PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
LOOSE CHANGE: APRIL 26, 2020Here are some additional items in the media this week that may be of interest. -Editor Warhol Signed Money to Make Money
Here's an excerpt from Blake Gopnik's new biography of Andy Warhol. -Editor 
Warhol regularly signed U.S. currency. This dollar bill sold at Christie's in 2012 for £8,125. An ad he placed in the Village Voice in 1966 read as follows: "I'll endorse with my name any of the following; clothing AC-DC, cigarettes small, tapes, sound equipment, ROCK N' ROLL RECORDS, anything, film, and film equipment, Food, Helium, Whips, MONEY!! love and kisses ANDY WARHOL, EL 5-9941." Such a public announcement—it used the real Factory phone number—can't only, or mostly, have been a way to truly bring in cash or goods; it proclaimed that, henceforward, selling-out and branded sponsorship would count as signature Warhol moves. Or maybe as his latest art supplies. To read the complete article, see:
The Other D-Day
An article by Simon Bytheway published April 21, 2020 on CoinsWeekly examines the leadup and impact of February 15, 1971, the day the centuries-old British system of currency units converted to today's decimal system. -Editor To read the complete article, see:
Why Do Olympians Bite Their Medals?
This article from Mental Floss addresses the question, "Why Do Olympians Bite Their Medals?" -Editor  Watch the Olympics and you might notice a number of medalists gnawing on their gold or silver prize like an old-time prospector. Do they believe the International Olympic Committee is going to stiff them? Does anyone expect to bite into chocolate? It turns out it might be because they're following orders—specifically, the photographer's. When Olympic winners pose for a victory image, a sea of photojournalists are snapping away and asking athletes to do something besides just stand there and smile. With no other props handy, winners have picked up the habit of nibbling on their medal to satisfy the photographic feeding frenzy. Of course, biting on gold used to be a way to tell if it was genuine (the real thing will show slight bite marks). But most Olympians probably know by now that their gold medal is mostly made up of silver and copper. If they were actually solid gold, the prizes would cost the IOC about $17 million. To read the complete article, see:
Medal Miniatures
Not all Victoria Cross medals are the same, an Antiques Roadshow guest learned recently. -Editor  The guest had brought along a selection of pristine war medals from Captain Henry Reynolds, with a personal story behind them. He told the guest: "It's not often I get to say this but the first medal in this group is a Victoria Cross - what I'm going to have to explain to people is why they're so small. "What these are known as is miniatures, these are the medals you wear on your mess-dress, or on your evening dress." "They represent the medals you have won but they are for the evening," with the guest noting: "They're ceremonial." The guest had shown Mark a photograph of himself wearing his grandfather's Victoria Cross before it had gone to the Royal Scot's museum. Mark gave them an estimation of £3-4,000, leaving the guest stunned, replying: "Good Lord!" This wasn't the end of the surprises in store, with Mark confessing: "If it had been the big one? A quarter of a million!" To read the complete article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
|