Capital Treasures

Dutch Python hacker/artist Stani took part in a contest organised by the Dutch Ministry Of Finance to design a 5 euro commemorative coin. And he won, using only free software:

‘The whole design was done for 100% with free software. The biggest part consists of custom software in Python, of course within the SPE editor. For the visual power I used PIL and pyCairo. From time to time also Gimp, Inkscape and Phatch helped quite a bit. All the developing and processing was done on GNU/Linux machines which were running Ubuntu/Debian. I would have loved to release the coin under the GPL, which could maybe solve the financial crisis. However for obvious reasons I was not allowed to do that.’

Pretty clever design and a lengthy write up on the methods and inspiration behind the development of this coin design. Read more about it after the jump. Again… we will not likely see intriguing designs like this on our coinage over here in the US by any stretch of the imagination.

[ via SPE IDE ]

Looking forward to the new Ian Fleming’s, James Bond series out again… we offer up some quick information about what real CIA officers have used… real hollowed-out Soviet coins, roughly the size of silver dollars, to hide secret material.  CIA agents would use the coins to stash secret material, unscrewing them and hiding large quantities of text inside that could be viewed later under a microscope. Other clandestine tools include ball-point pens configured with tiny cameras, and paper that dissolves in water. Agents shred the paper, drop it into a beverage and drink the liquid to make evidence disappear.

[ via NPR ]

The press release starts off “In these days of soaring gas prices, yelps of cash crunches and real estate depression, the last thing anyone would do is destroy money. Well, anyone but Yoko Devereaux that is. Launching for spring/summer 2008, Old Money, is a collection of coins hand cut into works of art Yoko has attached to aged sterling silver necklaces. As Creative Director, Andy Salzer, explains, “It is about taking something that is so relevant in our society and then destroying it.”

Somehow, the destruction of pennies, to turn them into 88$… is not exactly the dumbest way to “destroy money” in a recession, but that’s just me. Personally, i have always admired some of the more gorgeous designs to appear on money, and this is a beautiful way to isolate those elements… now if only they would make one with that one pound coin that has the dragon on it!

[ via notcot ]

I have a large collection of money from around the world - from various travels over the years. The paper money of different countries is so unique and colorful. I would like to find a way to display it in my home. I was thinking of framing it, but can’t find frames of the right size. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas?

What about coins? I have many of those too, but I HATE those felt coin-collector display frames. I don’t want to just stick them in a bowl. Any thoughts?

- DC Coin Collector

Apartment Therapy responds to a common dilemna when wanting to display coins and paper money that showcase the collection. In his Art Deco home, Joe nicely framed antique coins (shown at left below). The travel-inspired bathroom also included framed coins (shown at left).

Read some of the other user submitted ideas at AT.

The number of fake £1 coins in circulation has doubled in the last five years and now stands at more than 30 million, the BBC has learned.

This means one in every 50 pound coins in circulation is counterfeit.

Experts believe the fakes are being produced by organised criminal gangs using specialist machinery. The Royal Mint said it was illegal to make or use counterfeited coins and said people must hand them in if they thought they had one.  Although relatively easy to detect, their sheer number creates problems for shopkeepers, taxi drivers and other small traders who deal in cash for many of their transactions. According to figures obtained by the BBC from the Royal Mint, random sampling tests carried out earlier this year showed that approximately 2% of pound coins are fake.

[ read more ]

We make it a point in our house to shut off the TV and put the iPod in its recharger caddy once a week to sit down and gather around an old fashioned board game. Last week it was Battleship played on an old Radio Shack electronic-rip on the board game .

It has a built-in electronic tracking system to help keep track of ships and of course reduce ahem , cheating (i.e. moving ships around, why you haven’t read about the alternate rules? wink, wink, nudge, nudge)…

However, we decided it was better to teach the ABCs , numbers and grid-coordinates to our kids by just using the game and pulled the batteries on this unit so we could have a bit of fun with our imaginations and make up our own blips, bleeps and kaboom sounds.

So it’s interesting to read up on a small business start-up called Play Date Atlanta that used the traditional board game to gather people together for a real social networking game environment. Initially I scoffed at the idea that you could turn board games into a club scene but looking at the data it’s possible to put a new spin on it and breathe new life into traditional gaming.

It’s a Saturday night in Atlanta. Some 800 well-dressed, middle-aged adults are sipping cocktails, listening to jazz . . . and playing Candy Land or Twister. Welcome to “the new face of nightlife,” courtesy of three 30-something guys who realized they were too old to go out clubbing every weekend, but not old enough for reruns of The Golden Girls. “We didn’t go into this saying, ‘Let’s create a new business that will change the way people think about Saturday night,’” recalls Imari Harvard, CEO of Timeless Entertainment Concepts. “My wife and I just wanted to put together an event where folks could come out for some nostalgic games, cocktails and conversation.”

