SECOND LIFE: This Internet-based endeavor, according to its Web-site (http://secondlife.com/), “is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by” over 5 million “people from around the globe. From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business. You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow residents. Because residents retain the rights to their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other residents.” Second Life was developed by Linden Lab. This company, based in San Francisco, “was founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale to create a revolutionary new form of shared experience, where individuals jointly inhabit a 3D landscape and build the world around them. Today this experience, known as Second Life, has a rapidly growing population of Residents from 100 countries around the globe, who are creating and inhabiting a virtual world of their own design. Founder Philip Rosedale is the former CTO of RealNetworks, where he pioneered the development and deployment of streaming media technologies.” Linden Lab’s Web-site (http://lindenlab.com/), declares that “Second Life is so cutting-edge it defies genre classification. It's a game, a tool, a playground, a nation, and nearly everything in it is built by its residents. A digital space where everyone can be what they want, create what they want, and do what they want, and it’s growing fast. SL has a diverse, global set of users who are passionate about the world they're creating…Second Life is at the forefront of many disciplines. We push the limits of 3D rendering, network streaming, distributed caching, clustered computing, physics simulation, virtual machines, animation, scalable databases, UI design, economics, online communities...the list goes on.”
SHENANDOAH VALLEY FREE MONEY: The Shen and Shenandoah Dollars (collectively called the Currency) are a series of coins created and designed by Phil Matthew Cauley, the Managing Partner of Alternative Investment Strategies of Virginia, a limited liability company (founded in February of 2005) based in Staunton, VA. The first piece pertaining to this “Alternative Local Silver Currency” was the One Shen, dated 2005 (released on 4/11). According to their Web-site (http://aisofvirginia.com/index.html), “The silver SHEN commemorates the importance of Shenandoah Valley agriculture, provides a historical perspective, distinguishes real from fiat money, and establishes a local currency. The SHEN denomination comes from the name ‘Shenandoah,’ signifying its place as a local currency unique to the region. The one SHEN coin, the first of a series, is copyrighted, die-struck, brilliant uncirculated and contains 1/2 troy ounce of .999 fine silver. The obverse side depicts the Shenandoah Valley watershed and the seven counties nourished by the river of the same name. The date 1669 is the first recorded reference to the Valley’s discovery and 2005 is the year of minting. The phrase, ‘Breadbasket of Virginia,’ recognizes the importance of the Shenandoah Valley to Virginia agriculture. Today, four of the top five agriculture producing counties in the state (Rockingham, Augusta, Page, Shenandoah) lie within its boundaries. The reverse side depicts a team of horses and farmers plowing a field. This tribute to the agricultural tradition and heritage of the Valley shows a period of time when hard work made for self-reliant people who formed close-knit and independent families with community pride in the land and its value as a food-producing commodity. The .999 silver content represents intrinsic-value real money. The phrase, ‘Shenandoah Valley Free Money,’ represents a local currency independent and free of the Federal Reserve System.” Because of this monetary independence/freedom, the Shen can “seek its own free market value”, without interference or restriction, “based upon its silver content (1/2 troy ounce), its value as a real money local currency and its collector’s value.” Mr. Cauley convincingly claims that “The SHEN is real money, not fiat money like the dollar that has no hard asset backing its value. Ever since the United States confiscated gold coins in 1933, removed the silver from coins in 1965 and abandoned the gold standard in 1971 as a backing for paper currency, U.S. money has been backed only by the faith in and credit of the U.S. Government...Because the SHEN has intrinsic value based upon its .999 pure silver content and cannot be recalled by the Federal Reserve to be replaced by paper currency, it is a natural store of wealth.” The Shen was issued as an inflation-proof, “free-floating currency”, but it “never caught on as a circulating currency. Rather, it is sitting in someone's vault or coin collection as a hard asset or curiosity.” Additional pieces, purposefully denominated in dollars for ease of exchange (“one Shenandoah Dollar equals one U.S. dollar”), now exist: a 15 Shenandoah Dollars, and a 30 Shenandoah Dollars (both dated 2006).
