LASQUETI MINT (a private mint located on Lasqueti Island, in a remote area of British Columbia. The quaint island, which has approximately 350 permanent residents, is 5 km wide and 21 km long. It is accessible only by the use of a foot-passenger ferry that departs from the terminal at French Creek, across the Strait of Georgia): Tolling Jennings, a numismatist, and Ray Lipovsky, a goldsmith, began minting their own coins on July 5, 1997. The first run of 222 coins, minted as a way of raising funds for the local “Esoterics” Ultimate Frisbee team to attend the national championships, sold out five weeks later, on August 14. At first, the partners used a 19th century drop-hammer, but have since upgraded their equipment and streamlined their production techniques. Every aspect is still done completely by hand. The 1998 piece was their first coin to see mass use in the commerce of Lasqueti and other islands. Starting in the summer of that year, their coins began to circulate and people started using them as trade items at a value of $20 in all sorts of transactions (the Mint will also redeem any of its coins at fixed rates). Currently, several shops on Lasqueti Island, including Tedito's Whole Food Store, have a sign/logo behind the counter indicating that they accept the Mint's coins as payment. This trend expanded to include Vancouver Island itself. Now, “The coins are being accepted not only in the Gulf Islands but also in other parts of the world!! Reports have come in from exotic lands about transactions taking place using Lasqueti Coins.” This list includes India, Mexico, the United States, Germany, and other European countries. However, because these beautiful works of art are so desirable, many people elect to save them. “Most bullion coins see one or two transactions before being removed from circulation and held as keep sakes and a ‘store of value’. This is good news for the Mint in terms of the ‘collectabilty’ of the coins but makes it hard to establish a continuing circulating coinage for now.” Their 1,000th coin was struck on March 3rd, 1999. The home page of the Lasqueti Mint is: http://www.lqmint.com/.
REGENCY OF LOMAR: The Republic of Lomar was created in 1997 in the heart of Silicon Valley (Santa Cruz, CA), “by a small group of Catholic and Orthodox Christians” headed by Laurent/Lawrence A. Cleenewerck. These high-tech professionals/engineers channeled their skills in Information Technologies toward establishing what they claimed was at one point the world's largest/leading cybernation. It encompassed thousands of cybercitizens, all of whom agreed that citizenship need not be restricted to one's place of birth. Lomar, which stands for “Libre Organisation Mondiale d'Aide aux Réfugiés”, evolved from an Internet-based micronation into a constitutional republic/non-territorial state; they are currently a small, transnational Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with diplomatic status. In March of 1998, the Republic of Lomar Foundation (Fédération Humanitaire Republique de Lomar) was legally and officially incorporated as a non-profit institution in Delaware, with a petition of tax-exemption to the Internal Revenue Service (the “Foundation” is basically their legal arm in the U.S.). Fundamentally secular, Lomar's altruistic ideals and benevolent endeavors support humanitarian/medical/educational causes; a portion of the profits from sales of their stamps and/or merchandise was even shared with the Tibetan government-in-exile and several recognized charities. One of their principal aims was to attempt to break down artificial borders/boundaries and go beyond the offering of meaningless/simple virtual-citizenship. As a document-issuing authority, they once provided authentic-looking passports and permanent or temporary alternative/second citizenship to the “collective community of underprivileged people” including exiles, stateless refugees, victimized subjects of unsatisfactory regimes, unrooted/unrepresented people, and other “qualified individuals” who were in need of relocation. They were following the precedent set by other entities which publish legal passports; these include the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the International Red Cross, the United Healthcare Organization, the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, the World Service Authority, the Orthodox Christian Cultural and Diplomatic Organization, and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (upon which Lomar is modeled). They were also acting in the spirit of Fridtjof Nansen (arctic explorer and statesman), whose “Nansen passports” were one of the reasons he was awarded the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize. As part of their human rights advocacy, Lomar administers and maintains an international network of dedicated volunteer diplomats, special representatives, consulates, attachés, and counselors; its “largest team of diplomatic corps”, as well as their Secretary General, are based in France. If immigration was a person's only option, the council would've been able to provide legal assistance/visa services through what they admitted could be a long-term and expensive project. Though Lomar was never formally recognized as a Republic by any major government, they claimed that some of its citizens actually managed to enter Cuba and Russia with Lomarian passports. The main offices of ROLF/FHRL (http://www.rolhq.org/ and http://www.fhrl.org/) were in Washington, D.C., but its American delegation shifted to Nevada in August of 2004.
