i'm jamie colby. thanks for watching "strange inheritance," and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪ [ cheering ] >> the original hoop dream. >> these really are the rules here -- 1891, james naismith. granddad's signature. >> incredible. >> one family's heirloom... >> you think your great-grandfather could ever envision that the game he developed could be what it is today? >> ...goes on one wild ride. >> he starts looking around and thinks, "oh, my goodness. where are the rules?" >> no. >> it's a national treasure with a big price tag. >> you paid more than the emancipation proclamation. >> yeah, well... [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today

i'm on the road in lawrence, kansas, on my way to the university of kansas home of the jayhawks, one of the most storied teams in all of basketball. now, kansas is actually not where the tale of this strange inheritance begins, but through a turn of events, it does wind up here. >> in 1939, my grandfather, dr. james naismith passed away and left us an artifact that dates back to 1891. >> he was my great-grandfather, and what he left us was the magna carta of basketball. >> naismiths. jamie. >> i'm jim. good to meet you. >> hi, jim. how are you? >> jamie, i'm sean naismith. >> great to meet you both. >> likewise. >> i am interested to hear about your strange inheritance. i'm awfully curious what the connection is to k.u. >> we'd love to show you. my great-grandfather, dr. james naismith, started the first basketball teams here at k.u. [ whistle blows ] >> but time out! let's reset the clock.

the boy who would grow up to invent basketball, james naismith, is born in ontario, canada, in 1861. at age 9, he and his brother and sister are orphaned when both their parents die of typhoid fever. >> the three kids were left with a bachelor uncle. now, that is not the softest person to be raising three kids on a farm. i know for sure that he just deeply missed his mother. >> james drops out of school at the age of 15 to work in a lumber mill. by 19, he's working hard and drinking harder. >> he was in the bar drinking too much, and there was an older man down at the end of the bar and said, "are you margaret young's son?" and he said, "i am." the response was, "she'd roll over in her grave if she saw you now." he made a decision to go back to high school at the age of 20. >> and after that to mcgill university. james letters in rugby and soccer while earning degrees in

physical education and theology. it's just the résumé one employer is looking for. >> he talked to some people that encouraged him to take a look and see what the ymca is up to. >> the y? >> ymca, yeah -- young men's christian association. >> at the time, legions of young men are leaving farm country for cities. they're rowdy and unchaperoned. jumping into the breach, the ymca, founded on the principle of muscular christianity. its mission -- to promote clean christian living through athletics. >> the thought was -- we can teach more through athletics than we can from the pulpit. james' pulpit becomes the ymca training center in springfield, massachusetts. in december 1891, he's tasked with creating an indoor activity for a group of young men during the winter. so, he dreams this game up? >> he had to start from scratch,

and that's when the thinking started. >> the light bulb goes on one night, and he's ready to start the next morning. >> evidently, he asked the maintenance man there, "i need a box -- you know, something you can put a ball in." and he came back and said, "i can't find any boxes. i got a couple of peach baskets." >> oh, my -- for peaches. james hangs one up at each end of the gym, 10 feet high -- only because that's where he could get the nails in. he picked up a soccer ball because it was big enough where you had to hold it out. you couldn't hide it. the arched shot came from the little game of "duck on a rock," a kid's game in canada. >> then, he calls the boys in. >> he describes the first game. he said, "i had multiple black eyes, a dislocated shoulder, one guy completely knocked out." >> but the new game's a big hit. his young men begged to play again, so james tries to civilize it a bit. he types of 13 basic rules and

tacks them to a board in the gym. "if basketball is your religion, these are the tablets moses brought down from the mountain." do you have a copy of those? >> i've got them in here. >> so, let me just take a look. basketball he has "basket ball." >> yeah. >> two words. >> yeah. evidently, somebody suggested naismith ball, and he said, "i don't think that'll work." >> a month later, in january 1892, naismith's basketball rules are publish in the springfield college newspaper. rule 1 says, "the ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands." and the game is supposed to be non-contact. there's no shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking. ♪ >> hey, coach. i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. how are you? >> i asked some young players from the mokan basketball program in kansas city to demonstrate for you how today's

