Jessica Reed, the person who found Jack Daws‘ counterfeit penny, is an artist. Here’s a cake she made in February in honor of Abe Lincoln’s birthday, starring his portrait on (what else?) a penny.
(Previous post here.)
The chances of anyone noticing the penny Daws cast in gold and slipped into circulation at LAX more than two years ago are slim. On the side of discovery, it’s slightly smaller than the ordinary one, because gold is heavier. If Daws’ penny were the usual size, its weight would have given it away. As it is, it’s three grams to a penny’s two.
This weekend, Reed send Daws an email explaining how she found it.
“This is a story about finding a penny, but it begins with a dime. As for how it all ends, of that I have no idea…
On Monday of last week (the 26th), I was counting out the 44 cents I needed to complete a purchase when I spotted an unfamiliar coin in the lot. Looking closer, I realized that it was a U.S. dime, minted in 1924, but unlike any dime I’d ever seen.
Once home, I did a Google search and identified the dime as a 1924 Mercury Head; not very valuable, but beautiful none-the-less.
Researching it reminded me that I had another unusual coin in my possession–a golden penny. I’d had it for a few months ( at least) having noticed it when I was paying for groceries at the neighborhood C-Town.
A fan of ‘not what you see everyday’ coins, I’d slipped it back into my
change purse (coincidentally also gold-colored) to remain until I could
find out a little more about it. I never spent it any of the times I
went into that little zippered bag for change, but I never remembered
to look it up either.
That said, having found the dime, I felt inspired and curious to see if
anything at all would be online about a golden penny. I started with a
Google search for “gold penny,” and came up with listings for science
experiments to turn a penny gold-colored, but the images shown did not
match what I had. Next I tried ‘gold penny 1970’ the date stamped on
the coin.
The first link that came up was a post on forum.treasurenet.com: ‘Artist makes solid gold penny then puts it in circulation!!!’ I read
through the post; the story of an artist named Jack Daws who, in 2007,
cast ten counterfeit pennies in copper-plated solid gold. Nine of the
ten were kept at the Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle, but one was spent
by the artist at LAX in late March of 2007.
The artwork looks like a real penny, except due to the casting
process, it’s slightly smaller, and because of the gold’s weight, it’s
almost twice as heavy….Anyone interested in looking for the piece…
should look for a penny dated 1970, with no mint mark.
I looked at the penny I’d found. Date stamp, 1970. No mint mark.
Seriously?! I needed more. Pennies minted in San Francisco do not have
mint marks, and pennies minted in 1970 are the opposite of rare.
Next test: I took the penny to the kitchen and pulled out my digital
scale. 3 grams. Running back to the bedroom, I pulled a few pennies out
of my change jar. My boyfriend, one of those who keeps a staggering
amount of knowledge stored in his brain, mentioned that I should weigh
it against another coin from the early 70’s as the government changed
the metal content of pennies in the 80’s.
Sure enough, a 1972 penny weighed in at 2 grams. I honestly thought
there was no way it could be the penny. The chance of it being found
seemed too great. The chance of my having found it seemed too great.
Still, I went to the website of the Seattle gallery that represents
Daws, Greg Kucera Gallery, to see if any further information was
available, any sure tell that I had indeed found not only the penny,
but a really good story as well. The same press release that I’d read
within the first post offered no new information, but there was, near
the bottom of the page, a picture of the penny that Jack Daws spent. It
looked like a penny. Any penny. But as the press release said, the coin
to look for has a date of 1970, no mint mark, and a heavier weight.
Could it be?
I knew the next step would be to call the gallery, but it was late
evening in Brooklyn. I’d have to wait until the gallery opened the next
day. A sensation oddly like what it felt to be a kid awaiting Christmas
morning filled me as I counted down the hours until they were scheduled
to open. 10:30 am on their end of the country, 1:30 pm on mine. That
Christmas-morning excitement never left.
In fact, as I picked up the phone to call I noticed I was shaking, a
million hummingbird beating their wings at the speed of light in my
chest. By that time, I’d told a few close co-workers and we’d examined
the coin with a high-magnification loupe. We could see what looked like
faint birthmarks of copper on the ridge of Lincoln’s nose, outlining
his profile and the rim of the coin. I went back and forth from
thinking ‘This has to be it,’ to thinking ‘How in the world can this be
the coin.’
When the gallery phone was answered, it took me a second to think what
in the world to say. Finally, I started with, ‘Hello, my name is
Jessica. I live in Brooklyn, NY, and I think I found Jack Daws’ penny.’ ”
Let me get this straight. She made a cake shaped like a penny with Lincoln in the frosting and later she found Jack Daws penny? Do you think I was born yesterday? I play a game with my kids called I Doubt It. I doubt it.
Dear Born Yesterday: What’s the matter with you? Don’t you believe in miracles? Good things happen all the time, at random and by accident.
My goodness Anonymous – your poor kids. The world will try to crush their dreams soon enough – does it have to start with you playing a game called, “I Doubt It”? That sounds like the saddest game ever. “Hey Dad/Mom – I’m going to grow up to be the President.” “I doubt it.”
Also, doesn’t it make sense that someone who is into pennies enough to bake a cake shaped liked one, would also be the same person who might notice something off about this penny and hold on to it for later inspection?
In the tail lights of the “Boy in the Balloon” media manipulation episode, I think this is a hoax. I actually hope this is hoax because it would be my favorite Daws’ piece ever. Jack’s work has always skewered the ridiculous aspects of our culture. Why would this not make perfect sense? Propaganda hoax as art. I love it.
Wow, this story is so cool. I never look at my coins, but I just might start now. Congrats on your findings.
Actually, Anonymous, I know Jessica. She is a cake designer. She makes themed cakes all the time. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I was there when Jessica served that penny cake so I can vouch for its existence (and deliciousness).
This is a delightfully awesome story.
Looking at the price tags on his “art”, now there is the real hoax. $3500 tire swing? Ah but there’s a sucker born every minute…
“The chance of it being found seemed too great.” – is this a mistake? Was that supposed to say “too small”? Confused.
Hi Xezlec: I think Jessica meant that the chance of her finding it would be too marvelous to be real, instead of the way you read it. Regina