Frankie Laine and 20,000 silver dollars a week

Some of you may remember this story from when I posted it back in 2015, but it's a fascinating story that stirs the treasure seeking imagination. What this man did was a stroke of genius.

Most people under 70 have never heard of Frankie Laine or at least know very little about him. Personally I like his music, particularly the western albums he did in the late 1950's to the early 60's.

Mr. Laine had 14 top ten hits and 3 number ones before the rock and roll era, but only one top ten hit after 1954. All in all, he sold over 100 million records. After his hit-making heyday, he was hugely popular in person for many years with the middle age and older folks. In late 1963 when this story takes place, he was still able to command $20,000 a week playing Vegas.

Anyway here's the story:

If you're younger than Social Security age, there's a good chance you don't know who Frankie Laine was. Most popular in the 1940's and 1950's, he had 21 gold recordings and sold over 100 million records. Besides big hits like That's My Desire and Jezebel, the powerful voiced singer also was well known to western fans. In addition to the theme songs for High Noon and the original 3:10 To Yuma, he did the unforgettable theme for Clint Eastwood's first starring role in the TV series Rawhide. Later, he sang the title track to the Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles.

Mr. Laine was quite a numismatist too. He was a client of FCI and told the head of the company a fascinating story about getting paid for some Las Vegas performances in silver dollars. After reading the story, it's obvious Mr. Laine was a darn smart numismatist who had the foresight to see a once-in-a-lifetime coin collecting opportunity when he saw it.

Technically, this isn't a metal detecting story per se, but I know a number of forum members have at least some interest in coin collecting. Since I checked on the internet and this tale doesn't seem to be around anywhere, I thought I'd pass it along here.

For those who don't already know, a little silver dollar history.

Nowadays, we appreciate the beauty and historical significance of the Morgan and Peace silver dollars. But before the silver hoarding of the 1960's, virtually nobody outside of Vegas wanted them. Assuming they had them in stock, banks would give you as many as you wanted. Consumers didn't want them because they were big, bulky and less convenient than dollar bills. Retailers didn't want them for the same reason. Plus they took up an extra change drawer in their cash registers.

Unwanted anywhere else, Morgan and Peace dollars were the coin of the realm for the dollar slots in Las Vegas until 1965 which was the year when most casinos switched to privately produced tokens because of the disappearance of silver coins due to hoarding. Up until 1965, you could get as many as you wanted at the casinos for face value.

From the 1975 article "The Wild Goose Turns Numismatist" by Stanley Apfelbaum:

"It all happened at the Dunes Hotels in Las Vegas about ten years ago when Frank was singing there during a two week stint. Those were the last days that Las Vegas casinos were using silver dollars as a regular medium of exchange...Frankie conceived of the idea of a public relations stunt whereby he would take one week's pay in Silver Dollars, let the press know about it, and maybe get some coverage thereby. The public relations man at the hotel went along with the idea, and it was arranged for an armored car to bring Frankie's pay to the front door of the hotel on a certain day, all in Silver Dollars. Reporters and photographers were present, and through the Casino and the lobby of the hotel marched a procession of armed guards carrying bags of Silver Dollars. Bags of Silver Dollars? Sure, since each one contains 5,000 Silver Dollars and Frankie's salary was then in the area of $20,000 per week.

The whole procession marched up to Frank's suite and his poor wife watched aghast as Silver Dollars were dumped on the floor and various silly shots were taken of Frank and his week's pay. Sure enough the gimmick worked and Frank got some good public relations out of the deal, and after everyone left he calmly turned to his wife and said: "I'm glad that's over with". She, not so calm, said: "Great, Frank, now who's going to clean up this mess!" It took Frank about two hours and a wrenched back at that to put all the Silver Dollars back into the canvas bags. But while he was shoveling the coins back into their bags, he started looking at the dates and the mint marks, and started pulling out all mint marks marked CC (the Carson City Mint). He actually took out of the more than 20,000 pieces about 400 Carson City Silver Dollars, and if you were wondering what those pieces were worth then, I would say probably just a small premium over the regular dates and mints...

In any case the thought struck Frank that here was a bonanza that he could not afford to give up. He and Nan began to demand his weekly pay in Silver Dollars, and during the eight weeks that Frank sang at the Dunes at that particular time, every Friday the armored car would come up to the door of the hotel, the troop would file into Frank's suite, coins would be dumped on the floor, and Nan and Frank would go through all the coins and sort them out by date, mint and condition. I might tell you that Frank has not sold one of the coins he took out of those bags at that time and still has every one of them!

He had a feeling for the pieces. He believed in value. He instinctively sought out the better grades and dates and mint marks. The sight of him playing on the floor with tens of thousands of Silver Dollars must have been funny indeed, but as Frank said and Nan agreed, at least it kept him away from the gambling tables!"

that's quite a story! I believe frank sang "mule train" a long time ago, and it was a smash hit!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

You're right, John, that was a number one hit.

Neat story.
Thanks for posting it.

Chris