“LUNA”/“DER MOND”: This is a 20 Lunare coin, made of silver and dated 1969. The text on the coin is entirely in German, but a colleague named Mr. Chaim Dov Shiboleth has an English version. Though the piece, which has a profile of Neil Armstrong, doesn't actually bear the “Luna” designation, it is boldly implied by its proclamation “Das Erste Mondgeld” (First Lunar Currency, in its English look-alike). Because of this, it seems naturally more appropriate to attribute the coin to “Luna” than to “The Moon”. I obtained one of these coins from Schön-Buchversand (http://www.nomisma.com/index2.htm), in Germany. According to them, it was designed by Helmut Diller; and as indicated by the “M” mintmark, it was struck by the Bavarian State Mint (Bayerisches Hauptmünzamt) in Munich. Furthermore, I was informed that 40, 50, and 100 Lunare pieces also exist, equally honoring the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. I have also found mention on the Internet that the 50 Lunare coin was also struck in gold. I don’t know any other details about the origin of these coins, apart from the fact that they were issued by Merkur-Bank (München).
The Mint's 1997-2003 coinage, which focused on the scenic archipelago pertaining to the Gulf Islands of B.C., was “an attempt to establish an exchange system based on bullion” and to create a “shadow economy” for the municipalities/districts in the Islands Trust Area of the Georgia Strait. They anticipated that this circulating coinage, made of precious metals, would maintain its value over time “while paper currencies inflate out of existence”. The project would serve to “create a means of exchange between communities...that would encourage commerce and communication between the islands.” More recently, the two mintmasters have taken delivery of a pantograph milling and engraving machine (from circa 1970), which allows them to make their own dies. This was but one of several upgrades with which the Lasqueti Mint was blessed between 2006 and 2007: “We cut a hole in the floor and poured a slab of concrete for the drop hammer so the entire building no longer bounces when we strike a coin. With the addition of a CNC machine and a computer operated kiln we have been able to manufacture our own dies entirely in house. This is a very big deal!…With these innovations we are now able to do all the creation and execution of our art on the island.” They are continuing to mint silver and gold coins “with the expectation that the continued collapse of the mega-nation state will lead to the creation of states based on bio-regionalism.” They predict that present political systems will eventually self-destruct and that their “paper economies” will crumble.
The first Lasqueti Mint medallion that I purchased was the Lasqueti Island 2000 China Cloud/Sea Dragon 1/2 Troy ounce piece, from a site where many of the Mint’s coins are still showcased: http://www.wholeshow.com/eclectic/.
I then acquired the Lasqueti Island 1998 China Cloud/Arbutus Tree 1/2 Troy ounce piece plus the Gabriola Island 1999 1/2 Troy ounce piece featuring the well-known “Dancing Man” petroglyph/pictograph (produced with the support and approval of the Gabriola Community Arts Council, which sponsors the annual Dancing Man Music Festival) from Balmoral Coins ([email protected]). I also obtained the Lasqueti Island 1999 (die #2) China Cloud/Arbutus Tree piece from J&M Coin & Jewellery (https://www.jandm.com/defaultsecure.htm). More recently, from Mr. Jennings himself, I purchased a Lasqueti Island Medical Marijuana/Lasqueti Dory 1/10 ounce gold “Dinar”, dated MMI. I later mailed him one of my 2005 Zilchstadt coins, and he reciprocated by cordially sending me a 1998 Dot copper piece. I also acquired a 1999 (die #3) China Cloud/Arbutus Tree 1/2 Troy ounce piece.
Currently, the Lasqueti Mint has embarked on a new coinage programme showcasing the coins of Cascadia, a pivotal region of the Pacific Northwest. This new series, beginning with the Venus de Cosmos 1/2 Troy ounce piece dated 2005 (which I also obtained from Mr. Jennings), is meant to build upon the original concepts which characterized the “China Cloud” run. One of these ideas “was to offer the common reverse of the coin as a ‘Free’ die for communities to use in conjunction with their own obverse die design.” Similarly, a common “Cascadia” reverse will be furnished to participating localities, though the applicable geographical area has now been widened even further to include possible clients from Juneau, Alaska to Santa Cruz, California. “The hope is that coins will be issued through out the bioregion.” It is the Mint's hope that “other communities will want to have their own coins with an obverse that reflects their unique attributes.”
