History Main / NumberOneDime

* Luffy's straw hat in ''OnePiece''.
** To the point where, if he ever gives it to someone for safekeeping, it qualifies as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.
*** As well as a sign that he has [[ThisIsUnforgivable had enough]] of this season's villain.

** Scrooge's EvilCounterpart, Flintheart Glomgold, has his Number One Rand in answer to Scrooge's Number One Dime, which is slightly weird since South-Africa hasn't been using rands for long enough that Flintheart could have earned one in his youth.
*** Which likely means he's just lying about it to screw with Scrooge.
**** Or that someone cheated him out of his payment as well.

* For Two-Face of ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'' fame, it's a double-headed silver dollar. (Though where he got one of those is anybody's guess.)
** TheLongHalloween explain that he got it as a present from his father when he visited him at his insane asylum at Father's Day.
*** Another explanation, wich might be a prequel to the first and wich add extra angst to it, is the explanation that Harvey Dents father would religiously flip a coin: Heads, he would beat him; Tails, he let it be. ''The coin was dubble-headed''.

* In Inception, each character has to carry a "totem" or unique item into dreams. This helps them differentiate between the dream world and real life.

* Arguably, The Doctor's sonic screwdriver from DoctorWho. Witness his reaction when the original is destroyed in the PeterDavison story, "The Visitation":
--> The Doctor: I feel like you've just killed an old friend.
** Argued, then: "The Number One Dime is an item that is in and of itself of average or little interest (e.g. it's not a BFG or otherwise especially useful, usually the opposite even), but to the character, it is ridiculously overimportant in a strictly sentimental way."

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* Luffy's straw hat in ''OnePiece''.
** To the point where, if he ever gives it to someone for safekeeping, it qualifies as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.
*** As well as a sign that he has [[ThisIsUnforgivable had enough]] of this season's villain.
** After [[spoiler: the death of his brother Ace, Luffy has a HeroicBSOD so bad he doesn't notice he dropped his hat.]]
** An interesting case with Kuina's sword. Zoro deems this as his most important sword and yet, he had no idea of how much the sword is worth, being one of the top swords in the world. It's important for what it ''means'' to him, not how good of a sword it is. Even if he were to get a sword better than it, he wouldn't dream of retiring it.
* Ash's first hat in ''{{Pokemon}}''. He won it in a contest (there are only two hundred of them in existence), so it's one of his most valuable possessions. One would almost think that this finally sunk in when he was heading off to Hoenn; maybe a hat with less sentimental value would be a better choice for someone continually targeted for mecha attacks.
** Hence, in Hoenn he wears a different hat that his mother gave him. And in Sinnoh he switches to yet another new hat. When this new hat is briefly stolen, Ash's attempts to recover it are less desperate than the time a Mankey stole his original hat, as he simply says it feels weird to not have a hat. [[hottip:*:People in RealLife confirm that constantly wearing a hat and suddenly not wearing one does indeed feel strange.]]
* In ''GateKeepers 21'', Ayane Isuzu's bell, which gets some unexplained camera focus every now and then. It doesn't really seem to do anything, and its source is never explained, but it's hinted in the final episode that [[spoiler:her father gave it to her.]]

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** Hence, in Hoenn he wears a different hat that his mother gave him. And in Sinnoh he switches to yet another new hat. When this new hat is briefly stolen, Ash's attempts to recover it are less desperate than the time a Mankey stole his original hat, as he simply says it feels weird to not have a hat.
*** Coming from [[MutantRancor someone]] who wears a hat every day: He's right; once you get used to it, it feels weird to not have one.

** One comic reveals that Magica De Spell was the one who gave him the dime when she traveled into the past, but only because it would have been worthless if she had taken it from him at the time.

* In ''{{The Count of Monte Cristo}}'' (at least the film version), an ordinary chess piece is of extraordinary value to Edmond and Fernand.

* Come on...Pee Wee Herman's Bike! The whole plot of 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure'' is about Pee Wee looking for his bike, which becomes more valuable in a legal sense when his obnoxious neighbor steals it (only because Pee Wee files a police report and it technically becomes "stolen property"; aside from that, it's just a goofy bike with some doodads and gizmos), but to most people it's just an ugly eyesore. Either way, Pee Wee cannot even sleep comfortably while his precious bike remains missing.

* Referenced by the Villain of ''AirForceOne''. 'I have his baseball glove and his daughter.'
* Arguably, [[IndianaJones Indy's]] iconic [[IndyHatRoll hat]] counts.

