PIG MONEY: GENUINE OR COUNTERFEIT?

As Collections Manager at the American Numismatic Society, I have been fortunate enough to poke my head into practically every nook and cranny of the vault at the behest of academics, researchers, and members, usually to locate an object for photography, confirm an object's weight or other details, and so on. Consequently, I often come across trays of objects that I have never seen or even heard of before, and occasionally I stumble upon something that causes me to furrow my brow and (quietly) exclaim, What the heck are these things?

One such occasion happened well over a year ago, when I found a single tray in the Medals and Decorations department simply labeled Pig Money. I turned several of the objects over (some of which were as thick and heavy as Roman aes grave; others as small and thin as a medieval denier or penny) and examined them. Some of the objects indeed had pigs (or, at the very least, pig-like animals) depicted on them—some featured lone animals, others had several pigs, and still others portrayed a sow and multiple piglets—and yet some had no pigs (or pig-like animals) at all. Most of the objects looked vaguely ‘ancient' however they differed in that some objects seemed to have legitimate, old patinas coupled with an archaistic style, whereas others were almost cartoonish in nature, as if someone had asked a child to design an ancient coin. I resolved to figure out what these objects were but did not think to look into them again until I was notified that I had committed to writing this week's Pocket Change blog post—a perfect opportunity to dive into the strange world of pigs.

When I pulled out the tray to examine them again in anticipation of writing this post, ANS Assistant Librarian Jared Goldfarb happened to be nearby. When I explained what my task at hand was, he mentioned that fellow colleague and Newman Numismatic Portal Digital Scribe Lara Jacobs had recently scanned some Society archives that mentioned (and I will forgo using quotes from here on out) pig money. What luck! The archived material pertained to a series of letters between an attorney, Wilfred B. Feiga, and ANS Curator Howland Wood on the subject of Ancient Hebrew coins per the envelope the letters were contained in. The first letter from Feiga dated August 15, 1921 was actually directed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, wherein he asked for the name of the most reliable authority on ancient Hebrew coins…in New York City or elsewhere as Feiga was representing a one Joseph Rosenthal of Worcester, Massachusetts, a gentleman who has inherited [a Hebrew coin] which is believed by the best authorities at our disposal thus far to date back to about 3,000 B.C. which was discovered while digging in one of the mountains of Palestine. Feiga goes on to note that It may be worth many thousands of dollars, and of immeasurable value to the scientific world.

Upon receiving this letter, the Metropolitan Museum of Art presumably told Feiga to contact the American Numismatic Society, although their reply is not included with the other letters. Feiga then sends a new letter addressed to the ANS dated August 17 in which he encloses a newspaper clipping from the August 9, 1921 edition of the Worcester Gazette which explains itself (unfortunately, this clipping is also absent from our archives) and indicates that Rosenthal is willing to sell the coin in question if the proper arrangements can be made. Feiga then states that, based on the oral history of the object as given by his client, I am personally of the opinion that it may be of unusual interest, and of considerable value.

To read the complete article, see:
Pig Money: Authentic Artifacts or Numismatic Nonsense? (https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/pig-money-authentic-artifacts-or-numismatic-nonsense/)

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