The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 11, March 12, 2006, Article 31

QUIZ ANSWER: LIVING PEOPLE ON MONEY

Credit David Menchell for last week's quiz.  He writes: "I saw this
Forbes article and thought it might be of interest.  I guess they're
short on subject matter in New Zealand, if they have to go fishing
for stars of recent movies produced there (Elijah Wood) for their
coinage."

Robert Laviana writes: "Eunice Shriver was at one point on US
currency - 1995 Silver Dollar."

Martin Purdy writes: "The only ones I can think of at the moment
are our own Sir Edmund Hillary (b. 1919) on the New Zealand $5 note
and Sir Michael Somare on the PNG 50 (?) kina note.  I'll be interested
to see what the other two are!"

Here's the magazine's list:

1. Sir Edmund Hillary, on a New Zealand $5 bill
2. Jack Nicklaus, on a Scotland £5 bill
3. Pope Benedict XVI, on a Liberian $5 bill and
  A Cameroon 4,500-franc coin
4. Elijah Wood, on a New Zealand 50 cent coin
5. Laetitia Casta, on the 5, 2 and 1 French euro cent coins

"Elijah Wood, the 25-year-old actor and star of the Lord of the
Rings movie trilogy, joins fellow cast members in a series of
commemorative legal tender coins issued in New Zealand in 2003.
Queen Elizabeth II appears on the flip side of the coins, which
feature the faces of the actors who played Frodo (Wood), Aragorn,
Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron and Gollum.

"In 2000, model Laetitia Casta beat out four others for the honor
of Marianne, the national face of France. She succeeded actress
Catherine Deneuve, who had taken over the role originated by
Brigitte Bardot in the 1960s. As the model for the portrait of
Marianne, Casta, like Bardot and Deneuve, appeared on the French
franc when it was in circulation, and more recently on the French
version of euro coins. But some French people are probably unhappy
about this. Shortly after Casta was named Marianne, she skipped
town and moved to London."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

I shared the list with Martin Purdy.  He added: "I can add a
couple more in that case: Adrian Brody and Naomi Watts (actors)
on NZ's new "King Kong" $1 coin.

I would not include Benedict XVI, since he *is* a head of state,
though not of Liberia or Cameroon (if you go down that track,
there are lots of "foreign" heads of state on various coins
commemorating visits - e.g. Pope Paul VI, Samoa 1970, etc., etc.)

No. 5 is a bit questionable, as I understand Ms Casta was simply
the model for Marianne - it's not a portrait of the lady herself.
Otherwise, they should include almost any other living person who
has modeled for a figure on a coin.  Lady Frances Stuart was alive
when the figure of Britannia first appeared on Charles II's copper
coinage, for instance!"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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