A few months ago I found a strange object in downtown
Manhattan and I have been puzzled by it and would like to learn its origins.
I spotted
it as I walked past Delmonico’s
restaurant. I noticed what appeared to be an odd coin sitting on the edge of
the landing.
The coin is
roughly the size of a quarter and appears to be plaster. It resembles a quarter
that has been plastered over and it might be. On one side reads “Give Money,”
and the other side reads, “To Bums.”
So far I
have not heeded the strange coin’s advice. Giving money to bums is a bad idea.
Most of them will spend the money on drugs and alcohol and giving money to bums
will only encourage them to stay bums. There are plenty of legitimate homeless
charities you can give to if you want to help bums.
Underneath that is the cryptic “bw
12.” Should I take that to mean that
this was created by an artist with the initials B.W. this year?
Is this perhaps a coin created by a
mysterious artist? Some anonymous
artist has been handing out coins with the insistence that recipients leave
one in a public place. Have I found such a coin?
If you have any clue as to the
origins of this coin, please let me know.
I promise to keep the coin as an
interesting work of art, and, using a broad definition of the term, assume that
I’m close enough to being a bum to keep the coin in good conscience.
