Declaration of Independence

In 1989, a Philadelphia financial analyst discovered something unusual in an old picture he'd bought for $4 at a flea market in Adamstown, PA. He'd purchased the painting (an old, torn depiction of a country scene) because he liked the frame. He liked it even more once he discovered that a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence lurked within it.

When he had attempted to detach the frame from the painting, the frame fell apart in his hands. He then found a folded document between the canvas and wood backing which appeared to be an old copy of the Declaration of Independence. A friend who collected Civil War memorabilia advised him to have it appraised.

It was real: one of 500 official copies from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. (Only twenty-four similar copies were known to exist before this find, of which a mere three were privately owned.) This rare document was offered for sale by Sotheby's on 4 June 1991, and the lucky find fetched even more than had been anticipated: the $800,000 to $1.2 million estimate turned into $2.42 million by the sound of the gavel.

The buyer was Donald J. Scheer of Atlanta, president of Visual Equities Inc., a year-old fine arts investment firm.

"We thought we would add historical documents to our portfolio," Mr. Scheer said, adding that "we were prepared to pay considerably more."

He stressed that he had bought the Declaration as more than just an investment. "I think this is a living document and the words are every bit as live today," he said.

Posted by serge, August 31, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
declaration independence Sotheby United States

Be respectful when handling Thai currency!

Thailand has and does enforce the national lese majeste laws. These laws expressly prohibit any act - verbal, physical or written, that shows insolent or disrespectful behavior toward any member of the Royal family. In same time, all currency in Thailand, paper and coin, bears a portrait of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej or a deceased relative. With this in mind, DO NOT EVER: step on a coin to stop it from rolling away. DO NOT step on a Thai banknote to stop it from blowing away. DO NOT throw a note or coin in anger towards another person. DO NOT tear, burn or otherwise deface a note or coin.

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Posted by serge, August 22, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
60 baht banknote coins king paper money thai Thailand

Belka and Strelka

Here is a postage stamp "Belka and Strelka" from Soviet Union, with very famous dogs on it who did their feat of arms 49 years ago:

Belka (literally "squirrel", or but as a dog's name most likely means "Whitey" ) and Strelka ("Arrow" ) spent a day in space aboard Korabl-Sputnik-2 (Sputnik 5) on August 19, 1960 before safely returning to Earth.

They were accompanied by a grey rabbit, 42 mice, 2 rats, flies and a number of plants and fungi. All passengers survived. They were the first Earth-born creatures to go into orbit and return alive.

Posted by serge, August 19, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
Soviet Union stamp

Oldtimer Grand Prix

The 37th AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix took place from August 7 - 9, 2009 at the Nürburgring. Once again a unique collection of historic racing cars covering seven decades of motor racing history, from the early days of the Nürburgring through to the 1980s, was in action on the track.

Bentley 4, 1936.

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Posted by developers, August 11, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
antique cars germany Nurburgring

Coin Stacking

One of my old friends, old bearded numismatist, said one day, that he “collects that jingle and, Serge, you collect that can be used in toilet ”. Yeah, it was rather funny!

Today, we will talk about what we can advise him to do with his coins! For example, we can advise a coin stacking:

Nickel Spiral.

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Posted by serge, July 31, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
coin stacking coins

Travel in U.S.

I love to explore new places (countries, cities), and now from Belorussian forest full of warfare gorillas, let’s continue our travel using paper money as guide. Today we will visit some historical and political symbols of United States:

Lincoln Memorial

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Posted by serge, July 19, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
dollars paper money sightseeing travel United States

Unknown collector-soldier

Collecting as hobby can be born not only via aspiration for an accumulating of all pieces in variety of kind. But in aspiration for imprint the places where you were one day. We have already wrote about Michael Hughes, who has found his own way to do this, using snapshots of souvenirs in front of the original sights. Today, I’ll show an impressive and rare exhibit from local history museum in Grodno (Republic of Belarus). It is a belt of the Nazi soldier.

Click on image to enlarge

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Posted by serge, July 6, 2009. Post has 1 comments.
belt coins war ww2

Have you got a 20p worth £50 in your pocket?

The Royal Mint of the United Kingdom produced in error about 200,000 coins without a date. They are the first undated British coins to enter circulation for more than 330 years.

The 20p coin minted in error with no date. Photograph: Watershed/PA

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Posted by serge, June 30, 2009. Post has 4 comments.
coin penny Royal Mint undated

Vinyl faces

Do you collect vinyl? Let's fun!

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Posted by serge, June 22, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
cool fun vinyl

Currency Collages by Mark Wagner

A dollar sure isn’t worth much these days... until you cut it up into bits and and get out the glue. Brooklyn artist Mark Wagner, co-founder and president of The Booklyn Artists Alliance and x-acto master, makes the most of his money. Using countless fragments of actual currency, Mark Wagner creates collages that speak to the cultural, social, political and symbolic roles that money plays in our society. Working exclusively with the monochrome of the U.S Dollar, Wagner has proved that the single dollar bill is a truly ripe material; intaglio printed on sturdy linen stock, covered in decorative filigree and steeped in symbolism and concept. With blade and glue in hand, Wagner transforms this icon of American capitalism into representational images whose symbolic force asks us to question our understanding of money, its cultural significance and relationship to art. Reproducing the ornate visual effects of tapestries, paintings, engravings, mosaics and computer generated images, Wagner investigates a broad range of subjects, from the story of the founding fathers, to art historical icons, mythological tales and the language of architecture.

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Posted by serge, June 17, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
art collage currency dollar moneygami