Posted on 01/29/2005 5:10:32 AM PST by MississippiMasterpiece
Colorado Springs, CO (PRWEB) January 28, 2005 -- After decades of seeking possible answers about a mysterious UFO-like design on a 17th century French copper coin, a prominent numismatic expert says it remains just that: an unidentified flying object. After a half-century of research, the design has defied positive identification by the numismatic community.
"It was made in the 1680s in France and the design on one side certainly looks like it could be a flying saucer in the clouds over the countryside," said Kenneth E. Bressett of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a former President of the 32,000-member American Numismatic Association and owner of the curious coin.
"Is it supposed to be a UFO of some sort, or a symbolic representation of the Biblical Ezekiel's wheel? After 50 years of searching, I've heard of only one other example of it, and nothing to explain the unusual design."
Bressett said the mysterious piece is not really a coin, but a "jeton," a coin-like educational tool that was commonly used to help people count money, or sometimes used as a money substitute for playing games. It is about the size of a U.S. quarter-dollar and similar to thousands of other jetons with different religious and educational designs that were produced and used in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.
"The design on this particular piece could be interpreted as showing either a UFO or Ezekiel's wheel, but little else. Some people think the Old Testament reference to Ezekiel's wheel may actually be a description of a long-ago UFO," he explained.
"The legend written in Latin around the rim is also mystifying. 'OPPORTUNUS ADEST' translates as 'It is here at an opportune time.' Is the object in the sky symbolic of needed rainfall, or a Biblical reference or visitors from beyond? We probably will never know for certain," said Bressett.
"It is part of the lure of numismatics that makes coin collecting so intriguing."
The "colam" is curious. It appears to be a future(or subj) 1ps of colere, with the sense here of "I will honor or esteem or worship". Context is all in translation and we lack it here to a large extent. Depending upon what was in the mind of the engraver, the reverse may mean "This may I honor, enriched by you." But this is just a guess. What the "this" refers to may be what the "ad" refers to on the obverse.
Or it could mean "I will cultivate,care for this, enriched by you". Maybe it is a farmer's prayer. If G-d will enrich the soil with rain and sun, then I(the farmer) will cultivate it. Who knows?
Its obviously light comming down from the bottom.
It's just your dirty mind! If men made it why wasn't it well breasted?
I really think this is a jeton with symbols for luck on both sides. It's a gamblers coin. I would translate the legend on the 1st side with "now is a good opportunity" and the one on the back to something to the effect of that what I wrote before. Maybe someone with a degree in Latin can help?
It's Hillary in a hoop skirt.
Maybe this explains the 1680 edition of Inquirer Nacional running a headline stating "Louis XIV's wife impregnated by aliens"? Can't remember her name? Anne of Cleves?
Anne of Austria?
You may be right, but I am having trouble with your interpretation of "colam" as "I pray". It clearly appears to be a 1ps future of colere. I do not think that you can impute that sense to colere. And if "haec" refers to the coin, then what word in Latin? The usual word "nummus" is masculine and would require "hic". That is why I said that the context is missing. What was the author thinking of when he used "haec"? I think you are correct about the front, but it could also mean "this happens at a good time".
You are correct, the accusative case can mean "to a place", like "Romam", "to Rome", but I don't think this is the case here.
All my translations are just "gut feelings". You might be right about the translation on the front. Maybe the haec refers to the raining on the plant.
I think the wheel with the broken axle is a symbol for "taking a risk" or luck. The rain on the plant probably is a symbol for luck.
What if the strange wheel thing symbolizes good luck (in the form of impending rain from the clouds depicted). On the reverse, we see the result of the rain, a growing crop. The "haec" could refer to the sown field (seges (f)) and the inscription could mean "With your help, I will care for this field", literally, "This, increased by you, I will cultivate". The field could, of course, be a metaphor for anything of worth in life.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/columnists.nsf/peterrexford/story/66D01813153DE3F586256F92007F7D04?OpenDocument&Headline=Did+UFOs+visit+Earth+325+years+ago%3F+Try+flipping+a+coin
I don't think the two sides of the coin are linked to each other that closely. On the coin posted in #76 is the same wheel-picture but a completely different picture on the other side (midget bribing a judge?).
The wheel with the broken axle could be flying through the air because of a crash someone had when speeding with his horse-cart (taking a risk). Maybe a bit far-fetched :). I have no idea how fast their horse-carts back then could go.
