WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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I'm not saying this is definitely a plot

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for a British Ocean's-11 style
heist caper,

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but if there are any screenwriters
out there watching this:

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I feel like this one might be for you.

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British coins have the year that they
were manufactured right on them.

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So if you're a coin collector,
and your dream is the full set,

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it's not just a case of finding
one of each design:

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you also want each value
from each year.

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But in 1933, Britain didn't
need any more pennies.

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There were plenty in circulation,

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so the Royal Mint,
who make - or "mint" - coins,

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decided they wouldn't make
any one-pence coins that year.

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That's not unusual,
it had happened before.

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Trouble is, King George V needed some.

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It was tradition for the King to bury
a full set of new coins from that year

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in the foundations of new and important
buildings as they were constructed,

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and you couldn't use old coins for that.

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So the Royal Mint did make
some 1933 pennies.

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No-one actually kept the records

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of how many there were,
but it was probably...

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seven.

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Which means that while the face value
of those seven coins is a penny,

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they're so rare that the price
at auction these days

24
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is easily more than £100,000.

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And over at a London coin dealership,
I got to see one of them.

26
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- This is from a private collection,

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one that's been loaned to us very kindly.

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It's great because it's such an iconic coin,

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we get a lot of visitors coming to see it.

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Usually these coins disappear into safes
and they're never seen again.

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The last sold in 2016 for a hammer price
of around £140,000.

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It's the first time one's been sold
for many, many years

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and one would imagine, if it was
to come on the market again,

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it would sell for even higher.

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- So there are probably seven 1933 pennies.

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Three are in private collections
I got to film one of those.
  

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Two are in museums.
And the others...
  

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...well, that's the possible heist movie.

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Because remember, the king
buried some of the coins.

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One of them was buried under this church
in Middleton, West Yorkshire.

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I say "was" because in 1970,
it was stolen.

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Whereabouts still unknown,
although presumably

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if someone in Yorkshire finds a 1933 penny
in their grandparents' coin collection,

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there'll be a bit of suspicion.
And after this theft...

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...the local bishop ordered that
the coins under this church

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should be dug up and sold

47
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in order to prevent them
falling into the hands of thieves.

48
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That's one of the pennies that's
in private hands legally now.

49
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Which means there is one building
and one buried coin left.

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The last 1933 penny is buried somewhere
under the foundations of Senate House,

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at the University of London.

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Or at least, everyone thinks it is.

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No-one's checked since 1933,
you'd have to dig it up.

54
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And I doubt anyone actually knows
exactly where it's buried,

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unless they've done a huge amount of research
and found some original blueprints.

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Which, to be clear, I haven't.
And besides, according to the university,

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the whole package is buried very deep,
not exactly where you'd expect,

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which does sound like
what someone would write

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if they were trying to discourage
amateur treasure-hunting thieves.

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But Senate House is right here,
in the middle of London.

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There is some construction around here today,

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a few people in high-viz jackets
with power tools.

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And while it's not exactly
cracking the vault of a Las Vegas casino...

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well, I don't have a plan for you.

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And I don't recommend anyone try it for real.

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But it is a heist movie waiting to happen.

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Seriously, don't try it. This isn't the movies.
It's... it's just a coin.

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I don't have any plans to...

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How do I make this sound not sarcastic?