The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 16, April 17, 2005, Article 17

"SAHARA" AND $20 CONFEDERATE GOLD "COINS"

Joe Boling writes: "Responding to the query about the numismatic
content of the film "Sahara," I was stuck in Kansas City after
the ANA convention by the closure of Denver airport. I had
never heard of "Sahara" until I noted it on the theater marquee
in the Crown Center, and then the next day here comes the
question in The E-Sylum. So I went to it while I was cooling my
heels in KC.

One of the two story threads deals with a treasure hunt for
Confederate gold removed from Richmond at the close of the
Civil War, aboard the ironclad CSS Texas. The boat ends up
underground in a dry riverbed in Mali (of course!). I understand
that in the novel, the gold is in bullion form, but in the film it is in
coined form. In the one place in the script where the denomination
is mentioned, the coins are referred to as dollars. The one close
up shows the inscription C.S.A. 20 dollars, and the coins are
double eagle size (with reeding coarse enough to use as a comb).
There is very little mention of the coins as numismatic items - the
emphasis is on their recovery. The second story thread deals
with tracing the source of a virulent disease, which also turns
out to be in Mali. Actual filming was done in Morocco. "

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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