SHERMAN DOLLAR: Created and designed in 2003 by Mr. Ken Oglesby (of Springfield, IL), who “has studied the history of money since 1968.” With the exception of high-priced commemorative coins sold by the U.S. Mint only to collectors, the Sherman Dollar “is the first Constitutionally correct Dollar minted for commerce since 1935”. It “is a privately minted ‘silver round’ that in spirit meets the definition of the word ‘Dollar’ as stated in” the Coinage Act of 1792, which was passed on April 2 of that year. This neglected document had defined the standard for all silver coins, which should each contain 371.25 grains of fine silver. Its guidelines, of which the collectible Sherman Dollar is “a precise model”, are later reiterated in the Coinage Act of 1837; these sacrosanct definitions remain unchanged until today. Mr. Oglesby drew inspiration for the Sherman Dollar from NORFED (see my earlier listing) and he gives due credit to that organization's successful Liberty Dollars. However, he considers his coin to be a “superior product...the result of taking the carbon nugget discovered by Mr. NotHaus and polishing it to a brilliant diamond luster.” The Sherman Dollar is capable of functioning as “a new bridge” built to lead us back towards a “Constitutional Coinage”, away from today's “corrupt” fiat monetary system, which Mr. Oglesby clearly disdains. Nevertheless, the coin is also “uniquely designed” to operate within our current, “egregious” system, and he envisions individual states adopting the Sherman Dollar “as a financial tool to solve their budgetary problems” and to halt their “endless dependency on federal grants.” Once state legislatures start putting themselves “on the fast track to economic recovery” by enacting the “Sherman Dollar Act”, this legislation will allow their states to buy the coins at a discount, below their face value. The coin will further enable more and more of them to “begin the process of weaning” themselves “from the tyrannical clutches of the socialist Federal Reserve System”, whose “phony” and “worthless” paper money will in turn become less and less influential. “The Sherman Dollars, and other privately minted Dollars that may appear, will become the currency of the nation and will be replaced only when the United States Mint starts coining real silver Dollars again. The buying power of these lawful Dollars will eventually meet or exceed the Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars of yesteryear. Once again minor silver coins will purchase those numerous necessities of life that our parents so often spoke of, and that we found so hard to believe. Some day soon pocket change will buy you a ticket to see a fascinating movie about how the legacy of Roger Sherman saved America!” To read more about this historical figure, whose important contributions are honored by this coin, please visit:
SHIRE POST MINT (Springdale, AR): Heavily influenced by the works of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, the Shire Post (which “provides an interdimensional mailing service”) had its beginnings, with philately and stamps, in 1987. Its very first Halfling/Shaire coins, also Hobbit-themed, were made in June of 2001, when its founder, Tom Maringer, chanced upon an old antique manual coining press. Those initial pieces were marked “SR 1401” (S.R. signifies Shire Reckoning, the calendar used by the Hobbits of The Shire, a region of Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth). Starting with the 2nd series, he partnered with another talented engraver named Oswald Oaklif. Creating coins has now become the main activity of the Shire Post, and the varieties of coins Mr. Maringer now offers has greatly expanded. After the “SR 1403” series (struck in 2003), numerous “‘Outlandish’ coins from other realms of Middle Earth (Gondor, Arnor, Mordor, Dale, Angband, Moria, Isengard, Harad, Rohan, Erebor, Hollin etc.) soon followed, in various materials and with design features appropriate to the culture of the issuing people.” These realms are separate from “The Land of the Halflings” — far beyond the bounds of “The Shayre” — and are collectively referred to as “the ‘outlands’ (meaning any land outside those of normal halfling folk)”. Over the years, the coinage of the Shire Post Mint has become extremely popular, to the point of even inspiring a counterfeiter, who “is known to be currently operating in Germany, casting coins from molds cloned from the die-struck originals.”