hoops differ from the original game. so, coach, the naismith version of basketball has 13 rules. now you have 150 pages of rules in the nba. what are the big differences? >> the big difference is rule #3. back in the olden days, you had to actually pass the ball, and right where you catch it, you had to stop right there. so now the guys can actually dribble and go places. i don't know -- no dribbling? you instructed the guys to give us a little demonstration of how it's done. >> go right ahead. [ whistle blows ] >> that's right. i'm calling the shots. [ buzzer ] [ bell dings ] >> at this point, they can't dribble the ball at all. they just have to move and pass. teamwork's coming into play now. [ bell dings ] the game's a little bit slower, a little bit harder to get up and down the floor. >> right. nicely done. do you ever think that basketball went in a direction

that is different than what it was originally intended? i think it's better now, and it's more entertaining. >> you think your great-grandfather could ever envision that the game he developed could be what it is today? >> he saw it change a lot in his lifetime. you know, many rules come into the game -- some he was happy about, some he wasn't so happy about. >> what was his vision? was it just about an athletic sport, or more? >> he said building character was something that he strove for, along with athleticism. >> building character through athletics -- james really spreads that gospel. when after marrying and earning his md, he joins the university of kansas as chaplain and p.e. instructor. it's 1898. his first move -- start a college hoops team. soon, basketball is played at schools across the u.s. and by newly formed professional teams.

naismith even sees his game go global, thanks to the ymca's christian missionaries who teach it overseas. your grandfather must have been a very wealthy man. >> wrong. [ laughs ] >> wait, look at where basketball is today. multi-million-dollar contracts, endorsements, and the merchandising. didn't he ever protect his ownership? >> no, he characterized the game as a gift. >> but even a christian can make a buck. >> well, that's true, but what was his bottom line? make the world a better place for having been here. >> dr. naismith said, "it's hard to describe to anybody the feeling i get when i'm in a foreign country and i see on some back road a basketball hoop nailed up to a tree. that means more to me than $1 million dollars. >> which brings us back to those original rules he wrote in 1891. what did james do with them? >> he was a woodworker, and he actually built a sideboard, and he kept a little secret compartment that the rules were

kept in for many years. >> seems he always knew he was onto something. so does his youngest son, james naismith jr. in 1931, he gets his aging father to authenticate his 13 rules with a signature. >> this says, "first draft of basketball rules, hung in the gym that the boys might learn the rules." >> mm-hmm. >> when james dies in 1939, that original statement of the rules passes to james jr., jim's father. a nail-biting ride is about to begin. did he carry it around, the original? >> he carried around the original rules. >> he had it insured, though. >> he did not have it insured. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the answer after the break.

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>> it's b, moses malone, in the 1978-79 season for the houston rockets. he was paid exactly $1 million. >> when dr. james naismith dies in 1939, he leaves his son james jr. a strange inheritance, two typewritten pages outlining his invention -- basketball.

almost immediately, the game explodes into a worldwide phenomenon. by 1959, they're even building a hall of fame in basketball's birthplace -- springfield, massachusetts. james naismith is not only the first inductee. the place is named after him. his son loans the museum the rules. >> the goal is to display them, show the world. >> by the time james naismith jr. dies in 1980, his heirs are not pleased with the hall of fame. >> i went to school in upstate new york, so i stick my head in the door. "hi, there, i'm jim naismith. i'd like to see the rules." and they would find them in the safe. >> in the safe? >> in the safe. >> not displayed? >> no, the hall of fame apparently didn't really know what to do with them or what really needed to be done. >> jim's brother, 42-year-old ian naismith, isn't just dismayed with the hall but with the game itself. for while many think basketball is enjoying a golden age -- bird, jordan, magic, the dream

team -- ian sees a sport that has strayed far from their grandfather's original vision. >> he wasn't very happy with the state that basketball was in at the time. >> what's his beef with it? >> if you recall in the '90s, there were fights on the court, there were fights with fans. he felt it was time to remind the world that the game was a gift. >> underscoring ian's sense that basketball has forgotten its roots, the hall of fame building falls into disrepair and ian fears that when it's renovated, the building will no longer prominently feature his grandfather's name. >> he got upset and told them that he's gonna climb up there himself and spray-paint in orange letters. >> the new building does keep the naismith name, but ian convinces the hall of fame to return the neglected rules to the family. he wants to reform the sport and has a plan to call attention to his cause. in 1995, he hits the road in this rv with his strange

