. The find is publicized in the newspapers and a federal agent appears to investigate. The outlaw brother of one of the finders appears and attempts to steal the goods. The program shows a British guinea gold coin and a pile of them. The coins are imitations or prop coins.

Randy Benton is a ranch hand and Betsy Garth is the daughter of the ranch owner. They are out riding and while looking for water find a cave which they enter.

Randy finds a gold coin and shows it to Betsy.

The coin has four shields on it and appears to be an imitation of a medieval coin. Betsy then finds another coin and then finds something else.

The pair head for the town sheriff and report the find and the skeleton. The foreman and another ranch employee visit the cave and bring back some items, including a belt buckle with the lettering "R MacD" and the rest of the coin cache.

A pile of coins are on a table. The sheriff calls a banker and holds a meeting.

The banker examines the coins and states that they are British guineas. Guineas are gold coins minted from 1663 to 1813. They were named after the African country where the gold originally came from. The final coin count is 183 coins and the banker calcuates the find total as $960.75 as British guineas were worth 21 British shillings or $5.25. The sheriff plans to hold the coins for a month in case anyone claims them and then award them to the finders.

The coin appears to be a based on an ancient possibly a Celtic coin. It looks nothing like a British gold guinea coin as all guineas had the monarch's head on them.

Gold, 25 mm, 8.37 gm
These coins were known as "guineas" as the gold originally came from Guinea in Africa.
The "spade" term came from the reverse design.
Obverse:
George III facing right
GEORGIVS III DEI GRATIA (George III, by the Grace of God)
Reverse:
Crowned arms of Britain, Ireland, France, and Hannover
M.B.F.ET.H.REX.F.D.B.ET.L.D.S.R.I.A.T.ET.E 1794 (initials of the king's titles)

The banker identifies the belt buckle and the skeleton as belonging to a MacDermott, a recluse who was a fanatical Confederate, and every so often would trade British guineas for American money. The find is publicised in the regional newspapers and a federal agent Scott Duggan arrives. He is from the "War Claims Division of the Federal Government" and is looking for Confederate assets. Duggan states that MacDermott was a banker in Virginia during the Civil War who disappeared with the gold being held by the bank along with $250,000 in negotiable securities. Back at the ranch, Randy's long lost brother Johnny shows up and gets a job an the ranch.

Johnny is using the name Kane as he is an outlaw who is wanted in Texas for a bank robbery and murder which he claims that he didn't do. He asks Randy for help. Johnny is not sure if anyone is looking for him in Wyoming but he suspects that Duggan is. Duggan visits the cave and finds little but scratched letters reading "SUSSEX." He then visits the ranch foreman.

Duggan gets permission to search for the missing securities. Johnny's girlfriend Donna has also recently arrived and is working as a saloon entertainer.

Johnny finds out that Duggan is a federal agent and gets his girlfriend, a saloon entertainer, to find out what Duggan is looking for. She finds a letter appointing him a federal agent.

The letter reads:

Donna tells Johnny that Duggan is not looking for him but for $250,000, giving Johnny an idea. Meanwhile, Duggan visits the ranch.

Betsy arrives and suggests that the letters "SUSSEX" are actually "50 SSE X", meaning "50 paces south-southeast of X." The foreman suggests a Shoshoni Indian marker in the form of an 'X'.

Duggan paces off the 50 paces and digs up a metal box with the paper securities inside. Johnny is watching and shoots Duggan in the back, kills him, and buries him. Randy has followed his brother and hears the shooting. A ranch hand returns from Texas and shows the foreman a wanted poster.

The foreman realizes that the Johnny Benton on the poster is Kane and Randy Benton's brother. Johnny shows Randy the securities.

Johnny suggests that as the securities belonged to the Confederacy which doesn't exist any more, they are available to anyone and suggests that they both move out of the area. The foreman rides up and is captured and tied up by Johnny. Randy realizes that his brother is no good and refuses to go along with him. Another ranch employee arrives, sees the situation, and shoots Johnnie. The foreman, employee, and Randy ride off.

James Drury as The Virginian
Randy Boone as Randy Benton
Roberta Shore as Betsy Garth
Jeremy Slate as Johnny Kane / Benton
Merry Anders as Donna Durrell
Dick Foran as Duggan
Director: William Witney
Writers: Dean Riesner, Charles Marquis Warren