LOOSE CHANGE: OCTOBER 24, 2021

 

MUSIC IS MUCH older than civilization — it may be as old as language itself. The earliest known musical instrument, a flute made from a bear's shinbone found in 1995 in a cave in Slovenia, dates from 43,000 years ago[1]. In the ancient world, musical instruments played important roles in worship and warfare as well as entertainment, and we see them depicted on a wide range of coins. In modern times, one of the most popular collectible bullion coins is the Vienna Philharmonic (Wiener Philharmoniker) issued since 1989 by the Austrian Mint. The reverse bears a horn, bassoon, harp, and four violins centered around a cello.

By far the most common musical instrument seen on ancient coins is the lyre, a kind of harp with a hollow soundbox, two curved arms, a crossbar, and between three to 12 gut strings that were strummed or plucked with a pick (plectrum). Seven strings were common. The second-century astronomer Claudius Ptolemy even put one in the northern sky, the constellation Lyra.

   

To read the complete article, see:
Music on Ancient Coins (https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/music-on-ancient-coins/)

Dominic Chorney takes a closer look at two white metal Thames tunnel medallions. It was the world's first tunnel to ever be dug underneath a navigable river and took 13 years to construct.

To watch the video, see:
The Victorian Thames Tunnel Medallions and its Fatal Construction | Baldwins Coins (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XGw6ZkvGyY)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
FATHER AND SON: THE ENGINEERS BRUNEL (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n31a15.html)
MORE ON FATHER AND SON ENGINEERS BRUNEL (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n32a30.html)

To fathom the magnitude of Venezuela's financial collapse, travel southeast from Caracas, past the oil fields and over the Orinoco River, and head deep into the savanna that blankets one of the remotest corners of the country.

There, in the barber shops and restaurants and hotels that constitute the main strip of one dusty little outpost after another, you'll find prices displayed in grams of gold.

A one-night stay at a hotel? That'll be half a gram. Lunch for two at a Chinese restaurant? A quarter of a gram. A haircut? An eighth of a gram, please. Jorge Pena, 20, figured that eighth came to three small flakes -- the equivalent of $5. After getting a trim one recent weekday in the town of Tumeremo, he handed them over to his barber, who, satisfied with Pena's calculation, quickly pocketed them. You can pay for everything with gold, Pena says.

In the high-tech global economy of the 21st century, where tap-and-go transactions are the rage, this is about as low tech as it gets.

Most of the world moved on from gold as a medium of exchange over a century ago. Its resurfacing in Venezuela today is the most extreme manifestation of the repudiation of the local currency, the bolivar, that has swept the country.

To read the complete article, see:
Venezuelans Break Off Flakes of Gold to Pay for Meals, Haircuts (https://news.yahoo.com/venezuelans-break-off-flakes-gold-120000884.html)

A few months after his inauguration in 1789, he began a series of trips that would define his presidency.

When he became president, suddenly he was confined to his office in the presidential mansion, with all the stresses associated with creating the office of the presidency, and it was really bad for his health, says Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy.

He decided the best way to learn about Washington's presidential trips was to take them himself. With his wife, Melissa, and Dora, their mischievous Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, the trio traveled the Eastern Seaboard, trying to stay as close as possible to Washington's original routes.

I wanted to know not just how Washington experienced this tour but how the people in each town were affected by Washington's presence, the author said.

Reaching out to historical societies and libraries, and from Washington's own diaries and papers, Philbrick was able to reconstruct most of the journeys. Some of the accounts were by children amazed to find Washington in their villages and towns. One account by Sarah, an 8-year-old girl from Oyster Bay, Long Island, noted that the president stopped across from her home to help workers erecting a one-room schoolhouse. Today a plaque commemorates that event, and Philbrick said there were many times like that when you'd feel like you were stepping into the vortex of history.

At another stop in Charleston, S.C., Philbrick climbed a spiral staircase to the octagonal arcade atop St. Michael's Church, a height of 186 feet. Washington had climbed that same staircase about 230 years ago.

To read the complete article, see:
Author retracing George Washington's travels finds his steps sometimes uncertain (https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/2021/10/22/Nathaniel-Philbrick-George-Washington-book-Pittsburgh-Taylor-Allderdice/stories/202110110095)

For more information, see:
Travels with George IN SEARCH OF WASHINGTON AND HIS LEGACY (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/602063/travels-with-george-by-nathaniel-philbrick/)

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