inheritance. >> what's a better attraction than the original 13 rules of basketball from 1891? did he carry it around, the original? >> he carried around the original rules. it was in a gold briefcase. it was fire-proofed, between two plates of glass. but it's in a briefcase. >> ian brings the family heirloom to schools and gives lectures on his grandfather's original hoop dream. >> people say, "well, naismith, you want everything to stay the same. nothing stays the same." sportsmanship, respect, dignity, positive role modeling, and teamwork can stay the same. and should. >> ian travels the rules to big games, like the final four and the nba all stars. >> did your dad ever have them appraised? >> he did. they appraised at approximately $5 million. >> he's driving around with a $5 million-appraised document. >> he had it insured, though. >> he did not have it insured. that premium would have been about $50,000 a year. >> so you can imagine ian's horror on a trip to kansas city.

>> he starts looking around and thinks, "oh, my goodness. where are the rules?" >> you're kidding. that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer when we return. this is the silverado special edition. this is one gorgeous truck. oh, did i say there's only one special edition? because, actually there's 5. aaaahh!! ooohh!! uh! holy mackerel. wow. nice. strength and style. which one's your favorite? come home with me! it's truck month! find your tag for an average total value over $11,000 on chevy silverado all star editions when you finance through gm financial. find new roads at your local chevy dealer.

>> the answer is c. they banned the dunk shot. after lew alcindor, later known as kareem abdul-jabbar, dominated the season, the ban was rescinded in 1976. >> in 2002, ian naismith,

grandson of dr. james naismith, the inventor of basketball, is on a mission to preserve the game's true legacy in the face of what he sees as its ongoing decline. one of the 12 values that dr. naismith saw in the game was sportsmanship. and my dad felt that was the one thing that was really lacking at that time in the game. >> he spent almost a decade traveling the thirteen original rules, which have been appraised at $5 million, to schools and sporting events. touring the country with a document worth $5 million with no insurance in a gold briefcase -- >> he was a very risk-tolerant person. >> just outside lawrence, kansas, ian realizes the rules have gone missing. >> he finished up a meal, got in his van, and when he gets to lawrence, he starts looking around and thinks, "oh, my goodness. where are the rules?" >> no. >> he called his waitress, who gets on the phone and says, "mr. naismith, i can guarantee

you 100% that i saw you walk out with those rules." and he goes back out to his conversion van and starts tearing it apart. luckily, they were actually in the van. >> that was a close call. >> it was a very close call. the scare helps the family realize they can't keep their strange inheritance forever. >> my brother did talk to me and he said, "in order to properly value and protect, they may have to eventually be sold." and he and i agreed on that. ian contacts leila dunbar, then-director of collectibles at sotheby's auction house in new york. >> her first step -- make sure the rules are the real thing. >> the rules scored a 10/10 because they had come down from dr. naismith to his son to ian naismith. having his signature on it added another layer of documentation and i think added value to it. >> so, what is it worth? at the time, the priciest sports

document is the contract that sent babe ruth to the yankees from the red sox in 1919. in 2005, it sold for $996,000. >> sotheby's believes the naismith rules will fetch more. >> if you're a basketball fan, you could certainly consider them the magna carta of basketball. >> they set the minimum bid at $1.3 million. that's less than the $5 million the rules were once appraised for. the proof will be in the bidding. >> it's like a horse race. you just don't know how it's going to end. >> or where they'll end up. jim, it's like fort knox here. >> [ laughs ] >> next... what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. the future of business in new york state is already in motion. companies across the state are growing the economy,

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> it's december 2010 in new york city.

the heirs of james naismith, the man who invented basketball, are ready to sell the original set of rules that naismith posted in a ymca gym back in 1891. the famed sotheby's auction house has set the minimum bid at $1.3 million. >> the auction generated a tremendous amount of excitement. >> unbeknownst to the naismith clan, a lawrence, kansas, native and k.u. grad turned texas billionaire named david booth is one of the bidders. >> i was born in lawrence. i grew up naismith drive. >> now he's in the game via telephone from austin, texas. >> this was a highly unprecedented auction. you had bobby kennedy's original copy of the emancipation proclamation. you had the only known flag that survived custer's last stand at little bighorn, and then you had the rules. >> talk about competition. the flag from little bighorn sells for $2.2 million.

