Medallion with box and leaflet
Two days ago, I wrote the beginning of a post, then tried three middles, which all took a turn that I didn’t want to pursue. And suddenly, as so many times, it’s two days later and I’ve written nothing. It’s not like I’ve been idle, but I have managed to stay busy and still accomplish nothing. All my talk of focus and being conscious of the passage of time has, as usual, counted for little.
At the moment I have several choices. One, I can blog. That, as you can probably guess, is what has happened. Two, I can write a couple of passages of disambiguation for the medallion book I am helping to edit. Three, I can go through the list of Nottinghamshire medallions which will be an appendix to the book. Four, I can write poetry. Five, I can go to Derbyshire to look for jewellery for Julia’s birthday. And six, I can wait in to see what the conservatory man says about the leaks.
As I have no real choice about number six, I won’t be travelling to Derbyshire today. It’s an hour and a half longer when you start from here than it is from Nottingham, and I wouldn’t be able to get back in time to feel faint at the cost of the job.
And by the time I’ve finished this post I will probably have forgotten about writing poetry.
Death sells tickets for the final voyage
Tomorrow is out for Derbyshire as it’s Julia’s wood turning day. Looks like we will be going on Wednesday. Of course, that also depends on the weather. If not, Thursday is available as Friday is cafe day. Things are gathering pace there, with Julia’s policy of writing about people for the newsletter making her a lot of new friends. It’s a good policy. If you can’t have lambs or kittens (or puppies or piglets or poultry) go for people.
That reminds me – seven, discuss the social media strategy for the Numismatic Society. It’s all very well having a selection of interesting numismatic articles, but why are we doing it. With half a dozen regular readers we aren’t spreading numismatic knowledge or increasing our membership so, apart from two of us sharpening our writing style, what are we actually doing it for?
It’s here, by the way. Last week’s Lusitania article might be a bit more interesting than some of the more numismatic bits, if you are inclined to read a bit of history.
The photos are the famous, or infamous, Lusitania medallion. Originally produced by Karl Goetz to ridicule the greed of people who sailed in the face of danger in order to do business, it was adopted by the British, who used the medallion and the error in dates, to make it look like the Germans were congratulating themselves on the success of the attack. I was always told by my parents that propaganda was a Nazi invention for WW2. In fact, Hitler was so convinced that British propaganda had helped win the war that he adopted our methods when he took power in Germany.
And the other side – showing artillery pieces on deck, even though there were none on board.
There is always something new to learn here, Simon, and I appreciate the effort you put in to your research.
Wishing Julia a Happy Birthday, too. Find something nice for her!
We eventually made it to Bakewell on Thursday where we purchased two nice pieces jewellery featuring Blue John (our local form of fluorite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_John_(mineral)
She is happy and because she is happy, I am happy. I am also poor. 🙂
That is a beautiful mineral!
I’m divided on it. It’s nice and has a great history, but it’s hard to find a good piece. The pictures on the jewellers website had much nicer examples than he actually had in stock. Very frustrating!
The Lusitania! It has taken a lot to get the US of A to join with her cousins to fight against aggression. The Japanese had to bomb Pearl Harbour to made it happen in the Second World war. Everynow and then someone asks me why I have a slightly negative opinion of the Yanks. I usually say, ” Buy me a gallon of whisky and I will let you know.”
owing up in the 60s/70s I developed a view of the USA that included the National Guard bullying students and Civil Rights protesters. Fifty years later . . .
You can see why evolution is still debated in some states.
Nothing has changed since then except the frequency and the amount.
🙂
Interesting information on The Lusitania
It’s one of those stories that seems to run and run. When I wrote the original article I was aware that I seemed to know less now than I used to, which was annoying, so I sat down and studied for an evening.
“With half a dozen regular readers we aren’t spreading numismatic knowledge or increasing our membership so, apart from two of us sharpening our writing style, what are we actually doing it for?” . . . that is a very good question. Perhaps getting some enjoyment for yourself from the research and the writing is reason enough. We can’t all be influencers. If we were, there would be nobody left to influence.
It’s a tricky area. Yes, I do it because I like doing it, and learn from it. But I could do other things, which might be more rewarding. The hope with the FB site was that it would tempt a few others to write, and would attract a few more members for the society. Not sure either has happened.