“ROL builds slowly and painstakingly its reputation, despite various historical hardships.” Regrettably, their good character was temporarily sullied beginning in early 2001, when certain unscrupulous individuals in Nigeria operated a vicious e-mail scam (the African nation had been plagued by miserable financial schemes of all sorts; the menace was so endemic that it became known in local parlance and internationally as “419” fraud, after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses this notorious type of unlawful activity). Eager to dupe their own countrymen, the dubious Nigerians began selling counterfeit applications/certificates to unsuspecting gulls, who were assured easy travel to the Republic of Lomar, a heaven-on-earth “Utopian State” purportedly recognized by 58 nations. The naive targets, trustingly snared by the 419ers' well-designed bogus Web-page, did not know that this fraudulent entity was not the true ROL, which likewise existed only in the vast vulnerability of cyberspace. The actual Lomar, which proclaimed itself as the planet's foremost virtual state and whose name was being ruthlessly co-opted by the crooks so that their deplorable lies would appear convincing, was being victimized by the perpetrators' trickery as well. This make-believe dreamland had been formed courtesy of the “infinite wisdom” of a crafty syndicate of sagacious bamboozlers. Their phantom republic was practically begging for prospective citizens, and was in need of about 51,000 people by the end of 2001. Nigerians, responding en masse in order to secure the necessary paperwork, were defrauded and fleeced by the thousands. If the “wise” scammers hadn't successfully advertised the false Lomar as an irresistible Promised Land, then they at least convinced the multitudes that their deceitful destination was the ideal stopover en route to an even better Land of Milk and Honey — a gateway to Western prosperity. Lomar was said to be conveniently located somewhere between Canada and the U.S., and once its new citizens arrived in their uncharted home, they could easily enter those 2 North American countries because neither of them required the Lomarian travelers to obtain visas. They would be seemingly welcomed with open arms. This particular band of fraudsters, remorselessly capitalizing on the desperation and despondency of their fellow countrymen, used tactics that went way beyond the use of annoying “spam”. According to Lagos' “The Comet” newspaper and “The News” weekly magazine, the swindlers suspended “screaming banners” above the streets of the commercial districts of major cities; these served to attract “emigration-crazy” passersby to the business centers and travel agencies. To purchase and fill out citizenship forms, hopeful candidates were charged between 400-1,500 Nairas in one report, to between 1,500-4,000 Nairas in another, per person. The gullible victims, now poorer than ever before, seemed to have lost the ability to distinguish between reality and fiction. To them, Lomar proved to be a costly mirage. “People were falling over themselves to register,” stated a lawyer/writer named Mr. Amos Oyiwe; the criminals were “milking the people dry.” In the end, between 60,000-70,000 applicants fell prey to the con-men's lucrative ruse. The ROL, which had no authorized agents whatsoever in Nigeria, still struggles to recover from the negative publicity of that unpleasant episode. As soon as they received knowledge of these illegal acts, their officials intervened immediately; they did their best to clarify the situation and to put an end to the confusion. In the hopes that the nefarious culprits could be prosecuted, they attempted to denounce them to the proper authorities, and they communicated extensively with local Nigerian news agencies and the press; most notably, London's BBC radio broadcast an interview (2/10/2001) with the Chancellor of ROLF/FHRL. There was also a month-long shutdown of their Web-site, accompanied by special advisory bulletins/warnings on their main page. “Unfortunately, a few press articles mistakenly reported that the whole ‘Republic of Lomar’ web site was in fact invented to operate this scam — the truth being that this scam was in fact an abuse of our good name”. Though they've had to seemingly alter/curtail their methodology somewhat, Lomar has bounced back rather resiliently. They've also stepped up efforts to distance themselves from the overall micronational sphere. To quote an Important Notice posted at their Web-site, “We DO NOT SELL any passports or citizenships! We are 100% cooperative with all nation state governments and comply with international laws.” Lomar reiterates that the Nigerian flimflam was “uncovered and resolved by the highest legal means and exposed in the media. Those incidents greatly impacted the genuine and sincere nature of ROL and its accredited corps in helping refugees.” Nonetheless, their unit of diplomatic corpsmen pressed on till today. The Regency of Lomar Foundation works hand in hand with worldwide lawyerly institutions to protect its legality and credibility, especially in safeguarding the hard-earned trust of its benefactors and beneficiaries. “ROL is still an emerging NGO,” and its personnel