Temple of Doom - Coins in film, what are they?

WilliamBoyd8

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
Temple of Doom - Coins in film, what are they?

I am trying to identify the coins shown early in the film
"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (TOD).

Can anyone identify them or provide a better picture than an ordinary
DVD scan?

In the Shanghai nightclub, Lao tries to pay Jones with some coins for the
"Nurhachi", Jones replies "the diamond, Lao, the deal was for the diamond"
and spills the coins onto the table.

The coins are gold colored and there are about ten of them.

I watched a DVD of the film and tried to get a closeup of the coins to see
what they looked like, but all I got were fuzzy images.

I am interested in coins used in movies and have put a few pictures into a
website, however, not the coins from TOD.

http://www.brianrxm.com/mardir/movcns.htm

:confused:
 
DoomTown

DoomTown

Member
willieboydap said:
Temple of Doom - Coins in film, what are they?

I am trying to identify the coins shown early in the film
"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (TOD).

Can anyone identify them or provide a better picture than an ordinary
DVD scan?

In the Shanghai nightclub, Lao tries to pay Jones with some coins for the
"Nurhachi", Jones replies "the diamond, Lao, the deal was for the diamond"
and spills the coins onto the table.

The coins are gold colored and there are about ten of them.

I watched a DVD of the film and tried to get a closeup of the coins to see
what they looked like, but all I got were fuzzy images.

I am interested in coins used in movies and have put a few pictures into a
website, however, not the coins from TOD.

http://www.brianrxm.com/mardir/movcns.htm

:confused:
Click to expand...


Indy saw they were really chocolate coins...Sneaky Lao Che!!!:D
Wish I could help you, but they were more than likely just cheap prop coins...
 
StoneTriple

StoneTriple

New member
KVoss said:
Indy saw they were really chocolate coins...Sneaky Lao Che!!!:D
Click to expand...
Hey man, Indy was also trying to pull a fast one with Nurharechi. It's no wonder the deal fell apart.

TempleCandy.jpg
 
I

Inbanana

New member
willieboydap said:
Temple of Doom - Coins in film, what are they?

I am trying to identify the coins shown early in the film
"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (TOD).

Can anyone identify them or provide a better picture than an ordinary
DVD scan?

In the Shanghai nightclub, Lao tries to pay Jones with some coins for the
"Nurhachi", Jones replies "the diamond, Lao, the deal was for the diamond"
and spills the coins onto the table.

The coins are gold colored and there are about ten of them.

I watched a DVD of the film and tried to get a closeup of the coins to see
what they looked like, but all I got were fuzzy images.

I am interested in coins used in movies and have put a few pictures into a
website, however, not the coins from TOD.

http://www.brianrxm.com/mardir/movcns.htm

:confused:
Click to expand...

A couple of people over at Indygear have made replicas of coins that were said to have been bought from a crew member that worked on ToD. As far as the replicas go, they look like they're based on a 1600-1700 Portuguese moidore,
http://www.indyprops.com/pp-laocoins1.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e77/markpoon/18laochecoins.jpg
and match other coins that have been seen at auction,
http://www.yourprops.com/norm-48519c6027034-Indiana+Jones+And+The+Temple+Of+Doom+(1984).jpeg
http://www.yourprops.com/norm-480d7d13b7dfe-Indiana+Jones+And+The+Temple+Of+Doom+(1984).jpeg
however, like you said, its very difficult to confirm when all we have are blurry screen grabs (as is the same with a lot of the props and gear)... and the ones in the movie seem to have more of an aged/worn look to them than the replicas which makes it even more difficult...
 
WilliamBoyd8

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
Thank you InBanana!

It looks like my question has been answered.

By the way, Portuguese Moidores were one of the coins mentioned
in Robert Louis Stevenson's book "Treasure Island".

:)
 
I

Inbanana

New member
No problem... its something that I've also been wondering for awhile and hopefully when these movies come out on blu-ray we'll be able to get a better look at them...
 
Stoo

Stoo

Well-known member
^ Don'tcha just love The Raven? Kudos to Inbanana and hovitos. Now, that's service!:D
 
WilliamBoyd8

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
Hovitos,

Could you find out the diameter of your prop coin?

Of course, Indiana Jones would know about old coins, as they are often found at archaeological sites,
and sometimes provide valuable information.

Some Roman events are only known from coins issued to commemorate the events.

:)
 
H

hovitos

New member
I'll try to remember to measure it tonight. Won't be too accurate though, as it's sealed in a glass frame now.
 
I

Inbanana

New member
Wow... never seen that close up pic, thanks. Some of the replicas out there are the same size which I thought was a little small at first, but I guess this confirms that they were actually pretty accurate in the size and details...

Is that a date on the bottom... I can't make it out, but I think it says 1705?
 
WilliamBoyd8

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
About the Moidore:

It looks like the Portuguese King's name on the coin is Pedro II (Peter II)
who was king from 1683 to 1706.

The legend "PEDRO II DG PORT ET ALG REX" is an abbreviation for
"Pedro II by the Grace of God Portugal and Algavre King"

The legend "IN HOC SIGNO VINCES" is "in this sign you will conquer",
which was a slogan used by the Roman Emperor Constantine referring to
a vision of the Christian Cross assisting his army in a battle in AD 312.

A moidore would weigh around 10.7 grams, the closest United States gold
coin was the $5 coin, weighing 8.4 grams or around 1/4 troy ounce.

A moidore would be worth around $6 in the US or Spain, and 1.3 pounds or 27 shillings in Britain.

:)
 
WilliamBoyd8

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
This is speculation only, but one wonders why these particular coins were copied and used in the film.

"Moidore" was a shortened form of the Portuguese "Moeda de Ouro" and Spanish "Moneda de Oro", or "Money of Gold".

The term "moidore" usually refers to a Portuguese gold coin of made from 1640 to 1732. It was about the size of an old United States $5 gold coin.

Moidores were associated with pirates and appear in many books about them,

They formed part of the "treasure" in Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island.

In Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of the Four, an Englishman in India wonders "how my folk would stare when they saw their ne'er-do-well coming back with his pockets full of gold moidores" to justify his decision to commit a murder.

There's even a pirate novel by a Donald Maclean called The Luck of the Gold Moidore.

Sometime in the late 1700's, a man in London was brought before the "Old Bailey" court on a charge of piracy. One piece of evidence was a gold moidore found on him, possibly a token of recognition.

By offering moidores to Indiana Jones, was Lao Che implying that Jones was a modern-day archaelogical pirate?
And by his refusal of the coins was Jones telling Che that he was not.

The coin design features a square cross, known as the "Cross of Jerusalem".

This cross was the emblem of the Portugese military religious order, the Knights of Christ, founded in 1317 by King Dinis I of Portugal, who needed experienced soldiers.

He simply changed their name of an older military order, the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Also known as the Knights Templar or Templars.

The guys who supposedly found the Holy Grail in Jerusalem during the Crusades.

If our lad had accepted Lao Che's moidores, would he have become involved with medieval knights and/or a hunt for the Grail?

:)
 
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