HISTORIC SILVER VALLEY: The first coin of theirs I encountered was a “Coeur d'Alene Mining District” 10 Sterlings, dated 2004. According to Mr. Tom Szabo (the seller on eBay from whom I purchased it), the 1 ounce silver piece “is an experiment in using silver as money”, which should also serve the purpose of adding more interest to it as a collectible. Sifting through the Internet for more information, I soon learned that it was issued by the Silver Valley Mining Association (founded in June of 2003), which is based in Wallace, Idaho (“The Silver Capital of the World”). According to its Web-site
(http://silverminers.org/valley.html), the “triple-9-fine” coin has seen widespread use in the commerce of northern Idaho's Silver Valley, an extended mountain community located along Interstate 90, between Fourth-of-July Pass and Lookout Pass. It is now accepted by over 50 participating merchants (restaurants, coffee shops/cafés, drug stores, bars/saloons, inns, museums) in and around Shoshone County (Wallace, Kellogg, Kingston, Mullan, Osburn, Pinehurst).
SOCIETY FOR CREATIVE ANACHRONISM: This mega-alliance — it had its origins in Berkeley, California — currently has over 30,000 participants worldwide. It started as a May Day medieval-theme party for the science fiction author Diana Lucile Paxson, who was headed abroad for the Peace Corps. Their name, though, was coined by co-founder Marion Zimmer Bradley. The SCA is a feudal society; its “Knowne World” is subdivided into nineteen Kingdoms (and further segmented into baronies, principalities, shires), each with a King and Queen (who rule by right of arms), a Prince and Princess (heirs to the throne), and a council or Curia of Great Officers who handle the day to day business of running the kingdom. According to their Web-site (http://www.sca.org/), “The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe.” Thus, they attempt to accurately duplicate the Medieval era in all of its details and facets (pageants, chivalry, combats, heraldry, garb, parlance). “Members, dressed in clothing of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, attend events which may feature tournaments, arts exhibits, classes, workshops, dancing, feasts, and more. Our ‘royalty’ hold courts at which they recognize and honor members for their contributions to the group.” The SCA uses its own calendar, which reckons time from the First Tournament, which was the going-away party for Diana held on May 1, 1966. Their years are traditionally read as “Anno Societatis”.
When a person becomes a resident of Second Life, he or she creates an Avatar (“if it's not perfect at first, you can change your look at any time”). These characters are then able to explore their host world and meet other fascinating residents. “Second Life is about personal expression and your avatar is the most personal expression of all. After all, an avatar is your persona in the virtual world…Despite offering almost infinite possibilities, the tool to personalize your avatar is very simple to use and allows you to change anything you like, from the tip of your nose to the tint of your skin.” And because most participants will probably also needs a specific place to inhabit, “Second Life's real estate market provides opportunities for Residents to establish their own communities and business locations.” Thus, “Some people decide to purchase Virtual Land, which allows them to open a business, build their own virtual paradise, and more! Linden Lab creates new land to keep up with demand. What began as 64 acres in 2003 is now over 65,000 acres and growing rapidly.” Residents are urged to become a part of history by purchasing land (from a tiny parcel to a sizeable island) and developing their own piece of Second Life: “Owning land in Second Life allows you to build, display, and store your virtual creations, as well as host events and businesses…Whether it's a modest nook for a relaxing cottage, or an entire island to build your dream amusement park, land is for everyone.” Real estate in the game now changes hands for vast sums of real-world cash.
Worldwide, the powers-that-be want to tap the Second Life world in order to share their messages with a new audience. A Spanish non-profit organization, for instance, created an avatar in Second Life to raise awareness about children in need. Amazingly, Sweden is soon to become the first country to open a government-sanctioned virtual “embassy” in the popular virtual world of Second Life. The in-game embassy will be built and operated by the Swedish Institute, an entity which is in charge of promoting tourism to the country and which works alongside the Swedish Foreign Ministry. The Second Life embassy (a digital version of the House of Sweden building in Washington, D.C.) will function as “an information portal for Sweden.” The Institute wants to convince thousands of Second Life “residents” to venture into real-life Sweden. Its main goal will be to provide knowledge about Swedish culture and history, as well as suggestions for places to visit in the (real-life) country, according to the Institute's director, Olle Wästberg. The group feels that Second Life's young, educated, tech-savvy demographic is worth marketing to. The Swedish Institute says the online embassy will not issue passports and visas to potential tourists, but it will inform these users how to obtain them in the real world. It will be interesting to see if Internet security develops to the point that a Second Life embassy could actually issue those types of documents someday.
