In The Corner With Dan Hughes

There's a new coin book in town, and it dwarfs anything else you've ever seen.  It has over 1,500 pages and nearly 6,000 illustrations.  And it weighs in at almost 6 1/2 pounds.  It's called The Official Red Book - Deluxe Edition.  This week's show tells you all about it.   And to read about MY book, visit http://treasuremanual.com.  Thanks!

In 1941, the United States went to war.  And from late 1942 through 1945, our nickels were zero percent nickel, but 35 percent silver.  These silver nickels are known as War Nickels.Why the change in composition?  And why was a less-expensive metal replaced by a more-expensive metal?  Why were those huge mint marks put on our War Nickels but no other coins?  And why did we go back to nickel nickels, and small mint marks, after the war?Learn the answers in this week's edition of In the Treasure Corner.   And learn a lot more from my book, The Metal Detecting Manual.  Details and treasure articles at http://treasuremanual.com.

Soon, the face of a woman will adorn our ten-dollar bill.  But which woman?Mr. Jack Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, wants your help in choosing.  Sacajawea?  Eleanor Roosevelt?  Miley Cyrus?There is no one woman who really stands out, but there are plenty of women who should be seriously considered.  This program explains which women, by law, cannot be chosen.  And it looks at men who have been on currency for clues as to the women who might make the cut.  Listen at http://thetreasurecorner.com.   And check out my book The Metal Detecting Manual, at http://treasuremanual.com.

The Official Blackbook Price Guide to United States Coins is a normal-size paperbook book with over 650 pages of coin history, coin information, and coin values.  It's a great backup book to the Bressett-Yeoman Red Book, which is the best book available for coinshooters and coin collectors.  Though the two books overlap a lot, they also have enough differences to make it worthwhile to own a copy of each.  In this show, I compare and contrast the Red Book and the Blackbook.And speaking of books for treasure hunters....visit treasuremanual.com!

Meeting actress Kathy Garver made me wonder if any celebrities were into treasure hunting.  Kathy, who played big sister Cissy on the TV show Family Affair (with Brian Keith and Sebastian Cabot, and two twins named Buffy and Jody - remember?), asked my advice on what detector would be good for a beginner.  She sounded eager to get into the hobby!So maybe we can convince her to join our ranks, and get her hands good and dirty on days when she's not on the soundstage.  This week's episode of In the Treasure Corner abounds with show biz glitz!  So sit back and enjoy.And then visit my Metal Detecting Manual website, http://treasuremanual.com.

Why did Shirley Temple turn down the lead role in The Wizard of Oz? Who named his sidekick after his high school shop teacher - and for good reason? Which actor did Lassie himself pick to be in his TV series? How old was the Naughty Lady of Shady Lane?All these questions were asked in the Trivia Bowl at last year's Cincinnati Nostalgia Convention.  This program gives you all the answers. Pictured are last year's winners - The Tom Mix Ralston Straightshooters (left to right, Jim Widner, Randy Larson, Bill Oates, and Meredith Granger).  

Wanna be a big TV star on a reality show that will be shown worldwide?  I got a phone call yesterday from Naela Durrani, a casting associate for a new reality show that covers people who have suddenly come into a lot of money.People who won the lottery, or invented a popular app, or received an unexpected inheritance - or found a treasure with a metal detector.And she called me because she thought I might know of such a person, since I know a lot of treasure hunters and such.  If you fit the description of a person they're looking for, here's the phone number:  808-259-2106.  Ask for Naela (that's "Ny-La"). And if you're not the one, you'll still enjoy the show.    You'll also enjoy my book, The Metal Detecting Manual.  Two new letters just yesterday from ecstatic readers!  Check it out at http://treasuremanual.com.

Beautiful dames, psychotic criminals, and ominous organ music - the classic elements of the audio-noir private eye radio show.  This one was called I Deal in Crime, and the detective was named Ross Dolan.  He was played by William Gargan, who three years later would play private eye Martin Kane.  Gargan was also a film actor, and he appeared in over 90 movies and nine TV series.  This episode of I Deal in Crime is called The Davis Daughter Case, and it first ran on April 15, 1946.

