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."
Want to hear my theory one more time? Sorry about the double post.
Yeah, pretty good.
Or it could be a coin that was used in the red light district.
If it was meant to be a wheel the axle wouldn't sit in such an unatural angle an the wheel. I think it's a flying saucer with activated tractor beam. You can even make out the antigravity propulsion on it's lower side and the portholes on its side. Fascinating.
Although the artist seems to have been using samples that were very dry. See: http://www.cahuinadencul.com.ar/fotos/super_colonia_peyote10.jpg as an example.
You can do a www.google.com search and find other similar images including stylized "plants" the artist presumed the buds must have come from. After all, in the 1700s American cactus plants were just becoming familiar to Europeans.
Maybe you're... gay?
It looks like the good fortune from the sky, as signified by the falling rain on the opposite side, is a roulette wheel and the "penis" is a pointer aimed at the fortunate ground (thus it being suspended upside down). Bye-bye ET.
Clearly the incidence of recovered abduction memories involving getting "probed" has as long a history as UFO sightings.
...have we ever gotten a full description of these alien beings/ we know about the big eyes, no ears, and slits for mouths. We may just have found new evidence of why the abductees are found smoking..
Is it possible it's a flying cheese wheel(with a penis)?
Ezekiel is said (by UFO believers of the Van Daniken (remember him?) school) to have a description of a flying saucer. I did a search at a Bible search site:
http://bible.gospelcom.net/passage/?search=Ezekiel%201;&version=9;
But the describtion given in Ezekiel Chapter One (KJV)doesn't match the image on the coin:
14And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a 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. (My emphasis)
17When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
19And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
Artistic license always has to be considered in this matter. Painters and sculptors of those times were not adverse to creating images (like persons from @800 BC depicted wearing clothing, armor, and arms from the Renaissance period) to suit then current interpretations and tastes. Perhaps the engraver simply took the old phrase "wheel in a wheel" literally and omitted anything that "clouded the clarity of his artistic vision."
You're attracted to it, are ya?
:) just kidding
*OPI pings.
(*Of possible interest.)
*Tree of Life* on the obverse with the UFO (daisy) on the master.
It's a sundial.
Good take!!!
Good take!!!
Or maybe he's stating the obvious.
If this coin was a jeton the flying saucer could also be a wheel with a broken axle as a sign for luck (in Germany we say broken glass brings luck) or bad luck.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
