OCTOBER 8th - The Numismatist's Elvis


(Explicit Language)

On this day in 1964, Gilroy Roberts retired from his position as the U.S. Chief Coin Designer and Engraver. On the surface that doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary. Except for the fact that he was the first Chief Engraver to do so. His eight predecessors all died in office. I’m not one to believe in curses, and the eight previous engravers may have lived to ripe old ages before croaking in office, but the position would still give me pause. The Madden Curse is that if you’re on the cover you get injured or have a bad season. This was death. As in shuffling off this mortal coil. Kicking the bucket. Tangoing with the grim reaper. Going six feet under. To sleep; no more. Death. So you have to give ole Gilroy some props, for having the foresight to quit while he was alive. He also designed the Kennedy Half Dollar. Which is pretty cool. Even cooler is that he was able to enjoy it while he was alive. Not that he was mobbed in the streets because of the fruits of his labor. But he did garner a certain amount of fame. The coin was extremely popular, and there were even conspiracy theories about messages that it contained. While the majority of people don’t even bother with coins anymore, I’m sure Gilroy Roberts was/is a numismatist’s Elvis. Yet, I’ve only seen the Kennedy Half Dollar a dozen or so times in my life, and I just don’t have a picture of Gilroy trying to smooth-talk his way past the maitre’d by saying, “Listen buddy, I created the Kennedy Half Dollar. So if you’ve ever gotten a 50 cent piece, you owe me.” I wonder if 50 Cent is a fan? In any case, Gilroy Roberts lived to see his work appreciated and left behind a legacy. We should all be so lucky. What’s more, being a numismatist’s Elvis is better than not being an Elvis at all.

This day has been Marked.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AUGUST 22nd - Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

On this day in 1911, somebody working at the Louvre discovered that the Mona Lisa was missing. The previous day, a Monday--meaning the museum was closed to the public, Vincenzo Peruggia, a maintenance worker, brazenly walked out of the Louvre with what would eventually become the most famous painting in the world. Vincenzo basically sat on the painting for two years until he was caught trying to “return” it to his homeland of Italy in a misguided demonstration of Italian patriotism. The theft itself is quite interesting, mostly because of the lack of planning and preparation that went into it, but equally intriguing is the part it played in making the Mona Lisa so famous. Many historians feel that the painting reached new heights because it was stolen. It kind of makes sense in that whole “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone" kind of way. Not that I would suggest staging a kidnapping to allow your significant other to realize how much he/she loves you, because that’s jus
Read more

AUGUST 23rd - History of the One-Way

Image
On this day in 1617, the idea of the one-way street was supposedly introduced in London in the alleys near the River Thames. I’m not sure why London was on the cutting edge of traffic direction, though Albemarle Street, which is acknowledged as the first one-way street, was designated as such because the scientific lectures given there in the early 1800s were so popular. Why wouldn't they be? I can’t really imagine why a one-way street in 1617 would be necessary, but then I can’t really imagine what London in 1617 was like at all. I’m fresh out of people to interview too. Unless the Highlander is real. Just as well. Interviews take a long time. And the person inevitably goes off on tangents. Look, I’m sure the story of how you “accidentally” ingested psychedelic mushrooms while trekking across the Pacific Northwest in your hippie days and met your first wife, Wind Lover, is an incredible story, but I merely asked if you were currently married. It’s a yes or no question. Without the
Read more

OCTOBER 23rd - A Blink of the Cosmic Eye

On this day in 1977, American paleontologist, Elso S. Barghoorn, announced the discovery of some algae microfossils, complete with some super-scientific name and some super-scientific qualifiers, that were 3.4 billion years old. In layman’s terms--really freaking old. Interestingly enough October 23 was also thought, for a long time, to be the day on which the Earth was created. In 1650, church leaders interpreted that the bible documents Earth’s creation on October 23, 4004 BC. Also a long time ago. Not quite the 3.4 billion years of the first life-forms, or the 4.5 billion years most scientist believe the Earth has been around for. So old Barghoorn may have been giving a little nod there, as in “I’ll take your 5700 years and raise you a few billion.” In any case, it shows that we are here but for a blink of the cosmic eye. Stuff has been around so long that if you really start to think about it, you start feeling like you are watching first 30 minutes of The Tree of Life and wonderi
Read more