Not all hidden treasures are buried in the ground.  I've seen many stories of treasures being found inside mattresses when an old person died, or inside walls when an old house was torn down.  In this show, I review a book that covers indoor hiding places.  It was written to help you hide valuables inside homes or vehicles, but with reverse-engineering it becomes a book on finding cleverly-hidden treasures.Several books have been written on this topic, and this one (The Big Book of Secret Hiding Places, by Jack Luger) is pretty representative of the bunch.  If you're ever asked to search a house, this book will give you some ideas you would never have come up with on your own. For normal treasure hunting with a metal detector, check out my book at http://treasuremanual.com. 

Edgar Rice Burroughs was destitute.  He had tried several careers, from gold mining to running a retail store, from cowboying (?) to the army, and failed in all of them.  Finally, at the age of 35, he turned to writing.  He believed he could write better drivel than he was seeing in the pulp magazines, and his first effort, Under the Moons of Mars, sold for $400.  He was on his way.He wrote Mars books and Venus books and "inner Earth" books and westerns, but he is best remembered for his 26 Tarzan books.There are over 200 Tarzan movies, and comic books, and newspaper strips, and action figures.  And three radio series.  This episode is from the third series, which ran from 1950 to 1953.  Tarzan and the Hooded Death first aired on January 25, 1951.

Lloyd Nolan and Claire Trevor were two movie stars who also starred in a short-run, kind-of-private-eye series in late 1944.Lloyd Nolan appeared in the movies for a full half-century, from 1935 to 1985.  He was detective Michael Shayne in a series of films, and he appeared in such movies as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Peyton Place.Claire Trevor won an Oscar in 1948 for her work in Key Largo.  She made films for 54 years, from 1933 to 1987.Lloyd Nolan was ex-circus performer Johnny Strange, who used his circus skills in his new business.  And Claire Trevor was Terry Travers, his blonde and beautiful secretary.Though it lasted for just 12 episodes, Results Incorporated was a fine show.  Why was it over so quickly?  Probably because Nolan and Trevor were just too busy making movies.Here's the premiere episode of Results Incorporated, from October 7, 1944.  It's called The Haunted House.

Pictured here are, top row, Gerhard Fischer (later spelled Fisher) and Kenneth C. White, and bottom row, Charles Garrett and Jack Gifford (Tesoro).They are the four men who founded the four premier metal detector manufacturing companies in the United States.  And with the passing last week of Charles Garrett, we have lost all four.This week's In the Treasure Corner podcast remembers these giants of the industry, and wishes time didn't pass quite so quickly as it does.   For a look at my book, The Metal Detecting Manual, and some helpful hints on treasure hunting, visit http://treasuremanual.com.

Here's another fun show that slipped through the cracks.  What happens when an average American family is bequeathed a genuine English butler?  That's easy - hilarity ensues, of course.  Harry McNaughton, who for years was a panelist on the zany quiz show It Pays To Be Ignorant, was Higgins.  The show ran for just three months, from July to September, 1951.  Here's the first episode, Higgins Arrives, which first aired on July 3, 1951.

The first thing you notice about a gold dollar is how tiny it is - about a half inch across.  And it weighs about 1/25 of an ounce, or about half the weight of a dime.Then if you're especially perceptive, you might notice that Lady Liberty has the same facial outline as the Indian on the Indian head penny.  Why?  Because somebody was lazy....The gold dollar was minted for just 41 years, from 1849 to 1889.  But in that short time, its design was changed three times.  Its gold content is worth less than $60.00, but its collectible value can be over a quarter of a million dollars.  Why was the gold dollar made thinner in 1854?  Why was it discontinued?  What two factors caused its downfall?  How did the Civil War affect our gold coin minting?  Why were gold coins used more in the early 1850s than at any other time?These questions and more are answered in the latest edition of In the Treasure Corner.   And for secrets of getting more depth from your metal det

What do Superman, Popeye, and the Falcon have in common?  The stars of all those shows were also stars in the detective radio drama, Philo Vance.Philo is played by Jackson Beck, who was the voice of Popeye's Bluto.  His secretary was played by Joan Alexander, who was Superman's Lois Lane.  And the DA was played by George Petri, who was the Falcon.  Philo may have been rather the dandy in his early books, but by the time he made it to radio, he was a hard-boiled private detective.  This episode, The Cover Girl Mystery Case, first aired on October 12, 1948. 

