The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 54, December 21, 2003, Article 4

REUTERS ARTICLE ABOUT JAVANESE COINS

  Howard A. Daniel III writes: "First, I want to thank the editor
  for identifying the Reuters' article about some Javanese coins
  being found in London because I missed seeing it in my news
  sources about Southeast Asia.   I went to the Reuters' web
  site to read the original article.  I am sorry to write that
  whomever the Reuters' editors and/or reporters talked to was
  an absolute dunce or they are being incorrectly quoted.  One
  quote was "Even in the 17th century they would have had no
  value in London."  Can you believe that?  Copper in any form
  in London was worth the value of copper, just like in Java or
  elsewhere in the world.  They are also quoted with "How they
  got to London remains a mystery.", but then followed up with
  "One possibility is that a merchant dropped them overboard
  from an East Indiaman (ship) moored in the Thames when he
  found they were worthless."  Was copper worthless in 17th
  century England?  I doubt it, so it was absolutely a mishap
  that the bag was dropped.  But the last sentence in the article
  finally grabs a little piece of reality with "Another is that they
  were being imported as curios for one of the many collectors
  keen to acquire interesting objects from the farthest corners
  of the earth."

  I am assuming they are quoting the British Museum, but from
  what was in the article, they must have been talking to a janitor
  because I do not know anyone there who would say such
  balderdash!"

  [I'd like to thank Howard for the opportunity to publish the
  word "balderdash" in The E-Sylum.  (It doesn't take much
  to amuse an editor.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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