VICTOR VINCENTE OF AMERICA: While still a teenager, VVA's meteoric rise in the world of cycling was considered to be, rightfully so, astounding. He started pedaling earnestly at the age of 16 and almost immediately (that same year, 1957) became Southern California junior road champion, then All-California road champion (1958). In 1959, he was Southern California Grand Prix champion. Also that year, he was the youngest winner of Canada's Tour du St. Laurent, and by achieving victory in the Circuito di Monsummano of 1961 he became the first American since 1870 (over 90 years!) to win a bike race in Tuscany. VVA was also a California road-race champion, national road champion, and North American hillclimb champ (all in 1965). He competed in the Pan-American Games (1959 in Chicago, 1963 in São Paulo) and the Olympic Games (1960 in Rome, 1964 in Tokyo). He has also raced in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and Belgium. He furthermore established the 1st double transcontinental/coast-to-coast-and-back record (1975); upon his victorious return from this cross-country trek, he resolved to mark the occasion — the conquering of the American highways, turnpikes, interstates, and thoroughfares — by promptly and officially changing his name from Michael Beckwith Hiltner to his symbolically chosen nom de cyclisme, Victor Vincente of America. Afterwards, he added to his legend by shifting gears and devoting his energies to off-road racing. Starting in 1979, he even designed and mass-produced his own mountain bike, the “Topanga!”. The “Dirt Guru”, as he is affectionately known, was crowned as California hillclimb champion in 1983. For his pioneering efforts in cycling and for being a tireless promoter of this sport, he was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (1989) and the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame (2001). There are plenty more additional biographical details which could be listed about VVA (vva2020@yahoo.com) and his varied accomplishments. His Web-site (http://www.vva2020.com/) contains a complete “Life Timeline”.
PRINCIPALITY OF VIKESLAND: According to its official Web-site (http://www.vikeslandic.com/), their government is a “democratic monarchy, a nation of people who have come together as citizens and wish to build and be involved in the operation of a new micro-nation. Our Territory is comprised of privately owned land that is declared Vikeslandic land. However these lands still reside within the jurisdiction of other nations and are still beholden to their laws. It is our hope that someday through peaceful negotiations and or purchase, that we will have a defined sovereign territory in which the Principality of Vikesland may permanently establish itself. We are currently looking at various locations. Please do not mistaken us for rebel seccesionists. We are peaceful people who are proud dual citizens with the other countries in which we reside.”
VINLAND/MIDHGARDHR: Geographically, Vinland is located in the North-Eastern part of the North American continent, and was visited by Leif Eriksson and his viking comrades circa the year 1,000. Mythologically, Midhgardhr (Midgard) is one of the three levels/realms described in the Norse Eddas and Sagas. It is the “middle enclosure,” the world of humankind, “middle-earth,” the home of humans.
I have been a fervent admirer and collector of Victor's magnificent coins for many years, and each subsequent coin has left me wishing there were more. I've been continuously awestruck by their resounding beauty, vivid artistry, and personal symbolism. Each coin he has designed bears the stylistic signature/fingerprint of a creative visionary. I am proud to say that I have a complete set of VVA's remarkable coins. Here is a chronological summary/overview of this incomparably brilliant series:
1989- a $9.00 “Downhill Crazy” (copper)
1990- a $23.00 “Skrabinj” scarab beetle (silver: Crown Mint, Calabasas, CA)
1991- a $50.00 Solar Eclipse/VVA profile, 50th birthday commemorative (bronze, silver: Crown Mint)
1992- a $4.50 Aurochs/Brick Wall, masonry theme (pewter: Forbes Stampings, Valencia, CA; also in silver: Bloomer's Metal Stampings, Valencia, CA)
1994- a $3.00 30th Anniversary of the 1964 Tokyo Olympiad/Chinese “Sa D'k” ideograms, with center hole (bronze: Bloomer's)
1995- a $20.00 “Te Tue Deus” Arab-Japanese war-cry, triangular in shape (silver: Bloomer's)
1996- a $12.00 Atlanta Olympic Games, chainrings/Australian Aborigine rider (bronze, silver: Bloomer's)
2000- a $20.00 HuPopDe, advocating “Human Population Decline” (bronze, silver: Nevada City Mint, Nevada City, CA)
There are also the following less sophisticated, non-industrially struck coins:
1988- a $1.07 hand-hammered from automobile wheel-balance lead weights, a $2.54 and a $6.39 fashioned from re-flattened, scrap copper pipe
1993- a $2.14 (similar to the '88 $1.07) and a $3.86 from brass
In regards to the '89 piece, Victor didn't quite know where to go in order to get it properly (professionally) made: “I went door-to-door in an industrial neighborhood, or used the phone book, and eventually found a shop that could apply some tonnage. I never heard of a knuckle press, much less a COIN PRESS. Who knows what the name of that shop is? That may be lost to history...” Additionally, this coin was actually used in at least one legitimate commercial transaction: it was accepted in lieu of the $20 entry-fee for cyclists during the 1993 “Puerco!” race, an event (one of several) which was founded by Victor in 1980. Why did VVA start minting coins? By the end of the '80s, he had decided to create objects of a more permanent nature, art “intended to last for a millennia.” He explains that “Before coin production, I had experience in design and graphic art to the extent of producing t-shirts, posters, postcards. Eventually, I wanted a medium, and a product, that was more long-lasting. Since teenage years, I had an interest in numismatics, so there was my answer: graphic art in metal. The obverse on my first coin was, in fact, re-used art from a t-shirt and poster design. From my point of view, I discovered ‘coin art’, though as time went by, I began to see that others had been striking coins for years.” Victor has made at least 4 attractive artistamps (mail art) as well. Though lacking photographic images of the actual coins, a link to most of VVA's pieces can be found in the “Products” section of his site. Nevertheless, some clear images of the 1991 coin (and VVA!) are viewable at:
http://www.gnurps.com/photography/HallOfFame/HallOfFame-Pages/Image4.html
http://www.gnurps.com/photography/HallOfFame/HallOfFame-Pages/Image5.html
http://www.gnurps.com/photography/HallOfFame/HallOfFame-Pages/Image6.html
Luckily, splendid images of VVA’s coinage can now be viewed at the site of Mr. Haseeb Naz’s private collection:
http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Victor_Vincente_of_America.htm
By trade, Vikesland's Head of State works in the television and film industry. “When looking for a subject for a new film project and searching the internet he came across the Micronationalism movement.” Upon researching this fascinating phenomenon, he “was taken aback at how little people new about it including himself.” By late 2004, he was becoming more and more interested, “and the thought of starting a country (though somewhat insane) intrigued me. Hence the seed for Vikesland was planted and has grown into the small nation it is today.” Having embarked on this micro-national journey, he decided to compose an earnest account of his quest. He felt that a documentary on this subject (or even a mini-series) would prove to be a worthwhile venture. HRM Prince Christopher I (“otherwise known as Christopher Barry Joseph Beyette”) declared the Principality of Vikesland a sovereign entity on July 1st, 2005. He created this state “as a real nation project to coincide with the making of this documentary.” Their constitution was ratified and came into effect on November 25th of that year. Shooting of the documentary will start in July of 2006 and continue through 2007, perhaps lasting even beyond this date, “depending on broadcast circumstances.”
“Prince Christopher I is descended from the Noble houses of France in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries notably Guillaume, Seigneur de la Paumeliere and Guillaume II, Seigneur de Nevi. He is also a blood relation to Louis Riel great leader of the Metis nation and founding father of Manitoba.” He and the Princess “own a house and yard (A.K.A. the Brandon Royal Compound)” in the city of Brandon (Manitoba, Canada). “Our personal landed territory also includes the Royal Ranchlands here in Manitoba Canada as well. It is about 168 acres in land base and is the Primary residence of My parents the Duke and Duchess Beyette. On the Royal Ranch lands is their country Villa and large stables which currently hold about 13 horses, both quarter horses and racing ponies.” Other Vikeslandic territories now include Nelson Territory (owned by Duke George Nelson) in the state of Arkansas, U.S.A., and Hurst estate (owned by Duke Priest) in Sussex, England.
The Royal Bank of Vikesland has issued a pewter 1 Vikeslandic Crown, dated 2006. I purchased one of these pieces from Mr. Oded Paz.
At one time, the Kennewick Man Appeal piece — there is actually no date on this coin, but its official year of issue was the runic year 2248 (1998) — was being offered by the Asatrú Folk Assembly, a fellowship practicing a pre-Christian religion (also spiritually referred to as Odinism) with its roots in the native ancient tribes of Northern Europe. It can still be viewed at: http://www.runestone.org/kmcoin.html
In addition to this item, I've acquired the 1993 Thor's Hammer coin and an undated piece (conflicting reports indicate that it is from either 2247/1997 or 2248/1998) which features the 16-rune Scandinavian “Younger” Futhark (a runic alphabet consisting of 16 letters) and which also displays 4 stylized battle-ready viking warriors in a drakkar/longship. I purchased all 3 from Mr. Michael “Valgard” Murray, the General Secretary of the Asatrú Alliance. The coins belong to a series of at least 9 varieties created by a Montreal company/co-operative known as Heritage & Tradition (“an ‘organization’ dedicated to the promotion and diffusion of the cultural heritage and tradition of the North European peoples in Vinland”; their motto is “To recreate the past, in the present, for the future”). Mr. Murray confirms that H & T was a small business that catered to the Asatrú community (which is comprised of groups known as Kindreds). The earliest date on a Vinland/Midhgardhr coin is 1985. All of the pieces bear the same 10 Fehu reverse die; only the obverse images differ (Fehu is the rune of domestic cattle, livestock, mobile property; it signifies prosperous fortune and monetary wealth). From about 1991-1999, in the Swedish-based philatelic publication Atalaya, Mr. Serge Huard (who is a member of H & T) wrote the Cinderella Coins and Currency and Numismatic Section blurbs spotlighting these and other coins, which are collectively regarded by him mostly as “coins-of-tradition” and/or “coins-of-pleasure” (he is also the much-revered gentleman, of unmatched productivity, who in his illustrious career has made the largest contribution by far to this particular field of numismatics). In one of those snippets he shows an image of another undated coin in the Vinland/Midhgardhr series, which depicts the 29-rune Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. I am immensely indebted to Mr. Huard himself for the “Goddess Freyja and Yggdrasill” piece, dated 2246-2-17 of the Runic Era (1996). It goes without saying that it makes me boundlessly proud to know that his collection now contains one of my 2004 Héliopolis pieces.Return to the Main Index