Schoolbook controversies are nothing new.  Nearly three-quarters of a century ago, the subject was covered in this episode of a CBS docu-drama called The Free Company.  Should American history textbooks cover only the glowing, positive aspects of our early heroes, or should they present the complete truth, warts and all?The group that produced these shows, the Free Company, was about as prestigious as you could get.  Nobody was paid, and writers included Ernest Hemingway, Stephen Vincent Benet, Norman Corwin, William Saroyan, and Sherwood Anderson.  Hollywood actors like John Garfield, Orson Welles, and Paul Muni volunteered their services, and the series was hosted by Burgess Meredith.The series ran less than three months in early 1941.  This episode, The Mole on Lincoln's Cheek, aired on March 2, 1941.

Here's a rapidfire quiz about coins.  The questions are hard but fun, and the answers are given right after the questions are asked.  So if you want to make guesses as you go, keep your finger on the pause button and hit it just as soon as I finish reading the question.  Which of today's coins have the least amount of copper content?  How many mints have been in Philadelphia since 1792?Do you know what strange thing happens when you pay for a $3.59 purchase with a $20 bill?What was the Buzzard coin?  Who proposed our decimal money system?  What were the modern-day era years of no mint marks?  Learn the answers to all of these and a lot more, in under five minutes.   For more articles on metal detecting and an ad for my book, The Metal Detecting Manual, visit http://treasuremanual.com.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, television was exploding everywhere, and radio was fading.  Radio producers went to great lengths to survive as long as they could.  One of their tricks was to hire famous movie stars as radio actors.  Hence Jimmy Stewart as the Six-Shooter, Alan Ladd in Box 13, and Bogart and Bacall in Bold Venture.  The Ziv Company, a radio syndicator, created a show starring Irene Dunne (five Oscar nominations) and Fred MacMurray (who would become even more popular several years later on My Three Sons).  The show was called Bright Star, but it was also called The Irene Dunne and Fred MacMurray Show in an attempt to pull in more listeners.Dunne was a smalltown newspaper editor and MacMurray her star reporter, George.  The program ran just one season, in 1952-53.  This episode, George and the Society Burglar, first aired on December 11, 1952.

The Blue Beetle began as a comic book in August, 1939.  In 1940, CBS radio brought him to the airwaves.  Dan Garrett was a rookie cop who had a good friend named Dr. Franz, who was a pharmacist and an inventor.  Dr. Franz invented a lightweight bulletproof "superbeing" costume for Officer Garrett, and he also concocted a special formula called Vitamin 2X, which gave Garrett "super energy."  With the magic vitamin and the bulletproof uniform, Dan Garrett became the Blue Beetle, fighting for truth, justice, and  - no, wait, that's the OTHER superhero.The Blue Beetle reappeared briefly in the 1950s, then again in the 1960s, and finally as a DC property in the 1980s.  And by the way, if you enjoy Nightbeat, you'll be happy to know that the Blue Beetle was played on the radio by Frank Lovejoy.  This episode, Thoroughbreds Always Come Through, aired on June 19,1940.

New Minelab gold detector:  $12,499.00Most expensive Garrett gold detector:  $799.95*Is any detector worth twelve and a half thousand dollars?  Are you buying more than just the parts that make up this machine?  What exactly does "up to 40% more depth" mean?  On the other hand, if you live in gold country, one good find could pay for this machine.  This is head-swimming territory, and I'm not sure how to handle it.  What do YOU think? *(To be fair, Garrett also has a deepseeker detector package at $3,280, but that one comes with two coils and several accessories and does much more than find gold.)   For more articles on metal detecting and information about my book The Metal Detecting Manual, visit http://treasuremanual.com.