Coin
Description
A small copper coin pushed into a piece of lava. " Vesuvius " is written in white pen on underside of base.
See full details
Object detail
Classification
Credit line
An
odd
reminder
of
a
blast
from
the
past,
this
chunk
of
lava
comes
from
the
slopes
of
Mount
Vesuvius.
Embedded
in
the
centre
of
the
lava
is
an
Italian
10
centesimi
coin,
thought
to
be
of
the
type
issued
between
1919-1937.
Mt
Vesuvius
is
one
of
the
world’s
most
famous
active
volcanoes
and
embedding
coins
in
its
slowly
cooling
lava
is
apparently
a
long
standing
practice.
Gillian
Darley,
in
her
book
Vesuvius
writes:
“Whenever
the
volcano
had
been
active,
visitors
could
have
a
coin
of
their
choice
pressed
into
baking-hot
dun
coloured
lava…failing
that,
there
were
stalls
stacked
high
with
pottery
embellished
with
scenes
of
Vesuvius
at
full
throttle-or
little
ornamented
snuffboxes,
pickle
dishes
or
painted
fans,
all
puns
on
heat
and
fire.”
Food
for
thought
for
the
entrepreneur
perhaps,
should
Mount
Taranaki
blow
its
top
again?
Accession number
A96.242
Collection type
Material
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