Functioning as a dependable citizen in Second Life also entails taking part in basic monetary transactions. Several real-world companies have even created virtual shops in this fantasy world. “Second Life has a fully-integrated economy architected to reward risk, innovation, and craftsmanship. Residents create their own virtual goods and services. Because residents retain the IP rights of their creations, they are able to sell them at various in-world venues. Businesses succeed by the ingenuity, artistic ability, entrepreneurial acumen, and good reputation of their owners.” Second Life has a bustling “Marketplace” which successfully supports countless financial transactions. “This commerce is handled with the in-world unit-of-trade, the Linden dollar”. I was surprised to learn that “Millions of Linden Dollars change hands every month for the goods and services Residents create and provide.” This internal “unit-of-trade may then be bought and sold on LindeX (Second Life's official Linden Dollar exchange)” or even at other unaffiliated third-party sites for real currency. In other words, because many residents are able to amass very large quantities of Linden Dollars, they always have the option to convert their surplus money back “to US dollars at several thriving online Linden Dollar exchanges.”
In regards to Second Life, something of unique numismatic interest has taken place — thanks to one of its residents, Mr. David van Gent. He is also happens to be a fellow member of the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/ and http://www.usns.info/). Mr. van Gent (or should I say Davidovic Dean, the name of his avatar), became the proud owner of property in Second Life. The birth of this locality, which he named Tender Island, occurred on March 25th, 2007. It is a Type 3 island. Size-wise, it encompasses 65,536 square meters (about 16 acres) “and has a little lake in the middle and some low hills.” Around the central lake, numerous new buildings are springing up and entertainment is not difficult to find. Interestingly, architecture on Tender Island is not limited to the “ground”. Construction can also take place in the skies. “There has recently been ‘built a castle in the air’ with a sky box on top of one of the 4 towers, and a ‘romantic garden in the clouds’, also called the Elysian Fields of Tender Island.” In the future, “The island might develop as a nature reserve, sanctuary, open for all visitors.” To celebrate the acquisition of virtual land, Mr. van Gent decided that a coin should be minted. “On the island everything is free, so it is not possible to buy or sell on it. Virtual copies of the coins…will be freely available/obtainable. The real world silver coins however, will only be obtainable by gift from someone else. Because of low mintage, passing/acquiring of coins might not happen that often…The silver coins will be so called ‘friendship coins’ and should be passed to people for whom we feel warm friendship and great empathy. It is not allowed to get material favors (including payment) in return for the gift. Well, not allowed, there are no penalties, let us say highly discouraged, to give them away with other intentions. This means also that I hope they won’t be sold at Ebay.” Because the silver pieces (25 in all) “will not be commercialized”, (they “are for non-commerical interchange only”) he decided to mint some pieces (50, to be precise) “in nickel as well, that can be obtained by others. To give collectors the opportunity to acquire one.” Originally, Mr. van Gent also wanted to mint a small quantity of gold pieces, to be called “love coins”, which were intended to have been “given to people for whom we feel true love and affection.” But during the minting process, he decided to forgo this part of his plan. The Tender Island coins, produced by Pressed Metal Products (Vancouver, B.C.), have “the symbolic value of 1 linden dollar, the official currency in Second Life”. On the obverse, the “location of the island on the big Second Life grid” — indicated by the coordinates “x,y - 1058,1160” — and the date — 2007 — are shown above and below the L$1 denomination, respectively. Serving “as a sort of mintmark”, this side of the coin also bears the tiny letters “SL”, which of course stand for Second Life. The reverse bears the name “Tender Island” and also “features our family coat of arms, depicting a Northern Gannet (Morus Bassanus). In Dutch we call this a ‘jan-van-gent’ bird. The superpositioning of the bird on the shield represents that of the heraldic bird ‘Merlet’, a bird with no claws or bill.” I acquired one of the “friendship coins” directly from Mr. van Gent. In appreciation, I sent him one of my 2007 Zilchstadt medallions. Incidentally, Tender Island isn’t open to passersby. It can be visited only with a personal invitation from Davidovid Dean. “Owners of the coin, earn as well the right to a guided tour.” At the 2007 Second Life Community Convention in Chicago (August 24-26), Mr. van Gent had the privilege of personally presenting “a copy of the silver version of the SL Tender Island L$1-coin” to Philip Rosedale (founder/CEO of Linden Lab) and to Ailin Graef (in November of 2006, her main avatar, Anshe Chung — the “Rockefeller of Second Life” — became “the first online personality to achieve a net worth exceeding one million US dollars from profits entirely earned inside a virtual world”). Both of the gifts were accepted, of course!