the emancipation proclamation beats that easily -- $3.7 million. >> you could feel the tension building throughout the other two sales. >> the comes harlem globetrotter curly neal to introduce the basketball rules. the bidding races to $3 million. it's a jump ball between david booth and one other phone bidder. >> did you know who it was? >> i didn't at the time, but it turns out it's a good friend of mine -- david rubenstein. >> rubenstein, also a billionaire, once purchased a 13th century copy of the actual magna carta for more than $20 million. >> about $3.2 million, you could feel mr. rubenstein starting to slow down. he had to think about each bid more carefully. >> and then, the final bid. >> on my left, $3,800,000. >> sold to david booth! >> you paid more than the emancipation proclamation. >> yeah, well,

that's because there's only one original rules, and the emancipation proclamation, i think, had about a dozen. >> with the auction house commission added in, the price comes to $4.3 million, the most ever paid at auction to date for any sports memorabilia. for the heirs of james naismith, the man who invented a game that grew into a multi-billion-dollar worldwide phenomenon, it's a long overdue payday. wait! stop the clock! yes, there's but seconds left in this "strange inheritance" tale, but still time for one last twist. >> turns out, the naismiths don't cash in. they donate their millions from the sale to a charity that helps poor kids with food, clothes, and basketball courts. it was founded by ian naismith, who dies two years after the auction at the age of 73. >> really good things can be done with money, but granddad's focus was people. >> and high bidder david booth

has a surprise, too. he donates the rules to his alma mater and james naismith's old employer, the university of kansas. jim, it's like fort knox here. >> [ laughs ] >> they're keeping it under lock and key, and i can only open it for a few minutes, i'm told. >> it's been a long time since you've saw them. >> it's been a long time. that's it. >> wow. it's very emotional. >> it is emotional. i see here -- 1891. james naismith. granddad's signature. >> and what is your great-grandfather saying, knowing that they've come full circle and they're back here? >> oh, he's cheering somewhere. [ cheering ] >> speaking of goals, one of the quirks of the original game of basketball was that the baskets had no holes in the bottom. so every time somebody scored, you had to climb up there with a ladder and fetch the ball. this was obviously annoying, so somebody figured out a way to build a better basket. swoosh! nothing but net!

i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. [ whistle blows ] >> loose change in a desk drawer. >> for 30-plus years, this baggage has sat around? >> yes. >> inside, a fabled coin. >> it was a unicorn, talked about but never seen. >> a rare coin that could bring in millions of dollars at auction this spring. >> sounds like "ka-ching!" >> one coin, potentially worth $2 million? >> one penny. >> but then, the government flips. >> they're coming after you. >> they are. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

>> i'm jamie colby. and today i am cruising ocean side in beautiful la jolla, california, just north of san diego. i'm on my way to meet an heir whose strange inheritance stunned the coin-collecting world, then led to a showdown with uncle sam. >> my name is randy lawrence. i inherited a baggie of coins from my father, who worked at the denver mint. imagine a shiny penny. but instead of being copper-colored, it's silver. that was one of the coins my dad left me. and it turned my life upside down. >> hi, randy. i'm jamie. >> hello. nice to meet you. >> so great to meet you, too. and i heard that your inheritance came in a small plastic bag? >> it did. >> randy shows me in, sits me down, and hands me a baggie full of coins. well, they can't be very valuable, i guess, if they're still sitting here in a ziploc. >> well, those particular ones

aren't necessarily. but there was one in that bag that was quite valuable. >> where is it? can i see it? >> well, i don't have it. >> huh? >> yeah, there's a little bit of a story. >> it's the story of randy's dad, harry lawrence, who grows up near denver, takes a shine to engineering, and studies metallurgy at the colorado school of mines. after serving in the army corps of engineers during world war ii, harry heads to chicago, where he lands a job as a foreman at a smelting plant, sweltering work, but not nearly as hot as the time harry spends hanging around the water cooler. >> that's where he met my mother. she was a receptionist, and he was a manager. and she was much younger and very pretty. and i think she just made him work for it. >> and he won. >> and he won. >> randy is the second of two boys. in 1960, when he's 3,

his dad accepts a job at the us mint in denver, packs up the family, and heads west. it was a dream job for him because it was bringing him back to colorado. >> was it pretty prestigious to have a father who worked at the denver mint? >> i felt it was. in the schoolyard, when other children would ask me, "well, what's your dad do," i... "makes money." and they said, "no, no, really, what's he do?" "no, he makes money." >> randy's dad loves the precision that goes into minting the nation's coins. but as with any perfectionist, it's the flaws that really catch his eye. >> he had a bag full of these coins. and there was a few of these error coins in there. >> what is an error coin? >> an error coin is one that was mis-struck at the mint. so it didn't land correctly in the press. and therefore, it might be off center, or the edge might be curled. >> this is a pretty interesting penny. but it looks like two pennies! >> michael mcconnell is a la jolla coin shop owner who knows all about error coins.

