Saw The Amazing Titanic Exhibit Today....coin related
dragon
Posts: 4,548 ✭✭
Today we went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the traveling Titanic exhibit, it was incredibly cool! You can see the Omnimax movie there too about the salvage operations and going down in the north Atlantic three miles under water in pitch darkness and 6000 tons per sq. inch of pressure.
Afterwards, we walked through the huge exhibit (takes over an hour) of various items that were brought up from the Titanic and saw some amazing things that were built just for this exhibit such as a nearly perfect re-creation in full size of the famous staircase and glass dome, hallways and staterooms perfectly re-created from the ship, a 50 foot area of veranda where the 1st class passengers could look out onto the sea and the stars, and much more!
Among the many, many items that were brought up, (including a HUGE section of the hull about 25 feet away from where the Titanic actually split in half) was a whole large display case of coins and currency. Most of the currency was U.S. currency including many 1, 5, and 10.00 silver certs from the 1800's, many National bank notes, etc. Many of the bills had large rust color stains on them while a few were in remakably good condition for being at the bottom of the Atlantic for so long, a few actually looked crisp and still vibrant.
For the many coins, most were either U.S. or English including quite a few Barber half and quarters, some seated dimes, and a few Morgan dollars, all were not cleaned and in the same state as recovered from the ship as far as I could tell. One of the Morgans was dated 1900 and was already worn down to a F-VF !
One of the coolest things about all of the coins, currency, jewelry, and everything else that was on display from the ship was the fact that nothing appeared to be heavily cleaned or polished or curated and that you could almost "feel" the history behind it all almost as if you were there.
Which brings me to the real point of this thread which is why I could never understand why people will take a 120 yr. old coin and dip it over and over to try and make it look like a newly minted piece. Had all of the coins and jewelry and valuables from the Titanic been highly polished, curated, and made to appear new, I think it would have seriousy taken away from their appeal and historic value, etc.
dragon
Afterwards, we walked through the huge exhibit (takes over an hour) of various items that were brought up from the Titanic and saw some amazing things that were built just for this exhibit such as a nearly perfect re-creation in full size of the famous staircase and glass dome, hallways and staterooms perfectly re-created from the ship, a 50 foot area of veranda where the 1st class passengers could look out onto the sea and the stars, and much more!
Among the many, many items that were brought up, (including a HUGE section of the hull about 25 feet away from where the Titanic actually split in half) was a whole large display case of coins and currency. Most of the currency was U.S. currency including many 1, 5, and 10.00 silver certs from the 1800's, many National bank notes, etc. Many of the bills had large rust color stains on them while a few were in remakably good condition for being at the bottom of the Atlantic for so long, a few actually looked crisp and still vibrant.
For the many coins, most were either U.S. or English including quite a few Barber half and quarters, some seated dimes, and a few Morgan dollars, all were not cleaned and in the same state as recovered from the ship as far as I could tell. One of the Morgans was dated 1900 and was already worn down to a F-VF !
One of the coolest things about all of the coins, currency, jewelry, and everything else that was on display from the ship was the fact that nothing appeared to be heavily cleaned or polished or curated and that you could almost "feel" the history behind it all almost as if you were there.
Which brings me to the real point of this thread which is why I could never understand why people will take a 120 yr. old coin and dip it over and over to try and make it look like a newly minted piece. Had all of the coins and jewelry and valuables from the Titanic been highly polished, curated, and made to appear new, I think it would have seriousy taken away from their appeal and historic value, etc.
dragon
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Too bad the only coins in the gift shop were so harshly cleaned you could shave with them
I took my family there last month. That was an awesome exhibit! I would highly recommend it even with the lines.