Images of the Tender Island coin can be viewed at: http://tenderisland.blogspot.com/.
As for Mr. Cauley's monetary philosophy, he states that “Local currency is money that circulates on a voluntary basis in a specific community or region between consumers, businesses and sometimes financial institutions.” This medium of exchange is not legal tender, even though people agree to voluntarily accept it as payment for goods and services. “It has a U.S. dollar equivalent value to facilitate ease of exchange, accounting and taxation. This local currency idea evolved as a way to keep money in the community, promote local economic strength and self-reliance, ensure choice and diversity, and support local small businesses...Customers wanting to support local businesses seek those businesses that accept the local currency. This allows customers to voluntarily spend where they know their money will stay in and support the local community. Local businesses voluntarily re-circulate the local currency through other business and customer transactions just as they would dollars.” Mr. Cauley's Free Money has “taken the concept of local currency to a higher level. Rather than printing a paper note that has no intrinsic value, the Currency coins are minted from 99.9% silver...It is envisioned that the Currency would trade on par with the legal tender U.S. dollar. However, the Currency would have the added advantage of being minted from a hard asset commodity (silver) which offers both inflation resistance and preservation of wealth and purchasing power as compared to the U.S. paper dollar. The Currency can actually appreciate in value due to its 99.9% silver content. It is anticipated that these coins will be both collected as well as circulated.” In fact, a large percentage of these coins will likely be treated by numismatists merely as collectables; many other pieces will leave the community in the hands of tourists simply as souvenirs and mementos. “However, for these coins to ever be spent, they would have to return to the Shenandoah Valley local currency exchange area, thus reinforcing the concept of keeping money in the community.” AIS is currently recruiting merchants/retailers/vendors to participate in their local currency program.
http://www.shermandollar.us/
I purchased the 2004 20 Dollar piece directly from Mr. Oglesby (ken@shermandollar.us).
The Shire Post is “devoted to the premise that fantasy is a useful tool in growing our own personalities” and everyday artifacts such as coins “can bolster our ‘sense of place’ and transport us more fully into these realms of thought.” The Mint approaches each coin “as IF it were from the period…rather than an obviously modern coin celebrating a past event.” Each coin/token “conceivably could have existed had history gone just a little bit differently.” For Mr. Maringer — as well as for a growing number of numismatists — “The term ‘fantasy coin’ is a technically precise term in numismatics…referring to items that appear to be a [bona-fide] coin, but which were not actually issued by any real-world authority as a medium of exchange. For our purposes however, we extend the use of the term a bit further…to cover coinages FROM fantasy worlds, including those which are” based on literature, contemporary fiction, ancient mythology, chronicled happenings, “and even coin fantasies that comemmorate historical events that might-have-been…places that surely somehow exist in the infinite multiverse! You will not find coins bearing the images of film characters here…but rather the coins that those characters might have been carrying in their pocketses! The premise of this effort is that coins provide for us a TACTILE sense of time and place…something we can touch and handle. It is to this goal of making history, mythology, and fantasy seem more real that we dedicate our labors.” What is the purpose of it all? “This is all for fun and enjoyment! Shire Post coins are used to lend a sense of tangibility and realism to the fantasy worlds of the imagination. There is a sense of place that comes with jingling some coins in your pocket.”