>> it's simply a penny that was struck twice. it got stuck in the press. and it got struck again. >> randy's father collects the error coins that he finds in a plastic baggie that he keeps at home in a drawer. >> so when you work for the mint and they mis-strike a coin, they let you take it home? >> well, i guess so. there are many error coins out there that are bought and sold every day. >> randy's mistaken about that. taking home error coins is illegal, but apparently ignored sometimes, at least in his dad's day. so it's quite possible that when harry retires from the mint in 1980, his bosses do say he can keep his error coins, a retirement gift, harry explains. what's harry's plan for them? no way to know. just six months later, he dies of a heart attack at the age of 60. i'm so sorry. he was young. >> yes, very young.

it was a shame that he didn't get to enjoy his retirement. >> did he leave a will? >> he did. >> did he reference the coins in any way? >> i got the bag of coins. my brother got a set of guns. my father collected guns as well. >> randy has zero interest in coin collecting and tosses his inheritance in his desk drawer. for the next three decades, he says, he forgets all about it until he moves from denver to la jolla and, one day, is checking out the new neighborhood. >> i walked into michael's coin shop, la jolla coin. >> yep, that michael. before long, the coin dealer will be on the scent of a fortune. that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. us coins have mint marks p, d, s, and w, designating the locations where they're made. can you name all four? extra credit if you know what the government makes at the w location.

the answers after the break. when you have something you love, you want to protect it. at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. with an estate plan including wills or a living trust that grows along with you and your family. legalzoom. legal help is here.

>> so, what do the p, d, s, and w stand for on us coins? p is for the philadelphia mint, d for denver, s for san francisco, and w for west point, where the government makes commemorative coins and stores gold.

>> randy lawrence moves his family from denver to la jolla, california, in 2013. while checking out his new town, he happens upon the la jolla coin shop. he tells the owner, michael mcconnell, about the bag full of error coins that he inherited from his dad, who worked at the denver mint. >> i said, "you know, i think it's time i have somebody take a look at this. would you be interested?" >> michael agrees. so randy returns with that old baggie. michael sorts through the contents, pausing on one silver-colored penny. >> it was an off-metal coin that wasn't the weight of a normal penny. >> it didn't feel right to you? >> correct. and the first thing that came to my mind was, because the us mint has struck over 1,000 different coins for over 40 different countries, that this coin was struck on a planchet meant for a foreign coin. >> what's a planchet? >> the planchet is a round disk

of metal that the coin is actually made out of. >> a us penny stamped on a blank intended for a foreign coin, michael says, might be worth a few hundred dollars. the other coins have some value, too. so michael makes randy an offer for the whole collection. what was the total price for everything? >> i think i left there with a little over 2,000. >> were you happy? >> i was happy with it. love you, dad. but you know what? i'm over it. i don't need the coins. >> but the coin-shop owner keeps thinking about that pretty penny. you see, there's this tale in the annals of coin history about an unusual batch of pennies the government minted in the 1970s. >> the price of copper had gone up in 1973. and so it actually became not cost-effective to make the penny out of that. and so they were looking for alternatives. >> paul montgomery tells me the story. he's a rare-coin dealer and author. and he explains that the mint's solution

is to switch from costly copper to a cheaper metal. what was the composition of them? >> the coin is made out of 96 percent aluminum. >> the mint's proud of the coin. it strikes a million and a half and even hands out a few to members of congress before its release. but the aluminum penny is a bigger '70s flop than the gremlin or the leisure suit. >> the coins didn't work in vending machines, uh, i guess because of the metal. kids would swallow 'em, and they wouldn't show up in x-rays, either. >> so instead of circulating the coins, the mint melts them down. and it takes back the few it handed out. the 1974 aluminum penny becomes as elusive as the proverbial unicorn... or maybe not. >> i began doing additional research, which led me to think be that unicorn. >> the next thing he does it call a lawyer.

