Bookshelf building

We have already wrote about unique “Banknote building” in Kaunas, Lithuania. Today, we would like to show another unique building, we will name it “Bookshelf building”:

Located in Kansas City (Missouri, USA), this public library creates great impression for anyone, for inhabitant and for passing through travelers.

The book spines, which measure approximately 25 feet by 9 feet, are made of signboard mylar. The shelf showcases 22 titles reflecting a wide variety of reading interests as suggested by Kansas City readers and then selected by The Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees.

Posted by andrew, 13 июля 2010. Post has 0 comments.
Books building United States

Wasp nests

Those with a penchant for collecting usually go for something pleasant like stamps, coins or sports memorabilia. Not Terry Prouty - he collects wasps' nests. The insect enthusiast from the U.S. state of Oklahoma became fascinated with the stingers when he was growing up in Louisiana.

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Posted by andrew, 24 июня 2010. Post has 2 comments.
collections collectors United States

Greenback and Hawaii

During WWII, with fears that Japan would overrun Hawaii, the US decided to issue the $1, $5, $10 and $20 Emergency Federal Reserve Notes with the word "HAWAII" overprinted on the front and back to make each note distinctive enough so that they would know if large amounts were being used to fund the enemy war effort:

Posted by andrew, 22 июня 2010. Post has 0 comments.
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"Mason" word on dollar bill

"Mason" word, it is just another masonic symbolism on the dollar bill:

The ritual of Freemasonry is well endowed with symbols – things familiar that could convey a hidden meaning to those initiated. Man uses signs, pictures, emblems and words etc to convey ideas from individual to individual and some of the aforementioned lend themselves to symbolism more than others. This was especially so in the Age of Enlightenment during the 18th century.

Posted by andrew, 18 июня 2010. Post has 0 comments.
banknote bill dollar United States

Hollywood Auction 40

The Profiles in History Hollywood Auction 40 will be held on June 10, 11, and 12th in Calabasas, California. Items will be available for preview May 18th – June 18th by appointment only.

Preview items from this sale have been on the Profiles site for a couple of weeks. As of today though, the entire auction is available for download in PDF form on Profiles in History. Bidders have the option of bidding on items in person, via mail, via phone, via fax, and on the Internet. All the information needed for registering can be found in the downloadable catalog.

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Posted by andrew, 1 июня 2010. Post has 0 comments.
Auction California United States

New $100 note official design

Newly designed $100 note aims to thwart counterfeiters with advanced security features, top U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve officials said on Wednesday:

The "new Benjamins" to be released in February 2011 retain the traditional look of the U.S. currency, with Benjamin Franklin's portrait. They aim to foil counterfeiters with difficult and costly to reproduce features such as a blue three-dimensional security ribbon with alternating images of bells and the number 100 that move and change as the viewing angle is tilted.

The new notes, which cost slightly more to produce, also feature a bell image inside a picture of an inkwell that changes from copper to green when tilted, as well as a large "100" that does the same.

"As with previous U.S. currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we're staying ahead of counterfeiters," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said at a Treasury Department unveiling ceremony. "Welcome to the new Benjamins."

The $100 note is the most often counterfeited denomination of U.S. currency outside the United States due to its broad circulation overseas. It is the highest-denominated note issued by the Federal Reserve.

The approximately 6.5 billion older design $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender after the new notes are released next year.

BEATING THE SUPERNOTE

In recent years, U.S. officials have been trying to combat the continued production of extremely high-quality counterfeit $100 notes they say are produced in North Korea, dubbed the "supernote," which are undetectable to nearly all but the most sophisticated currency experts.

The U.S. Secret Service, the agency charged with policing the cash dollar's integrity, maintains that less than 1/100th of one percent of the $890 billion in physical U.S. currency in circulation is counterfeit. But Secret Service officials say they still encounter supernotes and other highly sophisticated fakes from overseas.

In the United States, the $20 note is the most frequently counterfeited denomination.

The new Benjamins have been in development since 2003. The blue security ribbon is woven into the note's fabric -- not printed on. Another security strip, visible to the left of Franklin's head when the note is held up to light, is embedded into the fabric. Like the old note, the new one has a watermark of Franklin's portrait, also visible when held up to light.

The old notes will be destroyed and replaced as they pass through the Federal Reserve system.

