Back in the late sixties or early Super70s I remember a Mannix episode that I would like to see again or at least get some information about. It was about a truck loded with bags of silver coins that was stolen enroute to the US Mint.

The scene that was so interesting to me was the one where the stolen truck was being opened by the thieves and a bag was slit open to be sure the coins were silver. Once that fact was verified the truck was closed again. The interesting thing to me was that the bags were stacked to the ceiling of the truck and prusumably from front to rear. If that were so, the truck would never have been able to leave the driveway of the US Mint and would have collapsed before being completly loaded.

I worked at the US mint during those years and saw many trucks both loaded and unloaded. The fact was that the silver and clad coins came in from the Federal Reserve Bank in SF and were sorted in a home built machine that used an electronic signal to shunt the silver coins into a different bin than the clad ones. The silver coins were melted down into silver bars and sold off.

Also a member of the US Mint Security Force was investigating the theft outside the US Mint property which at that time was not allowed. The US Secret Service was responsible for that along with the FBI.

Another reason I liked the show was because my last name was used by the character of the US Mint officer. I have never seen a rerun and do not know if anything like that is available. If so I would like to get one for my video collection. I always enjoyed the Mannix series even though some of the scenes were not always believable, but afterall it is just entertainment, right? (Submitted on 8-5-04)

--Phil Ca