so what does the lawyer advise you? >> he advised me to go and get the coin certified, to make sure that it truly was an aluminum penny. >> tests show it is indeed made of 96 percent aluminum, just like those minted, then melted-down pennies from the 1970s. were you excited? >> it was obviously the scarcest coin i've ever handled. >> and things are going to get complicated because the heir of this "strange inheritance" story is about to reenter the picture. what's michael offering you? that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. who preceded john f. kennedy on the half dollar? the answer when we return. did you know 90% of couples disagree on

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for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. >> so, who was on the half dollar before jfk? it's "a," benjamin franklin, from 1948 to 1963. >> a baggie full of coins, that's randy lawrence's strange inheritance from his father, who worked at the denver mint. when he brings it to this la jolla, california, coin shop, owner michael mcconnell tells him the fistful of change is worth a couple of grand. after randy takes the deal, michael determines one of the coins, a 1974 penny, is made of aluminum. that suggests it's from a run of coins never put into circulation. if so, it's one of those finds collectors dream about.

michael knows he owes randy, just for starters, a phone call. >> people come to us because we're the experts. and so if we give somebody bad advice on something like that, we, of course, have to go back to 'em and tell 'em that's not right, that's not what i originally thought the coin was. >> and he wanted to set up a meeting with me. so i went down to his coin shop. >> what's michael offering you? >> well, technically, he was the owner of this coin. so we worked out a 60-40 split. i took back 60 percent ownership. he gave me back 60 percent value of the coin. >> interesting. so michael buys the coin and owns it outright in your mind. >> mm-hmm. >> but when he learns that it's more valuable, he's willing to bring you back in as a partner? >> he felt that was the right thing to do. >> what were randy's options when you told him the news? what could he have said? >> he could have said anything. >> could he say, "give me my coin back?" >> absolutely. >> so for $300, he could have bought this coin back from you? >> sure. >> what did he say? >> after we talked about it, and we talked about the options, he said, "let's partner up

and go forward." >> how do you decide what's fair? >> well, it's kinda tough in this kinda situation. but this was a coin that had been in randy's family for a long time. this was a family heirloom. and i was certainly happy to give that split. >> i'll say, for it turns out that randy's rare penny has one more strange characteristic that will set the coin world abuzz -- that little d. >> so this one has a d mint, signifying it was made in denver. >> that's where randy's dad worked. >> and that is why this coin was so unique. >> because as far as anyone knows, the 1.5 million aluminum coins minted, then recalled in 1974, all came from philadelphia, not denver. that could lift its value into the stratosphere. did michael give you a sense of what it could be worth? >> anywhere from a low end of 250,000 up to 2 million. >> one coin, potentially

worth $2 million? >> one penny. >> as co-owners of the coin, randy and michael decide to put it up for auction, beginning with a sneak peak at a coin expo in long beach, california. >> it was phenomenal. >> a rare coin that's spent years lost in a drawer could bring in millions of dollars at auction. >> we were on every television station. >> and realized it might be something a little more special. >> i was getting phone calls from across the country, as well as seeing articles across the world -- russia, china... >> is the price going up at this point with all that interest? >> in my mind, it is. >> then out of the blue, the postman knocks. >> well, i got a very interesting letter from the government. >> a letter? do you have the letter? >> i do, right here. >> oh, this doesn't look good. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website,

strangeinheritance.com.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> in february 2014, randy lawrence is gearing up for the auction of his one-of-a-kind inheritance, a 1974 aluminum penny. it was left to him by his father, harry. but now he's hearing from his uncle sam. "dear mr. lawrence, it has come to the attention of the united states mint that you may be in the possession or control of an aluminum one-cent coin. it is our understanding that you may have obtained this item from your late father." boy, they know a lot! >> they sure do. >> "please contact me at your earliest opportunity so we may discuss arrangements for the timely return of the subject piece." they're coming after you. >> they are. >> recall that randy's father works at the denver mint for 20 years. upon retiring in 1980,

he's apparently allowed to keep a bag full of error coins as part of his retirement gift. you were convinced, in your mind, that your dad received this coin legally and was entitled to keep it? >> absolutely, 100 percent. >> but now, 34 years later, the government claims otherwise. what are your options? >> well, our options was to immediately turn over the coin, or do what we did. and that was to file a lawsuit against the united states treasury to keep ownership of the coin. >> the other half of "we" is coin-shop owner michael mcconnell. why didn't you just turn it over to the mint? >> i didn't think it belonged to them. and there certainly wasn't evidence that said it belonged to them. >> the same circumstances have existed so many times in the past, and so there are precedents. >> and rare-coin expert paul montgomery believes those precedents favor randy.

