May 30, 2011: "Technicolor Dreamcoat"

Author:
J. Agre

Concept:
The first time I saw this coin and its incredible toning (in the sheer number of colors, their vibrancy, and the neat way they highlight this design) I nearly fell out of my chair.

The second time I saw it, the Broadway Musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" popped into my head, since I think that is really the most accurate way to describe this piece.

Captions that didn’t make the cut:
Dave’s idea was to use some version of Joe Pesci’s character Tommy DeVito’s line in Goodfellas. You know, the one where Henry Hill tells him he’s funny, and DeVito flips out and asks the guy "I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you?" (since you must admit the wildly toned obverse image of Sigismund III Wasa does look pretty clown-like).

But that scene in Goodfellas is so creepy, I really didn’t want to use it to advertise a fine numismatic item.

So we went with the more family friendly Andrew Lloyd Webber concept in our final ad (though not before we briefly considered changing it to "Technicolor Dreamcoin"). But that just seemed too easy, so we didn’t do it.