The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 49, November 16, 2003, Article 8

ANIMALS (AND HUMANS) EATING MONEY

  In response to the "Brahmin Nummulariist" item in the
  October 19, 2003 E-Sylum (v6#42), Ron Haller-Williams
  writes:

  "Magpies, jackdaws and other members of the crow family
  are often attracted by bright objects such as rings (see e.g.
  the poem "The Jackdaw of Rheims", about a bird which was
  eventually forced by curses to return the ring it had stolen
  from a cardinal).

  The centennial medal of the British Numismatic Society shows
  a magpie in front of a coin cabinet, with a gold coin in its beak.
  In Matthew Chapter XVII verses 24-27, we have an account
  of how a fish paid the the temple tax of two drachmae each
  for Jesus and Peter, because it had swallowed a 4-drachma
  coin.

  Of course, there is always the alleged hospital bulletin on
  a child who has swallowed a dollar or pound coin:  "No
  change!"

  On this note, a great-great-uncle of mine is said to have died
  as a baby or toddler, from choking on a small coin (farthing?)
  that he had apparently tried to eat."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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