* In ''{{Lost}}'', Kate robs a bank to retrieve the toy plane she buried with her childhood sweetheart. This Unknown Troper doesn't think of himself as a cynic, but risking jail time, or even her life, strikes them as a little bit ... sentimental.
* A non-comedy example is Captain Sisko's baseball from ''[[DeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]''. When he leaves it on the station after abandoning it to the Dominion, Gul Dukat takes it as a message that says he'll be back.

The NumberOneDime is an item that is in and of itself of average or little interest (e.g. it's not a {{BFG}} or otherwise especially useful, usually the opposite even), but to the character, it is [[LawOfDisproportionateResponse ridiculously overimportant]] in a strictly sentimental way.It might be the token sealing a ChildhoodMarriagePromise, a MementoMacGuffin (particularly an OrphansPlotTrinket) or a CompanionCube, but the overlap with {{MacGuffin}}s at large is fairly minimal. However, hats, {{Nice|Hat}} or otherwise, are frequent Number One Dimes. Expect TheChewToy or the ButtMonkey's precious and rare Gobi Desert Cricket to be frequently threatened.

[[quoteright:350:[[{{Peanuts}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/linus.gif]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Don't leave home without it.]]

* For Two-Face of ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'' fame, it's a double-headed silver dollar.

** An interesting case with Kuina's sword. Zoro deems this as his most important sword and yet, he had no idea of how much the sword is worth, being one of the top swords in the world.

** Scrooge's EvilCounterpart, Flintheart Glomgold, has his Number One Rand in answer to Scrooge's Number One Dime, which is slightly weird since South-Africa hasn't used rands for long enough that Flintheart could have earned one in his youth.
*** Which likely means he's just lying about it to screw with Scrooge, or that he himself was once similarly screwed out of a payment with outdated currency.
** One comic reveals that Magica Dispell was the one who gave him the dime when she traveled into the past, but only because it would have been worthless if she had taken it from him at the time.

[[{{Peanuts}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/linus.gif]]
[[caption-width:366:Don't leave home without it.]]

* Mildly subverted in {{DMFA}}: He would prefer if you [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_518.php didn't destroy his robe]]... but only because [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_518.php the one who gave it to him is a very sadistic little ferret]]

*** Which likely means he's just lying about it to screw with Scrooge.

The NumberOneDime is an item that is in and of itself of average or little interest (e.g. it's not a {{BFG}} or otherwise especially useful, usually the opposite even), but to the character, it is [[LawOfDisproportionateResponse ridiculously overimportant]] in a strictly sentimental way.It might be the token sealing a ChildhoodMarriagePromise, a MementoMacGuffin (particularly an OrphansPlotTrinket) or a CompanionCube, but the overlap with {{MacGuffin}}s at large is fairly minimal. Expect TheChewToy or the ButtMonkey's precious and rare Gobi Desert Cricket to be frequently threatened.

* Similar to the ''OnePiece'' example below is (Captain) Jack Sparrow's hat in ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}''.
** Not quite. Admittedly, Jack did order his ship to turn back when the hat fell on the sea, but once he lost it, it didn't take long for him to get a substitute.
*** But when he does leave it behind, it's a big deal, eliciting a collective gasp when he tells the crew to "leave it!" and get to safety instead.
*** How about Jack's old pistol loaded with a single bullet? Not exactly "lucky," per se, but still...
**** No. That's something else. That's the pistol Barbarossa left Jack with when he stranded him on the 'deserted' island, so that Jack could kill himself rather than die of exposure or dehydration. It's not a gewgaw of enormous sentimental value, the bullet in that gun signifies an '''oath to kill a man who had betrayed him'''. [[SoBadItsHorrible We'll just go ahead and ignore]] [[YourMileageMayVary the next two movies, particularly the last one, shall we?]]
***** Dont forget these grand words: Where's my jar of dirt!?

**** No. That's something else. That's the pistol Barbarossa left Jack with when he stranded him on the 'deserted' island, so that Jack could kill himself rather than die of exposure or dehydration. It's not a gewgaw of enormous sentimental value, the bullet in that gun signifies an '''oath to kill a man who had betrayed him'''. [[SoBadItsHorrible We'll just go ahead and ignore]] [[YourMileageMayVary the next two movies, particularly the last one, shall we?]]

** It counts as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when one of them gives their hat away. And a CrowningMomentOfFunny when some of them get together and made a ridiculously huge, flame-spewing metal hat for someone they respect a lot. SoYeah.

* [[SpongeBobSquarePants Mr. Krabs]] also has a First Dime. When he finds it missing, he blames Squidward of stealing it, causing him to quit. Later Krabs finds it in his back pocket - and it's a huge stone wheel.