The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 27, July 8, 2007, Article 28

WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE TO THROW COINS INTO FOUNTAINS?

A June 30 New York Times article addressed another age-old coin
custom, throwing coins into a fountain.

"Dionysos, standing there in his sandals with his arm over that woman,
knows. He spends his days watching everyone in the room and everything
they do.

"He knows it cannot be Aphrodite, on his right. She has no arms.

"He knows it cannot be Hercules, also on his right. No arms on him,
either.

"So who is dropping all the coins in the fountain in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art's new Greek and Roman galleries?

"Not David Mendez, though he knows more about coins in fountains than
anyone else at the Met. That is because he takes the coins out, once
a week, every week, using an old wiper blade and napkin-size pieces of
thin white cloth.

"The Met says that the fountain, in the Leon Levy and Shelby White
Court, was not planned as a receptacle for discarded dimes, pennies
and quarters, not to mention euros, Mexican pesos and Taiwanese dollars.
“The fountain was designed to recreate the ambience of a Roman court,”
said Harold Holzer, a spokesman for the Met, “but you know, it's
inevitable. From Trevi to Dendur, water attracts coins.”

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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