I purchased a palmful of coins (including issues from Camelot, Vinland, Dauphin Island, and New France) directly from Mr. Maringer (willwhitfoot@shirepost.com). Will Whitfoot (Mayor/Postmaster/Mintmaster) is his “alter ego, my Hobbitly personna if you will.” The Mint's most resplendent piece to date might well be the Silver Daler of New Dal, which pertains to the Realms of Men (Middle Earth/Outlands) series. Its remarkable beauty is a direct result of the timely collaboration between Mr. Maringer and the great Mr. Greg Franck-Weiby (see, farther along this very page, my listing for the Society for Creative Anachronism), who invested over 340 hours of meticulous hard work towards the finely detailed engraving of its dies.
It should be noted that Mr. Maringer has always been careful to respectfully alter — at times just slightly — the copyrighted names (settings, characters) pertaining to the books of Tolkien. This applies not only to The Shire, but to the other unique regions of Middle Earth categorized as the “Outlands” (for example: “Rowan” for Rohan, “Dal Tun” for the town of Dale, “New Dal” for New Dale, “Palan Haraud” for Far Harad, “King Eleussar” for King Elessar). He has done this in order to steer clear of any unforeseeable lawyerly woes. As a devoted and well-intentioned fan (he “first read Tolkien beginning in 1970”), Mr. Maringer passionately produced a beautiful array of Tolkien-inspired pieces. For about 6 years, he clearly enriched our hobby with his gifted artistry. He added something beautiful to our world. Whilst detailing the history of his venture in an earlier version of a text entitled “The Development of Shire Post as a real-world hobby and it's growth into a community”, Mr. Maringer wrote: “From the beginning in 1987, this has all been a rather elaborate hobby, created for the purpose of making the fantasy come alive by making simple everyday artifacts that one might have encountered in Middle-Earth, and it was all done with a deep respect and an immense love for the body of work created by Professor Tolkien. I anticipated little outside interest in this fantasy coinage…aside from a few friends and the people who were interested in the stamps I was already making. I felt that I was rather foolishly spending a lot of money on equipment and supplies, and that I would probably just make a few coins at great expense that I could play with and share with a few friends…and that would be that. But it soon became clear that there was a lurking latent interest in such things…after I published photos of some of my first pieces on my website folks began to chase me down seeking to obtain these items. Many hundreds of people have thanked me for creating these items and enabling them to further deepen their enjoyment of Tolkien's Middle Earth by adding the simple tactical ‘sense of place’ that a common-place everyday object like a coin can provide. It became clear to me that the potential market was huge and that this hobby had the potential to become a real business and I became concerned about the possibility of copyright problems. At this point I began to seek contact with copyright holders for the Tolkien Works in order to obtain their blessings and move forward. I initially sought to make contace with the Tolkien heirs, but then found that Professor Tolkien had sold many of his merchandizing copyrights to Saul Zaentz (Tolkien Enterprises) years ago. In February of 2002 I shut down Shire Post and sent a formal licensing proposal offering a percentage of proceeds, and including samples of coins and stamps and postmarked envelopes to Laurie Battle, licensing director at Tolkien Enterprises. On March 4, someone at their office signed the postal receipt for the proposal. I waited. For three months I waited, calling and leaving messages occasionally, with no response whatever. After three months, with people pounding at my door to obtain coins and stamps, I started making and selling them again, trusting in my hope that a licensing agreement would soon be arranged and that all would be well. Nine more months would pass without substantive word from Tolkien Enterprises. My naiive hopes were shattered on Febrary 27th 2003, just five days short of a year from the time that I sent in my proposal, when Annette Hurst, attorney for Tolkien Enterprises, sent me an email very bluntly stating that Tolkien Enterprises rejects my proposal outright (with no offer or attempt to negotiate terms) AND that they also demand that I immediately ‘cease and desist’ all commerce related to what they refer to as ‘infringing’ activities. In a following email and in very haughty terms she informed me that I was ‘in no position’ to ask for anything, and that Tolkien Enterprises had no