May 17, 2006
Fine Art for Five Bucks
Actually Five Silver Dollars and you have to time-travel to the 1890's. From Flying Moose comes this wonderful ramble through paper currency of the 1890's -- back when there was actually fine art on the bills.Nearly all of us - nearly all of us who live in the United States, at least - have spent all our lives looking at the same style of paper currency: those things that say "Federal Reserve Note" and have a dead President in the center of the bill in an oval frame. Now that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has begun distributing a new design of U.S. currency, we've started seeing some variations in the theme; certainly we get to see the details of the portrait engravers' work much more clearly. Still, though, we rarely stop to appreciate the skill and artistry of the engravers... after all, it's just money. We just take it out and spend it.Here is:
But what if the Bureau of Engraving and Printing decided, as they did in the 1890s, to use our paper money as a showcase for art?
Visit the site to see this wonderful note full-size. James Lileks has a similar interest in Stock Certificates -- some wonderful stuff there too... Posted by DaveH at May 17, 2006 9:26 PMElectricity Presenting Light To The World is an extraordinary work. A winged female Electricity holds an electric lamp aloft high over America. At left, Jupiter holds the lightning in his right hand which powers the lamp; in his left hand reins of lightning yoke his horses. Fame sits at Electricity's left, trumpeting her achievement to the world. To Electricity's right is a bald eagle, standing guard over the Western Hemisphere. Behind the eagle, with the U.S. Capitol in the background, is Peace, her left hand upraised beside a dove. This remarkable blend of legend, patriotism and beauty came together to create a note widely regarded to be the most beautiful currency in U.S. history.
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