I brought along a British copy of the famous Karl Goetz medal commemorating the German sinking of the Lusitania. The 103rd anniversary of the tragedy took place on May 7, a day before our Nummis Nova dinner. The RMS Lusitania, a Cunard passenger ship, was torpedoed by a German U-boat off of Ireland following a trans-Atlantic crossing. One hundred twenty-eight Americans died, representing nearly one-tenth of the casualties. The sinking was widely attacked in Great Britain and in this country; a war whoop went up in the U.S., but our entrance into the Great War was delayed for another two years.

Goetz, a prolific German medalist, produced his medal alluding to the rationale for the sinking, “No Contraband Goods!” The British, in turn, reproduced the medal to arouse anger against Germany. The British piece is depicted here. The graphic medal, which is about 55 mm, is not rare by any means, but it is interesting for its reflection of an important historical event used for propaganda by both sides in the conflict. There is a fine book devoted to Lusitania medals entitled Commemoration of Death: The Medals of the Lusitania Murders by Greg Burns; see, for example: http://www.lusitaniamedal.com/assets/book_sample.pdf

Erik Larson, the bestselling writer, published a book about the tragedy, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, during the centennial year of the event, 2015. I was pleased to review the book for the Washington Independent Review of Books: http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/index.php/bookreview/dead-wake-the-last-crossing-of-the-lusitania

I asked my wife Heather if there were any silent movies where money was a central theme, since she is a huge aficionado of silents. Sure enough, the first one she came up with in the fiction genre is Erich von Stroheim's Greed, starring ZaSu Pitts from 1924. Originally it was over 460 minutes long (18 reels!); it's basically a rags to riches story and the impact money has on people.

She says that there are several notable scenes, including a gold tinted shot of gold coins, as well as one featuring Pitts rolling around nude in piles of money. The film was severely edited later on, and large chunks of it are now lost (a frequent fate with silents). She argues that money itself is a principal character in the movie even if it may not be numismatically specific. It is also widely considered one of the greatest silents.

Heather also found a 1920 nonfiction film put out by the Royal Mint of Canada called How Money is Made. This one clocks in at a more reasonable 11 minutes and change and is on YouTube. It has some great old expressions, like 'banana-man" and "ticket wicket."