Golden Penny

November 5, 2009 9:57 AM

In March of 2007 Seattle artist Jack Daws (unrelated previously) went to a newsstand in LAX and bought a Hustler magazine, with cash. The cash included a counterfeit penny he had made from 18 Karat gold. Two and a half years later, 2,798 miles away, at the C-Town Supermarket on Manhattan Avenue, in Brooklyn, artist Jessica Reed found the penny.
posted by dirtdirt (49 comments total)

Dude - that's my grocery store!
posted by tiger yang at 9:58 AM on November 5, 2009

That is so cool. I especially like the simple yet effective Lincoln cake.
posted by pinky at 10:07 AM on November 5, 2009

This is a lot like whereisgeorge.com. I always like to hear stories of how objects travel
posted by reenum at 10:10 AM on November 5, 2009

If you were wondering, a 3g gold penny is worth about $115.
posted by smackfu at 10:11 AM on November 5, 2009

(Oops, that is clearly wrong since it was only 18 Karat.)
posted by smackfu at 10:11 AM on November 5, 2009

Might not it be easier to cast a FAKE fake, and pass it off as the real fake Jack Daws coin?

I mean, a penny's a penny, and any variations on the casting could be passed off as normal wear and tear.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:12 AM on November 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

Dude - that's my grocery store!

That's my grocery store too! They always have a sign out front beseeching you to try their "roastisserie" chickens.
posted by hermitosis at 10:15 AM on November 5, 2009

Given that the coin landed in Brooklyn, what are the chances of another artist finding it? Though here, we call artists like this one by a somewhat prosaic name -- confectioners.

So is there anyone who lives in Brooklyn who isn't an artist? Particularly if you include all the bullshit artists and scam artists...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:20 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

So is there anyone who lives in Brooklyn who isn't an artist?

If not, what's wrong with that?
posted by hermitosis at 10:21 AM on November 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Someday I want to be classy enough to pay for porn with pennies. Fake or otherwise.
posted by jlowen at 10:22 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

wouldn't that have to be stamped 18k, legally speaking?
posted by billybobtoo at 10:28 AM on November 5, 2009

I mostly just shop at the weekly farmer's market in the park, but that is the closest grocery store to my apartment. If I knew they were giving out gold change, I'd shop there more often.
posted by GameDesignerBen at 10:28 AM on November 5, 2009

FUCKIN BROOKLYN gODDAMN WHY DOESN'T EVERYONE JUST WORK AT CIRCUIT CITY
posted by Optimus Chyme at 10:30 AM on November 5, 2009 [19 favorites]

So are Jack Daws and Jessica Reed going to fall in love now? Cause that's what would happen if this were a movie.
posted by amro at 10:30 AM on November 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

I found Jack Daws' Hustler magazine under the boardwalk at Coney Island.

It was sticky.
posted by cazoo at 10:32 AM on November 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

So is there anyone who lives in Brooklyn who isn't an artist? Particularly if you include all the bullshit artists and scam artists...

Yes, a 3 million+ city borough roughly the size of Philadelphia is populated by absolutely nothing save for bearded, 20-something trustafarians who live off their parents' dime and play theremin in noise bands. Please continue believing this.
posted by tiger yang at 10:33 AM on November 5, 2009 [14 favorites]

I beg your pardon...I play tinwhistle in an industrial-celtic-reggae band.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:38 AM on November 5, 2009 [6 favorites]

wouldn't that have to be stamped 18k, legally speaking?

Well, legally, using counterfeit currency, even if it is an "art project" is pretty illegal too.
posted by birdherder at 10:40 AM on November 5, 2009

Somehow, I doubt the judge would convict him, especially considering that the counterfeit was worth about 10,000 times as much as a real penny. :)
posted by Malor at 10:42 AM on November 5, 2009

Shit man!! That's my supermarket!! Dammit...I wonder how close I was to getting this thing.
posted by spicynuts at 10:47 AM on November 5, 2009

That's my grocery store too! They always have a sign out front beseeching you to try their "roastisserie" chickens.

