Is it made of gold, Benjamin? No. It is not made of gold. Is it made
of any kind of precious metal, Benjamin? No, it is not made of any
kind of precious metal. Does it have precious or semi-precious stones
in it then, Benjamin? Alas. it does not even have that. Okay
Benjamin. One last question if I may. Is it jewelry. or is it in any
way connected to jewelry? Tell me that, Benjamin.
Sigh. It is none of the heretofore mentioned.
Then why. pray do tell us Benjamin. why are you showing this to us?
Your Tidbits is about jewelry and its tangential arts … is it not?
It is about gemstones and diamonds and the like… is it not? Do you
realize you are wasting our time?
Ah. Now that’s an interesting point my friend. Shall I start at the
end and work my way back to the beginning? Wasting your time, you
say. Is it a waste to see the unexpected? Is it a waste to be
introduced to a horizon of a different mettle. or metal as it were?
So it is not gold, or platinum, or silver. So it is cast iron
instead. Does the material matter if it is beautiful? So you can’t
wear it on your finger. or your ear. or your rear for that matter. It
all means not a whit. Or even a jot or a bit or a particle. For it is
what it is and what it is, is beautiful. Have you ever heard of
beauty for its own sake?
So then Benjamin. beauty aside. if it’s not jewelry. then what is it?
I ask because I am now curious. Your reasoning has titillated my
fancy. Pray tell me that, Benjamin. Tell me so that I may sleep the
sleep of the intellectually sated tonight.
To one and all. friend and foe. ally or adversary. it is a Piggy
Bank. It is a device that gave birth to a certain class of artistic
creationism over one hundred years ago. It was designed by one
Charles H. Menn in 1883 in the good old US of A. It is in fact a cast
iron mechanical piggy bank. Place a coin it the eagle’s beak. push
the lever down. and the eagle feeds the coin to the eaglets which
then subsequently falls into the bank. There is a plug underneath
which is used to remove the accumulated wealth that has
unquestionably been quickly gathered for there is surely as much joy
in watching the eaglets feed as there is in saving. That said. do you
need me to address any other of your questions?
Well Benjamin. I must say I was prepared to do battle with your
reasoning. After all. we who read your Tidbits expect to bathe in the
delights of jewelry And yet. I shiver with joy and
anticipation at seeing this item you have chosen to share with us.
Does it have a price?
Sad to say. it does not. But I thank you for your kind words. And if
you have no objection. I would like to poll the other readers of my
Tidbits to see if they too enjoy this occasional sidestep into other
worlds of beauty. Would you be so kind as to pass this question on to
your friends?
It would be my pleasure, Benjamin. And now. with your permission. I
am going to use your closing line just this once. Here we go. And
good luck to you, Benjamin.
You all know what’s coming. The visit to the image. also known as the
viewing experience. You know where to go. Home page.
http://www.tyler-adam.com. Scroll down. Left side. Tidbits. Click.
And there for your pleasure will be a picture of the eagle and its
eaglets. feeding on the coin of the realm.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all
next week. Benjamin Mark. and friend.