Sunday, November 1, 2015

Most unusual alternative to fiat "money"


Artisanal Currency, a Refreshing and Totally Legal Way to Pay

Have you ever seen currency notes so beautiful that you’d actually hesitate to spend them? Well, they’re called ‘artisanal currency’, and they’re all the rage in several parts of the world, including London, Amsterdam, and New York. The concept is quite similar to artisanal coffee, cheese, or chocolate that is handmade, not mass produced.

artisanal-currency

According to The New York Times, “these are small-batch currencies designed by locals and lovingly handled by millennials, who came of age during the rise of the Internet.” Interestingly, this local currency is not meant to be a collectible, but is legally accepted at cash-only community businesses so that the money stays within the town or district.

London’s Brixton district, for example, has its own artisanal currency designed by award-winning artist Jeremy Deller. His £5 notes feature a “fuzzy, psychedelic image of an androgynous face surrounded by rainbow clouds and swirling etchings.” Deller said that he wanted to create “something old-fashioned looking, something almost pre-currency.” And the people of Brixton are quite pleased with their own special pound notes. “I’d be more inclined to save money if it all looked like that,” said Ewan Graham, a 31-year-old architect.......

Click for the rest of the article -- please! It's long, historical, current, exciting and profusely illustrated. (Have you noticed? Links are clickable here now.)

The "weird" or "odd" news category is often where you find the least weird, most promisingly normal and healthy news items, many of which are considered trash by the so-called mainstream media. I strongly urge keeping up with them notable oddee.com, newsoftheweird.com and nuttynewstoday.com . Mind you, it's also where you see the worst of human nature writ large -- which is also something I think we all need to do in our quest for the totality of timely truth. 

To all who can answer why the last word in our title is in sarcasm quote marks, a special treat is in store.

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