John Large, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's criminal investigations division, said the features were designed to make it easy for merchants and consumers to verify the $100 note's authenticity with a quick examination.

"The best defense against counterfeiters we have is an educated public that can easily authenticate the new $100 note," Lange said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said U.S. officials will work to educate people around the world about the new design. Unlike in the past, when most cash dollars were held domestically, as many as two thirds of Federal Reserve notes now in circulation are outside the United States, he added.

Posted by andrew, 22 апреля 2010. Post has 3 comments.
100 dollars banknote Benjamin Franklin bill design dollar United States

Guess dog size

Do you know exact size of currencies in your wallet? Look, it can be useful to measure quickly something or somebody with some acceptable accuracy:

The size of the United States one-dollar bill (the most common denomination of U.S. currency) is approximately 6.14 x 2.61 in = 155.956 x 66.294 mm.

One dollar facts:

The first president, George Washington, painted by Gilbert Stuart, is currently featured on the obverse, while the Great Seal of the United States is featured on the reverse. The one-dollar bill has the second oldest design of all U.S. currency currently being produced, after the two-dollar bill. The obverse debuted in 1963 when the $1 bill first became a Federal Reserve Note. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says the average life of a $1 bill in circulation is 21 months before it is replaced due to wear. Approximately 45% of all U.S. currency produced today are one-dollar bills. All $1 bills produced today are Federal Reserve Notes. One-dollar bills are delivered by Federal Reserve Banks in blue straps. The inclusion of "In God We Trust" on all currency was required by law in 1955. The national motto first appeared on paper money in 1957.

Posted by andrew, 20 апреля 2010. Post has 0 comments.
banknote bill dollar riddle United States

Rock collector: Rob Lavinsky

Robert Matthew "Rob" Lavinsky, proprietor of The Arkenstone mineral dealership, was born December 13, 1972 in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Richard Lavinsky, an attorney, and Marilyn Rosen, a dental hygienist. He began collecting calcite at age 13, with the support of many mentors in the Columbus Rock and Mineral Society, including Carlton Davis , field collectors John Medici and Henry Fisher, and dealers Neal and Chris Pfaff, among others. He competed with his calcites (which he still owns) for the first time at age 18 in the Berea, Ohio show. He eventually expanded his scope to collecting United Kingdom classics, Sweet Home mine rhodochrosite, and worldwide classics. As a field-collector he dug for minerals in the dolostone quarries and roadcuts throughout Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky (Halls Gap millerite), Ontario (Bancroft), and various other localities.

Rob received his BA degree in Biochemistry and History from Rice University in Houston, Texas (1995), and went on to earn his PhD in Molecular Genetics at the University of California San Diego (2000). The first time he formally sold minerals as a dealer at a show was in 1986 (at the age of 14) at the Columbus Show. During the years from 1986 to 2001 he gradually bought and sold more specimens, becoming a part-time mineral dealer by degrees, and finally becoming a full-time dealer after graduation, in 2001. His first business name was simply "Rob Lavinsky Minerals," until 1994 when he changed it to "The Arkenstone" (the name of a fabulous gem in Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy).

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Posted by andrew, 26 марта 2010. Post has 0 comments.
collector mineral rock United States

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a historic photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

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Posted by serge, 23 февраля 2010. Post has 0 comments.
flag stamp United States war ww2

1792 Disme

PCGS Specimen-65 Brown. This 1792 Copper Disme: The Story of the Finest Known Specimen can be described easily using following auction results:

Ex Col. James W. Ellsworth Collection (Wayte Raymond, 1923) - Garrett IV (Bowers & Ruddy, 3/1981), lot 2352, where it was graded About Uncirculated and realized $54,000 - Marvin Brauder - Alhambra Coin Center; sold in 1998 - Hanks & Associates - Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Inc.'s "E-Fair Signature Sale"; October 8, 1999, Lot 6187, unsold (as of November 23, 1999, this coin was being offered by Hanks & Associates of El Paso, Texas for $575,000; then, in the May 22, 2000 issue of Coin World, the asking price was raised to $700,000) - "a group of private investors" - Rare Coin Wholesalers of California - Benchmark Ventures, L.P. with an asking price of $1.2 million.

Posted by serge, 19 ноября 2009. Post has 0 comments.
auction coins United States