Ship of Fools: what would Your money look like?

Thread: what would Your money look like? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

A comment on another thread had me thinking about the design of money.
Whilst there is some beautiful engraving and there are very pretty notes, money has its own aesthetic. What passes for attractive in a bank note would often fail in other arenas as too florid or fractured. There are reasons for this, but what would your money look like, free from these concerns?
My first though is Art Deco, beauty with serious intent. Art and institution.

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

Mine would be Art Nouveau. It would be a complex and naturalistic shape, beautiful with organic patterns on them.

Coins would be elegant and sleek.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

There would be no bank notes. The English ones are promissory notes that say, if you look closely, "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of..." and in theory you can go to the Bank of England with these and demand to be given gold coins in return for your promissory note. In practice, this never happens, and if you did, you'd be very unlikely to come away with a fistful of gold sovereigns.

So no notes. Just beautiful coins: silver, copper, nickel, gold. As befits an island, they would have themes of ships, sea creatures, animals, flowers, trees, etc. Most would be round but some would be polygonal. The two-colour two-pound coin would stay.

And there would be shillings, guineas, florins, groats, marks, threepenny bits and all the rest of it. And the shilling would not be the size of a tiny cent, but worth something.

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

All money should be coins. Drill holes in all of it and we can wear it like jewellery. In fact, make it mandatory to wear all of your money. No bank accounts or credit cards etc. Those with too much money will be weighed down, such that the poor can assist them to stand by taking on some of the burden. Win-win all around.

We could also have special Jesus coins with 3 holes in them.

I'd also suggest that if/when Prince Charles gets to be features on money, the coins can have ears on them.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Gold, pure 22 carat gold [Big Grin]

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

I've always liked the idea of "Boggs Bills".

Boggs is an artist, with a long history of drawing his own money--even to pay for a meal he's just eaten. See article "In Boggs We Trust". Wikipedia also has a good article.

(Don't mean to derail the thread; it's just that this is a guy who's already done what we're talking about.)

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I always loved the classic Irish coin set - the wren, the sow, the hen, hare, greyhound, bull, salmon and racehorse. Besides being beautiful designs, they related to the country they represented.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Yes, so did I. That was the sort of thing I had in mind.

Posted by David (# 3) on :

My currency would be books, CDs, DVDs, unused HiFi equipment, component video cables and old analogue-only TVs.

I would be Filthy Rich.

Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :

Silver arm rings used as hacksilver

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I always loved the classic Irish coin set ...

Any country that has piggies on its coins will get my vote ... [Big Grin]

Posted by ProgenitorDope (# 16648) on :

Realistically, I think we'd be best off designing plastic cards with magnetic strips on the back.

Otherwise, I've always like coins more than bills, so I'd probably have more emphasis on those. Probably important people's profiles on the front, Neoclassical designs on the back, if not full Roman with significant events instead.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I always loved the classic Irish coin set ...
Any country that has piggies on its coins will get my vote ...

The Irish for pig is "muc", by the way. [Big Grin]

Yes, it was a simple design but it worked beautifully, with a harp on the other side. The harp is the only feature they've retained on the euro, which looks as dull as all the rest now.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

[tangent]
I'm reminded of an occasion in a Dublin restaurant (pre-Euros), when a crowd of us from Belfast were sorting out our bills, and one of the younger chaps said in rather too loud a stage-whisper, "Anyone got any Monopoly money left?".

Oops ... [Help]

[/tangent]

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

My money would be vegetables. The 22 carrot gold standard.

... I'll get me coat.

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

The coins would have to be triangular. And, yes, a hole in the middle would be rather useful.

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

I would love to see surrealist banknotes. Not as in a design by Dali on the note, but more in the idea of of the designs being on carp, and the amount the carp was worth varying as to which way it was currently swimming.

This is of course the goldfish standard.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

Chocolate. In bars or coins.

Posted by Doublethink. (# 1984) on :

I'd like gems really, different shapes and colours for various denominations. Possibly laser engraved in the centre for anti-fraudness, or as a cameo.

Ruby bagette cut machine produced crystal with a cameo cut phoenix design for a hundred perhaps ?

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Chocolate. In bars or coins.

No, absolutely not. There would be no money left in my possession and no one's purse or wallet would be safe around me.

Posted by Wet Kipper (# 1654) on :

Like Lego ™.
Cubes of different sizes (1x1), (2x2), (2x4), and different colours to denote worth which can be combined in a stack to make certain amounts

eg 1 blue is the lowest value, but an 8 (2x4) blue is worth a 1x1 red,
8 (2x4) red = 1x1 white (= 64 blue)
8 (2x4) white = 1x1 silver (= 64 red, =512 blue)
8 (2x4) silver = 1x1 gold (= 64 white = 512 red, = 4096 blue)

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

Just for interest: I worked in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, in the early 80s. A group of colleagues went to visit the neighbouring Republic of Guinea and were intrigued to find that the currency in circulation (known as the "Syli") consisted entirely of notes (I don't know what had happened to the coins).

The smallest 1-Syli note was about the size of a large postage stamp, apparently.

Posted by marzipan (# 9442) on :

possibly similar to what happened to lira - there had been a subdivision but it wasn't worth very much?
I was in Slovenia before they adopted the euro (it was during the changeover, so their Tolar had been tied to the euro at a fixed rate so Euros and Tolar were both in circulation at the same time)
The smaller denomination notes also had coins of the same value, but somewhere I have a 10 tolar note worth approximately 5 euro cent

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
The coins would have to be triangular.

I think these are quite wonderful.

I'm pretty sure I used to have a coin from Ceylon with a hole in the middle that my father had acquired during the war. It may even have been a square coin.

Posted by simontoad (# 18096) on :

I'd like to see really really really huge paper money that you had to fold eight or nine times in order to store it.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

But won't it get easily torn along the fold-lines as it wears?

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

Maybe make it of origami paper? It's pretty strong.

Welcome, simontoad! [Smile]

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

I loved the French banknotes I used to use on holiday in the 70s and 80s: colourfaul, dramatic, with a satisfying crackle. (One of them -can't remember the value- had Delacroix's 'Liberty Leading the People' on it, and I remember thinking 'trust the French to have money with nipples on it')

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:

quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
The coins would have to be triangular.
I think these are quite wonderful.

They...are, but they're confusing to me. What are they? I'm assuming some commemorative coin? I see the Queen, King Tut's name inscribed, a bunch of Egyptian symbolism, and the Isle of Man inscribed with the date. [Confused]

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

Damn, I knew she's been queen for quite a while, but I hadn't thought it'd been thatlong.

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:

I'm pretty sure I used to have a coin from Ceylon with a hole in the middle that my father had acquired during the war. It may even have been a square coin.

Current Japanese 5 and 50 yen coins have a hole in the middle. Alan Cresswell probably has a pocketful.

Which brings be on to what I'd like. I'd like trousers with stronger pockets, so that I don't generate holes in the pockets that leak coins. I'm not much bothered what the coins look like, but I'd prefer not to leave a trail behind me like Hansel and Gretel.

Posted by Roton San (# 18397) on :

The most beautiful thing of the world... [Smile]

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

Welcome to the Ship, Roton San! I'm glad you're testing your sea legs here in Heaven. [Smile]

There is a dedicated Welcome Thread in All Saints, if you'd like to introduce yourself there.

jedijudy
One of the Heavenly Hosts

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