exhibit a -- the super-rare 1913 liberty head nickels, which montgomery wrote a book about. his research indicates they likely were struck by a rogue mint worker, just as the government's claiming in randy's case. >> each one of these coins had been owned and purchased. and millions of dollars had traded hands. and yet the government has never gone after those. why this one? >> in their lawsuit, randy and michael cite other rare coins with similar histories that collectors buy, sell, and own freely. the government's response -- "so what?" then it ups the ante by putting on the public record serious allegations against harry. >> accusations of my father not being of the highest standard. >> for example? >> well, that he could have been the one who made the coin, or my father should have known better than to accept it and keep it. >> what was the government's beef against harold lawrence?

>> well, they suspected that mr. lawrence had a nefarious scheme to produce coins that weren't supposed to be produced. >> bottom line -- the government is strongly suggesting that randy's dad is a crook. did that make you mad? >> very, very angry, yeah. >> two stories, two sides of the coin. and before the case goes to trial, the government deposes the man who headed the aluminum cent project back in the 1970s, former mint director alan goldman. to randy's great relief, goldman's testimony exonerates his father. under oath, the former mint director states, "i knew harry lawrence very well, and he was a straight shooter. he would not have engineered this." >> when i read that, i knew that my father's name was cleared. >> but that's all the good news because goldman also bolsters

the government's claim that the penny was struck improperly. >> he believed that it was actually made as a practical joke by one of the mint employees. and as far as how it came to my father, again, probably as a memento when he retired. >> with no star witnesses of their own, it's going to be hard for randy and michael to convince a jury the coin rightfully belonged to harry. they drop their lawsuit. you're willing to walk away from $2 million? >> apparently so. i did. >> it seems like you caved. >> at the end of the day, because there aren't enough people left to be able to tell the whole story as to how it really came to be, i felt like it was kind of a case that we weren't ever going to be able to win. >> the man from la jolla is forced to return a rare and valuable coin to the us government. >> the us mint declined our request for an interview about randy's aluminum penny. is the government

becoming more strict in that regard? >> this is first i've seen anything like this. i see the government getting very active in lots of things. but confiscating collectible rare coins has never been one of them. >> this has never happened, either. after receiving randy's strange inheritance, the mint puts it on display at a coin show near los angeles. collectors press their face against the glass to get a good look-see. >> this is the first time that this coin's ever been displayed like this. and while the lawrence family may not even know this, they've already become a tremendous piece of the history and numismatic lore. >> so randy lawrence did not cash in his legendary aluminum penny for millions. but he did get a consolation prize of sorts. in coin-collecting circles, he and his father are now legends themselves, with the lawrence name forever attached to the one-of-a-kind 1974 d aluminum one-cent piece.

your dad's reputation is restored. >> perfect, yes. >> the coin is gone. >> yes. >> and you didn't make a buck. >> didn't make a penny. [ laughs ] i say the government's taken my last penny. >> remember how a handful of aluminum pennies were handed out to lawmakers back in 1974? legend has it that, one day, a congressman dropped his while rushing to vote on a bill. a capitol police officer tried to return it. the congressman, thinking it was just a dime, told the officer, "keep it." it's believed that officer's family may still have that super-rare penny. but the mint is now on record saying it would like it back, just like it wanted randy's. i guess you could say the mint's really pinching pennies these days. i'm jamie colby.

thanks for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> -- new faces at cpac. charles: it's going to be -- [inaudible] in about an hour. see you soon. lou: secretary of state tillerson and secretary of homeland security kelly both today pledging to work with mexico to improve border security. >> there's no mistaking that the rule of law matters along both sides of our border. lou: general kelly leading the tough talk to president trump to who vowed to increase deportations of criminal illegal immigrants. >> we're getting really bad dudes out of this country, and at a rate that nobody's ever seen before. lou: tonight i'll be talking with one of the country's leaders on border security, texas governor greg ab without. he's pushing -- babb ott to.