I'll see tomorrow if I find something about this coins on Google. I'm sure there is a plausible explanation. Gotta go now...
Preceding Joseph Blumrich, the NASA engineer who drew a pic of what he thought Ezekiel saw, this author parsed Ezekiel's paragraphs and comes up with a pretty neat interpretation, as well as a deep respect for Ezekiel, who had never seen a technological marvel like this, yet provides a first-rate descripton.
Sample:
9. "Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
He is not saying that the wings of one creature are joined to the wings of another creature. He is saying that each wing is joined to another wing, not directly to the creature.
The second and third parts of this verse present a mystery. We do not know what the "theys" refer to. There are three "theys" in this verse, one after another and we are given very few clues to which refer to creatures and which refer to wings. The first "they" most likely is tied to the first part of the verse and therefore refers to the wings. Given this, there are still three interpretations:
1. The wings turned not when the wings went; The wings went every one straight, forward.
2. The wings turned not when the creatures went; The wings went every one straight forward.
3. The wings turned not when the creatures went; The creatures went every one straight forward.
None of these three statements make much of a point, whether the creatures have helicopter wings, or bird-angel wings. Let us assume then that the first "they" refers to the' creatures:
1. The creatures turned not when the creatures went; The creatures went every one straight forward.
2. The creatures turned not when the wings went; The wings went every one straight forward.
3. The creatures turned not when the wings went;. The creatures went every one straight forward.
This last statement would pretty well describe the action of the blades of an inoperative helicopter being carried forward in a straight line. It would strike Ezekiel as odd that the wings might move and turn without turning the men under them. You might wonder why he would say “ . . . wings went . . ." instead of “ . . . wings turned . . . When a light breeze moves the blades of an inoperative helicopter the blades not only turn, but they change their pitch and plane in a most random manner.
Although Ezekiel has not completed his description of the creatures, we can try now to form a picture of what he saw. No matter how we bend and squeeze, we are not going to get a Michelangelo-type angel. Look at figure one. Go back over the points that Ezekiel has described. You will see that it fits quite well."
and
16. "The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of Beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
In order to increase the efficiency of military chariots it was necessary to build a wheel that was lighter, yet just as strong as the solid model. This was first done by cutting out "lightening holes" between the hub and rim. Pressing this invention to the ultimate produced a spoked wheel. . . . This was quite an invention and in addition to it's useful aspects, it produced some rather, unusual, even magical side-effects. As every child knows, if you turn your tricycle upside-down and spin the wheel, the spokes seem to vanish. All that can be seen is the rim and the parts of the hub near the center of rotation. No matter what shape the hub actually is, it too looks round like a wheel. It is very likely that such an effect was referred to as "a wheel within a wheel." [Think of the "wheel within a wheel" effect when watching those Indians vs stagecoach races. - Oatka]
In verse 16 Ezekiel says that, "wheels and their work was the colour of beryl.” a blue-green color. This sounds like the emphasis is the color at the edge of the wheel. This could be from a flame coming from jets on the tips of the rotors. [I thought this was an impossible configuration, but some months ago The History Channel showed some oddball USAF machines and one of them was a helicopter with jets on the tips of the blades. - Oatka]
AIl of the creatures must have started their rotors. (“ . . . they four had one likeness.") They looked like “ . . . a wheel in the middle of a wheel." Or the spinning spokes of a wheel. Notice also that he never mentions "wings" and "wheels" at the same time, for when one appears the other vanishes.[My emphasis - Oatka]
(snip)
20. Withersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go, and the wheels were lifted over against them: for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
This is a most sophisticated opinion. Although Ezekiel was describing only what he saw, he could not help but have some opinions about the creatures. In verse nineteen he makes it clear that he does not know whether man is lifting the machine, or the other way around, but here he makes it clear that whichever, there is no doubt that the creatures are controlling. They are not being carried off by the will of the wheel."
Fascinating stuff.
Can't be. Doesn't have testicles.
LOL
Reminds me of a segment on the old Phil Harris radio show. He and his buddy Frankie Remley discover an ancient treasure map that points to their backyard.
They dig and dig and finally remley says breathlessly, "I've hit something! It's big and round and looks like it's made of solid silver! And there's WRITING ON IT!"
Full of dreams of riches, Harris asks, "What does it say?"
Remley, very softly, "Packard."
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