COINS STRUCK FOR LIBERTARIAN MOVIES

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V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 25, June 15, 2014, Article 18

Michael Marotta submitted this article on promotional coins produced for two upcoming films with a libertarian theme. Thanks! -Editor

Atlas Shrugged III: Who is John Galt? will be released in September. Alongside Night is appearing right now in several cities ahead of a Beverly Hills red-carpet event in July. Both films have strong pro-market themes and both have had coins struck to support the movie. In both cases, the coins are actual props seen in the movie. In addition, replicas are being sold to fans.

Alongside Night was J. Neil Schulman’s 1979 dystopia about a world where massive inflation and government intervention resulted in protests and arrests. The movie version was two years into production when final funding came from Liberty Coin Service of Lansing, Michigan. The film’s headline star, Kevin Sorbo, provided additional funding to complete the project. The film also stars Garrett Wang and Tim Russ from the Star Trek: Voyager television series. Congressman Ron Paul has a cameo appearance.

We see the action through the eyes of 16-year-old Elliot Vreeland. Elliott searches for his father, a Nobel laureate economist who was targeted for arrest because he consulted with the Europeans to create a gold-based currency that effectively destroyed any remaining confidence in the U.S. dollar.

You can find a Teaser Trailer, an Official Trailer, and a Fan Trailer all on YouTube. The listing on the Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com provides the full cast.

After test runs at Libertopia and other events, the film opened in Lansing, Michigan, on April 24 and April 30. The film screens in Austin, Texas, June 18. It is also scheduled for the Libertarian Party national convention in Columbus, Ohio, June 26. Those and other showings are a ramp-up to a Beverly Hills red carpet event on July 14. The distributor is Tugg ( www.tugg.com/titles/alongside-night).

The coins in the original novel were Mexican 50 pesos gold issued 1921-1947. For the movie, Liberty Coins arranged with the Patrick Mint to create three new issues. The official movie prop, a one-ounce gold coin, is uniface and unique and not for sale. (In one of the trailers, the coin shown has Ludwig von Mises on the obverse, but that was a design concept only.) Based on that, Liberty ordered two types of quarter-ounce replicas, one in gold, the other in silver. Liberty is selling the coins through their eBay outlet, TreasureChestOfLiberty. The gold coin (100 struck) is $625 and the silver (mintage 1000) is $32.95.

Atlas Shrugged has influenced millions of Americans, first as a novel, and now as a cinema presentation. The final installment will be released September 12. In that, we see our heroine, Dagny Taggart, a willing prisoner in “Galt’s Gulch” a secret retreat for America’s productive capitalists. Dagny agrees to earn her keep as a John Galt’s housekeeper. He pays her five dollars for the month. In the book, Galt twice hands gold coins to Dagny.

The props for the movie are 22.5 mm, slightly larger than a U.S. half eagle $5 gold. The brass alloy replicas are plated with 24-karat gold and struck as proofs. They are for sale on the Atlas Shrugged movie website store ( http://store.atlasshruggedmovie.com) under Merchandise/Other. One variety is mounted on a bracelet. The other comes in a pouch. The price is $22.45 plus shipping.

I never took economics in school, but it's always been a side interest of mine. I enjoy reading the history of science, technology and business, and the occasional economic history. I never seem to finish those, and only got a third of the way through Atlas Shrugged. It'll be interesting to see how economic themes translate to the screen. It's far easier to get people to watch Godzilla stomping San Francisco. -Editor