NNP

The annual ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve is an all-day event, with gates open to revelers beginning at 3pm. What they do for the next nine hours I have no idea, but perhaps the time could be spent in contemplation of numismatic connections to the so-called “Crossroads of the World.” Fortunately, Newman Portal is a just a few clicks away via cell phone, and we can only acknowledge the patience of those who stood await in the pre-mobile phone era. 

In 2013, Odyssey Marine mounted an exhibit of shipwreck coins at Discovery Times Square. Odyssey is perhaps best known for the thousands of 1861-O half dollars pulled from the SS Republic in 2003. Odyssey further recovered Bombay Mint silver bars from the SS Gairsoppa, a World War II shipwreck in the north Atlantic, with 99 tons of silver pulled from the deep in 2012-2013.

Dick Johnson, in 2012, made note of the “Art Takes Times Square” event, which featured artwork by Joel Iskowitz that depicted Victor David Brenner discussing the Lincoln Cent design with Theodore Roosevelt. Finally, the September 1941 Numismatic Scrapbook included an article about coin counting machines that noted in part “an estimated 30,000 persons a month are served by the coin telephones in a single Times Square cigar store.” Amounting to a thousand calls per day, one can only assume the store hosted a large bank of pay phones. 

Link to E-Sylum, May 5, 2013, “Odyessey Marine Shipwreck Exhibit Comes to Times Square”: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/periodical/15845

Link to E-Sylum, June 24, 2012, “Art and Victor David Brenner Take on Times Square”: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/periodical/14607

Link to NNP search results for “Times Square”: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/searchwithterms?searchterm=times%20square

We are nearing the end of the annual celebration of Hanukkah, which this year runs from December 14-22. A modern Hanukkah tradition is the presentation of chocolate gelt, which typically comes in gold or silver foil wrappers, although purists prefer unwrapped versions covered with gold or silver dust. A check of Amazon reveals well over a hundred offerings, although many of these appear to represent “normal issue” chocolate coins simply rehoused in Hanukkah-themed packaging. We suggest that more apt “Hanukkah gelt” pieces bear designs related to the actual event. Careful searching reveals examples with menorahs, or Hebrew text indicating “Happy Hanukkah / A great miracle.” We located one vendor that which offers Hanukkah gelt “molded to replicate an actual Judean coin dating back to the 4th decade BCE.” These may be the best for the numismatist!

Link to Mel Wacks’ Handbook of Biblical Numismatics on NNP: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/600117
Link to The Shekel on NNP: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/511938
Link to “Hanukkah Chocolate Coins” from E-Sylum, December 14, 2014: https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n51a29.html