Morgan Dollars Shine in An American Tail

As our collections grow, most of us will likely revisit the items we have acquired over the years and say, “I forgot I had that!” I would not consider myself a movie collector by any means, as most of what I own fits on only a couple of shelves. And prior to the Marvel Cinematic Universe everything probably fit on about a shelf and a half, including all those space-eating DVD box sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The other day I had that moment of re-discovering that I owned a classic from my youth, An American Tail.

For those who have not seen this full-length animated feature from 1986, IMDB summarizes it as such: “While emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets separated from his family and must relocate them while trying to survive in a new country.” With an opportunity ahead of me to meet both director Don Bluth and the voice of Fievel Mousekewitz, Phillip Glasser, I felt compelled to revisit a movie I cared so much for growing up. As with most movies and shows from that era I’ve watched again as an adult, there were details I now found a greater appreciation for.

As Fievel arrives via bottle, having fallen off the ship, he is rescued and taken into the Statue of Liberty, which was then under construction and had not yet oxidized to the color we all know today. In the midst of a musical number called “Never Say Never,” we see a French eagle named Henri bucking up a downcast Fievel, looking for his family, use an 1879 Morgan Dollar as a mirror to show the young mouse his reflection – causing him to smile. By the way, you can learn more about the difference between Prooflike and Deep Mirror Prooflike here. After some research, we find that the date of the coin is meant to represent Fievel’s birth year. But why the coin and not just a mirror?

Perhaps it was meant as an Easter egg for us to discover, or maybe someone involved in the production was a numismatist and chose to represent their hobby. Perhaps it was even a metaphor to symbolize Fievel’s new life in America, and the pursuit of liberty his family was seeking in their journey. Regardless of the reason, let’s hope that coin remained in the family, as the current auction record belongs to a PCGS MS66DMPL example that realized $25,200 in 2020.