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Underground > Temple >

Red Money

15:06 / 29.10.04

A number of times over the past few years I have found, amongst my pocket change, quarters that have been painted red. In the past it hasn't drawn more than a moment of idle curiosity, but since I've started paying more attention to signs of magic going on around me I wonder if this might not be part of some kind of money magic?

For one thing, upon reflection, I realized that (so far as I can remember) all the painted quarters I have found have been the same shade of red, which at least suggests a possible common origin. For another (and this is the most tentative of anecdotal evidence), since I started carrying my most recent red quarter (set aside from my other change so I don't spend it), I haven't once run out of pocket money (my bank account has still gone dry between checks, but I always seem to have a couple of dollars in my pocket - not formerly a very common condition).

It may be worth noting (??) that we have a large Hispanic population in this area, so I wonder if this might not be related to Santeria (we had, until recently, a botanica just down the road from where I work). "Shango-money," or something of the sort?

Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone knows any more about this practice?

Thanks!

~L

[Bush Loses and the Red Sox Win!]

08:01 / 02.11.04

On October 21, 2004, The Royal Canadian Mint, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Legion, unveiled the world's first coloured circulation coin. The 25-cent coin features a red poppy, the symbol that pays homage to the 117,000 gallant Canadians who died in the service of the nation.

apparently, the red paint rubs off easily.

11:51 / 02.11.04

I asked around, and got my answer:

Turns out that these red coins, if you check, are almost all 1960s or earlier - they were "stimulator" coins used by businesses with jukeboxes or coin-op pool tables when there were customers in the building but no one playing music - an employee would grab a couple of painted quarters from the till and get things going, and people would be more likely to keep the music playing than to start it on their own. When time came to cash out the machine, the business would sort out its own quarters.

So, no magical ties. Still, it gets me thinking about using one of these coins as an ingredient in a customer-drawing mojo bag. Symbolically, it also works on the "give money to get money" level. Plus, I've still not run short of pocket money - I'll keep this one with me until I decide what else to do with it.

~L

12:33 / 02.11.04

That sounds like it could still be useful, since its original purpose was, basically, to attract more quarters.

Very interesting!

17:52 / 06.11.04

I'm curious - were they especially made for this purpose, or did business owners paint them themselves? And what were they colored with?

04:25 / 07.11.04

Business owners just painted regular quarters (or sometimes pennies, at carnivals), with regular red paint.

~L

16:06 / 08.11.04

I see. I was asking because I've come across a few oddly coloured coins in the past couple of years, but in these cases the coloration (sp?) was obviously caused by some random chemical reaction; it was impossible to rub off but looked really strange. Paint seems rather crude to me, but something more lasting could prove very useful (or fun) someday.

As for the pocket money thing, I simply make sure I always have some small change lying around here and there in my living room - so I always "have" some money in circulation, technically speaking. Seems to work fine, though I'll never get rich from it.