legal obligation to review or consider my proposal either now or ever, but that I DID have a legal obligation to immediately cease any and all of the allegedly ‘infringing’ activities.” On March 4th, he continued this train of thought: “So now what? To say that I am disappointed is a paltry description of how I feel. Is this what we have come to in this world? Is this the legacy Professor Tolkien would have wished for us? If the standard of human interaction is to be only what is legally obligatory, then the dark powers have won.” On March 6th, he added an addendum: “It has come to my attention that The Iron Crown of Morgoth, being based in The Silmarillion, is NOT infringing on any rights held by Tolkien Enterprises. Therefore the Online Store, while nearly eviscerated compared to previously, will reopen with a mundane map compilation of Washington County Arkansas, and the Iron Crown of Morgoth, coin of the ancient enemy of the elves, as the sole available products. It takes a wry sense of humor to appreciate that the only coin I can sell based in the Tolkien Mythos is the one representing the most truly evil character that ever existed in that world.” Unfortunately, on August 1, 2007, a heavy-hearted Mr. Maringer posted a very sorrowful message at his Web-site: “Due to legal action by attorneys claiming to represent Saul Zaentz Corporation, (doing business as Tolkien Enterprises), Shire Post has been forced to remove all references to the works of professor Tolkien from this website. Our online store will be shutting down completely as of the end of August 2007. The website will remain in place, but will no longer have any connection to the works of the professor.”
The Shire Post Mint's well-designed, fun-to-explore Web-site is: http://www.shirepost.com/
Based on my subsequent communications with Shauna Hillman (flytales@usamedia.tv), who has been involved in the project since the beginning and is its official spokesperson, “The idea of the Silver Sterling Merchant Coin Program was to call attention to our Valley's rich silver-mining tradition, and to encourage both residents and visitors to begin using silver in everyday trade.” In October of 2002, “a small number of us were tossing around promotion ideas” for the business community of historic Wallace, which had previously printed a coupon for use as a promotional “fake currency” to keep money within its shopping district. The group settled on the idea of minting a coin, but were faced with the obstacle of coming up with “the tremendous amount of money it takes to mint a valuable silver coin.” By 2003, they'd found a promoter for their numismatic program and the name “Sterling” was chosen “in honor of our gracious ‘backer’”, the Sterling Mining Company. They then began to bill themselves “as a community which uses real silver in the marketplace.” The terms of this systematic plan specify that businesses “may purchase the coins wholesale for $7.50 and may redeem them for $7.50” at the S.V.M.A. office. “The coins have a retail value of $10, and trade for merchandise in that amount; or may be offered as change in lieu of a $10 United States Federal Reserve Note.” Mrs. Hillman, who is also the owner of Indelible Tidbits (which deals in archival photographs), sums it up by saying that “If you bring a 10-Sterling into my shop...and make a purchase of $8.00, I will give you U.S. currency for change. Not bad,
‘worthless’ paper for your silver.” Already, “About 75% of the merchants in the Silver Valley deal in these Sterlings in one way or another.” As a testament to their success, “We pick up about two participating merchants per week in the Sterling Coin Program.” More than 7,000 of the 10 Sterlings have been introduced into circulation, and consumers can spend them at local businesses which display a special blue sign in their windows. By putting spendable silver in the hands of the general public, it seems that the S.V.M.A. is successfully turning Shoshone County into the first community in the nation to once again use silver as a means of exchange. As keepsakes, “The coins have been a big hit with tourists, many of whom depart our community with an attractive silver souvenir in their pockets to show to family and friends back home. Some merchants have added value to the basic coins by using them in jewelry, or having them engraved as ‘calling cards’. In addition, we urge merchants to encourage the Sterling coins' use as a tip for good service, and as an appealing gift.” In '04 and '05, “Graduating seniors from Mullan, Wallace and Kellogg were each given Sterling coins”. This collectible medallion, which has served as the flagship coin of the Silver Valley, has also been widely used as prizes in raffles and contests.
