One of my favorite television shows is History Detectives, the PBS show featuring four investigators with interests in antiques, history, and sociology research the background and history of artifacts in the possession of ordinary Americans. It is one of the most popular series on PBS.

The show enters its sixth season starting on June 30. The first episode will feature Elyse Luray investigating a coin with a bent, split edge that may have been shot by Annie Oakley during a Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and given to the contributor’s great-grand uncle.

There are two issues for this investigation: was the great-grand uncle in a place to be able to receive the coin and was the coin something that would have been used by Oakley in the show? The coin is an 1853 two Centimes coin from France. Would that coin have been available in America during the mid-ninteenth century?

You can find out when the show will be aired in your area from the PBS website. If you do not mind a little spoiler before watching the show, you can write up by Susan Headly, the moderator at coins.about.com.

Image courtesy of PBS.org

Labels: coins, history