The trio behind Play Date may have stumbled upon their successful business, but The Intelligence Group, a New York City-based market research firm, has since come up with hard data showing that progressive 14- to 34-year-olds known as “trendsetters” prefer board games to video games by a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent. Small wonder that in February a company named Winning Moves re-introduced ’50s favorites Parcheesi and Careers–complete with their original packaging.

[ Read More ]

See if you can find a Play Date near you…

Mike’s Coin Store has 15 original rolls of 1979 Brilliant Uncirculated Susan B Anthony Dollars.  Just like the Ike Dollar promotions they’ve run in the past they are going o pass this on to our customers at FACE VALUE ($1) with FREE SHIPPING!

These along with the Ikes are sleeper variety coins… totally unappreciated by the American public. Yes, it’s not silver per se and it gets confused with the quarter! But, hey, it’s a buck. No matter how you call it - it makes for great gifts and conversational pieces. Along with “Golden Dollars” we use these as tip money at the local restaurants.

Limit 1 per Ebay User ID. You may purchase additional coins using different Ebay User IDs, and you can create a new account if you wish as well. Must pay through Paypal and be an active Ebay member.

This is pretty nice too - they can ship to other addresses if you want to send this as a gift, great graduation gift for that kindergarten or middle-school student… high school students going off to college might find it a pretty good joke though.

No other strings attached!

Click here for $1.00 1979 BU Susan B Anthony Dollar with free shipping!

CNN has a great line up of snapshots of the “things we like to stash” submitted from their iReport affiliate staff members.

It truly demonstrates in a very limited number of pictures how crazy people can get about the stuff they are passionate about collecting. It is also very interesting to see how people display and showcase their collections.

With regards to safety and security, a personal collection of high profile coins and comics doesn’t work quite the same to showcase them openly in your living room… Most of these collections reside in a safety deposit box or tucked away in a back closet locked up in a fire-proof container and they rarely get shown in the light of day - although showing someone your secret panel (Indian Jones style), only revealed by tilting back your copy of the epic Moby Dick which remotely unlocks the treasured vault of your collection. I guess that might be an exciting offering to show your guests…

Side note: These images and comments brings up an interesting short-essay book about collecting in general and how artifacts acquired from personal experiences manage to persist in our lives. It encompasses something everyone does and hardly anyone really thinks about…Take a look at 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance.

Lenticular visual technology isn’t just for paper money…

The Netherlands first issued their lenticular “video” stamp in 2006, using a special printing process on a stamp-sized piece of plastic. Each stamp sells for €.39 (46 cents US), and before you think that’s crazy, keep in mind that these are not flat panel displays that we’re talking about. How does this work, you might ask? The technique is a variation on those little plastic decoder rings you might have seen as a kid—as you tilt the stamp to the left and right, the series of images appear to play back in sequence. Here’s how Outer Aspect, the company that printed these video stamps, explains it:

“Lenticular is a specialised printing process that can show depth, motion, HD video, film or combinations of these. The lenticular material is made up of tiny ridges or lenses (hence the name “lenticular” printing). We take raw images and process them through a computer algorithm, which matches the lens surface of the lenticular material. When the two work together it enables the image to be replayed back to you. The printing is always on the reverse side of the Lenticular lens material, as this is where the focal point is, allowing the images to be replayed back to the human eye as the viewing angle changes.”

Most recently, Finland Launched 2008 with MotionPrint Alpine Skiing Stamps. Never been seen before on Finnish stamps, the miniature sheet designed by Susanna and Ari Lakaniemi is dedicated to alpine skiing features Tanja Poutiainen, Antti Avtti, Matti Raty and Tapio Arska Saarimaki. This is the largest motionprint sheetlet that has ever been produced which included four individual stamps.

For the first time ever Austrian Post has produced an official postal stamp using lenticular printing technology. Arguably it is the technologically most sophisticated stamp of all times.The stamp features the legendary goal scored on September 6th, 1997 by Andi Herzog, Austria’s record-breaking international player, in a game against Sweden - With Multiple Camera Angles !!!

[ via http://www.lenticular.org.nz/lenticularstamps.htm ]

An 1846 shipwreck 60 miles off the coast of Louisiana has yielded $1 million in sunken treasure comprised of U.S. gold coins from Southern U.S. mints and a nearly complete Capped Bust set. Recovery of the coins was announced May 13 by a group from New Iberia, La., called the Gentlemen of Fortune, which identified the SS New York in 2006 off the coast of Cameron, La., in 60 feet of water.

“This is the most important group of Southern gold coins ever found on a treasure ship. There are some of the finest known quarter eagles and half eagles struck in Charlotte and Dahlonega, as well as examples of gold coins struck at the New Orleans Mint,” said prominent numismatic researcher and author Q. David Bowers, co-chairman of Stack’s of New York City.

“They include an 1845-D $2.50 graded NGC MS-64; 1844-D $5 graded NGC MS-63* prooflike; and an 1844-O $5 graded NGC MS-64. There’s also a nearly complete set of Capped Bust halves with over two dozen different dates, including an 1815, and quite a few foreign gold coins as well,” said John Albanese, a dealer from Far Hills, N.J., who appraised them.

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