I try them frequently. They are actually better than Fairways, and cheaper. Lately they've been advertising new flavors or some kind of new method but I don't taste anything noticeably different. If you have the means, I highly recommend them, they are so choice.
posted by spicynuts at 10:48 AM on November 5, 2009

I can't find it, but I read a story about a guy who made fake bills by drawing them by hand. He forged like $1 bills. Took him forever. Not sure if he went to jail, but he spent several of these bills. Anyway, they became such collector's items that people were forging the forgeries.

Closest I could fine was Boggs.
posted by cjorgensen at 10:51 AM on November 5, 2009

Just peaking in to say this is also my grocery store. Howdy neighbor!
(Not an Artist.)
posted by thankyoujohnnyfever at 10:55 AM on November 5, 2009

Shit man!! That's my supermarket!! Dammit...I wonder how close I was to getting this thing.

Well, its entirely possible that some people posting in this thread DID have it and just gave it back to the local grocer.
posted by vacapinta at 10:56 AM on November 5, 2009

Oh, no! Someone has insulted Brooklyn.
posted by smackfu at 10:56 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

You know, 95% of the conversation in this thread could have taken place in person over there next to the organic kale.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:56 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

wouldn't that have to be stamped 18k, legally speaking?

While jewelry makers often stamp the gold karat into their pieces, there is no legal requirement to do so that I know of. Jewelry appraisers would never go by what is stamped into a piece, anyway. There are ways of testing the purity of gold which are non-destructive and a great deal more reliable than someone else's say-so.
posted by hippybear at 10:57 AM on November 5, 2009

That gold penny would get you two Vitamin Waters and a bagel at any Khim's Millenium Market
posted by Damn That Television at 11:00 AM on November 5, 2009

CECI N'EST PAS UNE BONG, 2004
Aluminum can
3 x 7 x 3 inches
$1,000.

Are you kidding me? I wonder how much my husband's tin foil pipe would get?
Ceci N'est Pas Une Renyolds Wrap (but clearly a pipe for his stash)

And his tower of power would have tipped Oprah's earnings.

Damn!
posted by stormpooper at 11:03 AM on November 5, 2009

I beg your pardon...I play tinwhistle in an industrial-celtic-reggae band.

Are you Fred Parcells?
posted by nickmark at 11:04 AM on November 5, 2009

Kinda unrelated, but this reminded me a story I read in a book of coincidences when I was a kid about a woman who lived in a non-US country who wrote a note on a $5 bill, gave it to a friend as a gift, and many years later, went to the US and received the same $5 bill, with her writing still on it, as change somewhere. (My google-fu is failing me in trying to find this story.)
posted by not_on_display at 11:05 AM on November 5, 2009

See all the noise in this thread? I told you taking away the "This is my superrmarket also" counter from beneath posts was a mistake.

This was my supermarket also, sometimes, when I lived in Greenpoint. Mostly I just ate baconeggandcheeseonarolls from God Bless Deli, though. Is God Bless Deli still open, or is it a hookah bar and trance lounge now? You damn kids, get off my largest underground oil spill in the continental US.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:11 AM on November 5, 2009

While jewelry makers often stamp the gold karat into their pieces, there is no legal requirement to do so that I know of. Jewelry appraisers would never go by what is stamped into a piece, anyway. There are ways of testing the purity of gold which are non-destructive and a great deal more reliable than someone else's say-so.

According to the 1906 National Gold and Silver Marking Act, gold jewelry is required to be stamped with the amount of karats it holds. The purpose of this is to guarantee the value of the karats. This must be done by all jewelers who sell gold or silver. this is a guarantee from the jeweler that the piece is within 1/2 karet of the stamping.
posted by billybobtoo at 11:11 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I think Peter is arguing that it's a bit of a stretch to call a baker a "Brooklyn artist" for the sake of making your post's content more symmetrical. He may even have a point.
posted by The Straightener at 11:13 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Little known fact: Jack Daws didn't just create a golden penny, he created a golden ass penny.
posted by Nelson at 11:13 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

God Bless Deli is still around, right across the street from the former Subway, which has now been refranchised into (I shit you not) the locally owned 'Subs Your Way.'