From Mrs. Hillman, I purchased a 2004 1/3 Troy ounce oz. “Wallace, Idaho” 5 Sterlings (featuring an image of the Northern Pacific Railroad Depot located downtown, based on a photograph taken by Mrs. Hillman in December of 1984), a 2003 “Sterling Mining Co.” 10 Sterlings (featuring an eagle in flight), and an absolutely ginormous (65mm! Probably as large and heavy as the famous stone money of Yap I once read about) 2005 5 oz. “The Bunker Hill Mine - Kellogg, Idaho” 100 Sterlings. Apart from these, the S.V.M.A. has also minted a 2004 2 oz. “Sterling Mining Co.” 20 Sterlings, a 2004 1 oz. “In God We Trust” 10 Sterlings (featuring a cloth-draped cross/gravestone), and a smaller, 1/2 oz. version of the 10 Sterlings, dated 2005. All of their pieces were struck by Sunshine Minting, Inc. (in Coeur d'Alene, ID). From Mrs. Hillman, I also obtained a Sterling Mining Co. 1 Troy ounce silver round. The obverse, with its familiar soaring eagle, is just like the '03 10 Sterlings; the reverese features the Great Seal of the State of Idaho. This piece, dated 2000, was a precursor to the Sterlings series; identical medallions (except for the date) were struck for '01 and '02.
Though the notorious Bernard von NotHaus, whom they recognize as “a master at creating trading currency” (see my earlier listings for NORFED and Royal Hawaiian Mint), is not officially a part of their well-coordinated program, “his advice is always taken with pride and acceptance.” He was also a speaker at their silver investment conference, the “Silver Summit”, held in September of '05.
I first became aware of SCA coinage years ago, in a price-list by Scott Semans (http://www.coincoin.com/). In it, I spotted a couple of odd items, and naturally, I started asking a lot of questions. Eventually, I got in touch with Ian Cnulle (Greg Franck-Weiby), the Moneyer of Silberbyrg, in the Kingdom of An Tir. I also purchased some coins from the coin-dealer Bob Reis (http://www.anythinganywhere.com) and one coin directly from the Barony of Bjornsborg (San Antonio, TX). My oldest coin seems to be a Sated Tyger Tavern “1 Tyger” token (A.S. XXIII, circa 1988-89) from the Shire of Rusted Woodlands (Augusta, NJ); this piece is machine-milled. I also have 4 very crude tokens from the Barony of the Three Mountains (Portland, OR); each piece commemorates a different Baron of theirs, the earliest ones being from IX (1974) and XI (1976) — but the ones dated XX ('85) and XXII ('87) appear so similar to the “earlier” two that we can probably assume the entire series was struck at a single special event in the late '80s.
Most, but not all, of the SCA coins are hand-hammered; so they lack the modern machine-struck perfection to which we may be accustomed. They range in quality/appearance/artistry from amateurishly crude to stunningly professional. The coins consist of feast/tavern/beer tokens, site-fee/commemorative tokens, merchant tokens, presentation/largesse pieces. There's no telling how many specimens may actually exist, for they are as-of-yet uncatalogued, but I can gleefully report the existence of a Moneyer's Guild Museum in Eureka, CA; its grand collection is maintained by Master Emmerich of Vakkerfjell (James Coffman).
On the computer, I've only found limited details about the coinage of the SCA; in particular, pages related to Ian Cnulle's output. He is more than likely the SCA's most prominent, uppermost “mintmaster”:
http://www.saydo.org/pastlane/token/
http://www.gmmnut.com/sca/
http://www.grasshoppernet.com/walrafen/sca/
http://newmarch.org/mmg/scaminting.htmReturn to the Main Index