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Emperor Norton & scripophily

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Philo_T

Gone But Not Forgotten
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I'm a great fan of Joshua Norton I, Emperor of the United States and protector of Mexico.

During his reign, Emperor Norton issued banknotes,.

I was thinkng that an Emperor Norton banknote would be a pretty nifty piece of Fortean memoribilia, and that I would like to possess an example. I've looked ebay and scripophily with no luck. I haven't yet dug into where on the web to find coin / note collectors. And, concidering their obvious rarity, I doubt that I could afford to buy a specimen.


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Ok, the following is a speculation that I would like the board's feedback on.
I cannot stress strongly enough that it is not my intent to defraud anyone.
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Taking in account Emperor Norton's errr, questionale, legitimacy, would it be more appropriate to, uhm, make reproductions of the banknotes he issued?

For my own personal use, this seemed like a beutifully apt way to pay homage to the Emperor. Obviously, passing these on to others as being genuine would be wrong.

But then, it occured to me that there were probably many Forteans, Discordians and others of similar ilk that would also appreciate such an 'artifact'. On several levels. Would it be ethical or legal to sell such reproductions if one specifically noted that they were reproductions? Would it be better to alter these in some way from the original, much like stage money, changing the size, color, whatever so that there is no possible chance for confusion?

Or should I just settle for a nice painting of a unicorn on black velvet?
 
Wow. And underwhelming response here. Not even confused people saying "You are a bad, bad, man. I'm calling the Secret Service".

I just hope that I haven't raised a red flag and put the Discordian Sekret Service on my trail!
 
Sorry Philo T, was in the process of replying and then something came up. you know how these things go...

Anyway, for what it's worth i think the first and only Emperor of the US (and protector of Mexico) would whole-heartedly endorse your desire to honour his memory.

I'll have one of those 50c notes once the presses are rolling ;)
 
If you're worried about reproductions being passed as the real thing, make 'em single sided with 'FAKE' on the reverse.

Or should that be 'FAKE FAKE' ? :)
 
I just noticed that this guy is just started playing the Emperor Norton card. But, as I recall, his website always been on a shoestring financially, so this smells more like crass commercialism rather than inspired lunacy. :( I'm kind of torn on the matter, since he's not truly following in the Emperor's footsteps, yet still, he is helping add to chaos in the universe, so must in some fashion be acting n% as a partial avatar of Eris.

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DerekH
Actually, having never seen an original in the flesh, I'm not sure whether they were printed on both sides or not. Remember, during that period, each bank issued its own script. They were more like stock certificates than what we are familiar with today.

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You can usually find historical reproduction banknotes at any musuem shop. I wonder if I could track down one of those printers and interest them in the idea.

Another option is to produce my own 'artistic' representation of the notes, taking this to yet another level of abstraction.

As far as my own personal use, I could also just crank one off on my color inkjet printer.
 
Sightly (?) off-thread, a story I heard a few years back...

A British company tendered for a contract to print banknotes for a Middle Eastern/ Arabic country. They were sent some banknotes, and asked to replicate them.

Upon doing so successfully, they were awarded the contract, and set up the production run, and secure transportation, of several crates of currency.

On the day the cash arrived, a fax was received in the UK, asking why they'd sent umpteen million pounds worth of whatever with the Arabic for "Sample" printed across both sides.
 
Does Norton have any living relatives? Anyone who could be said to be his heir?

If so perhaps we could persuade them to claim his crown and oust the current government. After all Congress was never reappointed by his Imperial Majesty, nor could any President elected since Lincoln was fired have been legitimate.

In short, for the period between Norton's death, to the present, America has been been in an interreigum. Poor thing!

"Norton has shed no blood, robbed no one, and despoiled no country, which is more than can be said for most fellows in the King line [or White House]."

Come back your Majesty, this is your country's greatest hour of need!
 
Niles:
A completely valid point.
But it's probably not fitting to drag the Emperor down into that morass. :(

Let's not overlook the fact that Emperor Norton was the only government of the United States recognized by King Kamehameha of the Sandwich Isles!

Looking at recent world events, I wouldn't be at all surprised that history books a hundred years from now record that our country was lead back to its senses by a neo-absurdist pacifist revolutionary.
 
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