Final derail. Fellow Greenpoint C-town shoppers enjoy your roastisserie chicken and Krasdale brand goodness.
posted by tiger yang at 11:17 AM on November 5, 2009

Oh are we done with the Brooklyn derail? Then let's move on to the "this asswipe isn't making ART in the first place" derail.

I mean, when I put a welcome mat with a funny slogan down on the floor, I don't call it an "installation" and expect someone to pay thousands of dollars for it, amirite?

(Seriously, the beer can bong? $1000? You're daring someone to arrest you, aren't you? The gun is clever, I agree, but the bong? What are you going to do next, go down behind the local high school and start yelling at pot-smoking kids for infringing your intellectual rights?)
posted by caution live frogs at 11:36 AM on November 5, 2009

> Kinda unrelated, but this reminded me a story I read in a book of coincidences when I was a kid about...

I read that book too! What are the odds of that!
posted by ardgedee at 11:43 AM on November 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Well, yeah. But does he love my big sphinx of quartz?
posted by spilon at 11:53 AM on November 5, 2009 [5 favorites]

You know, 95% of the conversation in this thread could have taken place in person over there next to the organic kale.

You, sir, have never been to a Brooklyn C town.
posted by zoomorphic at 11:54 AM on November 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

CECI N'EST PAS MON SUPERMARKET.
posted by stormpooper at 11:54 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I bought pasta at that C-Town once. It smelled bad, uncooked, in the box.

I wish they'd been giving out gold pennies over at the Key Food on McGuinness, instead. Or at the fantastically-named Mystic Brokerage, a couple doors down.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 1:41 PM on November 5, 2009

God Bless Deli is still around, right across the street from the former Subway, which has now been refranchised into (I shit you not) the locally owned 'Subs Your Way.'

SUBS (your) WAY actually recently closed up shop. Guess no one loves a copycat.
posted by hermitosis at 1:45 PM on November 5, 2009

I'm not sure is this story was meant to parody the tedious inanity of the contemporary art world or not, but it sure does work that way.
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 at 3:27 PM on November 5, 2009

Jackdaws Jack Daws love loves my big small sphinx penny of quartz gold.
posted by zsazsa at 3:38 PM on November 5, 2009

According to the 1906 National Gold and Silver Marking Act, gold jewelry is required to be stamped with the amount of karats it holds. The purpose of this is to guarantee the value of the karats. This must be done by all jewelers who sell gold or silver. this is a guarantee from the jeweler that the piece is within 1/2 karet of the stamping.

Actually, after doing a bit more reading, the law does NOT require that all jewelry be marked with a quality of the metal. It DOES require that any jewelry marked with a quality has to be within certain tolerances of that mark or it is mislabeled. It also states that any jeweler who IS marking jewelry with a quality has to also have a trademark to establish who it is who claims to stand behind the quality of the metal.

However, it is not actually required that jewelry made within the US for sale within the US be marked with any quality at all. What IS illegal is when it has a quality mark and no maker's mark.
posted by hippybear at 4:07 PM on November 5, 2009

You, sir, have never been to a Brooklyn C town.

Shit, beat me to it. I grew up near one and god forbid you bought anything that wasn't in a bottle or can.
posted by griphus at 4:08 PM on November 5, 2009

hermitosis: "Dude - that's my grocery store!

That's my grocery store too! They always have a sign out front beseeching you to try their "roastisserie" chickens."

Nice Great Wall of China takeout across the street. Google street view is great.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:36 PM on November 5, 2009

That was my grocery store for 4 years! Also, what zoomorphic said, unless things have changed drastically since 2005.
posted by slackdog at 1:29 PM on November 6, 2009