is collaborating closely with governments, well-established international organizations, corporations, and people in order to gain more recognition and philanthropic partnerships from all quarters of the world. Its independent, aid-minded apparatus strives to attain any form of legitimate support for its serious cause, including fundraising and the heightening of public awareness. “Already, with the help of sponsors and donors, ROL has built a hospital, and soon, a daycare center in Peru”. They are also involved in many other laudable global efforts, such as the current initiatives in Burkina Faso and Cameroon. What's hugely ironic is that even while the Nigerian controversy was brewing, a populated place named Lomar actually seems to exist in the north-eastern part of that country (Borno State). Its geographical coordinates, in Decimal Degrees, are latitude 10.2333, longitude 12.0500; in Degrees-Minutes-Seconds, they are latitude 10° 13' 60N (or 10 14' 00"), longitude 12° 3' 00E (12 03' 00"). The maps can be viewed at:
http://www.fallingrain.com/world/NI/0/Lomar.html
http://www.tageo.com/index-e-ni-v-00-d-m2806269.htm
In January of 2008, I was contacted by Rev. Pr. Laurent Cleenewerck. He informed that since co-founding Lomar, “a lot has happened in my life and I have moved away from this activity. In fact, I am now an Eastern Orthodox priest, serving Saint Innocent’s parish in Eureka, CA. I am clergy in the Orthodox Church of America, listed at http://www.oca.org/DIRlists.clergy.lastname.asp?lastinit=C&SID=9&image3.x=18&image3.y=10”. There is indeed an entry for Rev. Laurence Cleenewerck in that list of OCA clerics. “People (including my bishop) have asked me what I have to do with a micronation because these old articles are still online.” He politely asked me to remove his surname from this listing, but I did not feel I could comply with such a request.
Our narrative must now turn to Dom Klaus Schlapps, who was appointed First Councilor and President in December of 2003. In 2004, after his election, he became their Regent and changed ROL's “inappropriate name” from “Republic” to “Regency”. On July 19th of 2004, Dom Klaus posted a message to the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/) newsgroup. He announced that Lomar’s “first Silvercoin” would be minted by November/December of that year. It was to have been designed/created by Master Engraver Klaus Walter. “The Value will be 10 Lomar Kurant.” Things did not proceed according to plan, because on January 30th of 2006, he posted another message, asking for assistance with his numismatic project. The person who answered the call was none other than Mr. Jorge Fernández Vidal (see my listings for HADEF and Westarctica), who had begun issuing “unusual” coins the previous year. His timely involvement resulted in a bronze 1 Kurant, dated 2006. Its obverse features the Great Arms of Lomar; its reverse shows an Arctic Wolf alongside the Star of Lomar (symbol of the Regency of Lomar). “‘Kurant’ was an old word for a medieval currency of exchange, and was also inspired by a famous Kurant Bank in Denmark in the 18th Century.” This “limited edition charity coin”, designed and financed by Mr. Vidal, also serves as a “community currency”; its “denomination of ONE (1) Kurant is equivalent to 12 Euros, considered fair wage for one hour of labor.” All revenue from sales of the coin will be directed to ROLF's charitable causes. I obtained one of the pieces directly from His Excellency Klaus Schlapps ([email protected]). According to Dom Klaus, the Arctic Wolf was chosen as one of the coin's devices because Laurent Cleenewerck based his original vision of the Republic of Lomar (“Utopian Safe Haven for Refugees and Displaced Persons”) on an imaginary state he read about in short story by H.P. Lovecraft. The great polar kingdom of Lomar, which existed hundreds of thousands of years ago, was literally located in the Arctic Territory (supposedly in Canada or on the northern shores of Greenland). The fabled region was part of the author's Cthulhu mythos. When I pointed out to Dom Klaus that I thought that “L.O.M.A.R.” existed only because its letters stood for “Libre Organisation Mondiale d'Aide aux Réfugiés”, he stated that “The Acronym actually was created later.” In light of this, I think it is remarkable that once Cleenewerck hatched his Republic, he subsequently managed to select meaningful words (free, organization, worldwide, aide, refugees) — each of them perfectly embodying the specific purpose for which Lomar was founded — to successfully represent each of the five letters. Unfortunately, Cleenewerck had seemingly lost interest in the Republic he created “once it started to succeed, probably he is more exited on creating than keeping such entities. He has continued to do so. When I took over the old Republic, there where no Bills payed, neither the Incorporation Fees.” Dom Klaus has guided Lomar's transition into a fully operational, sovereign humanitarian organization. “Now with a dozen Alliances with other NGO's we are now a powerfull Taskforce operating in many Nations.” He reports that Lomar will also have paper notes, “as a model currency for local development projects.” Lomar's coin can be viewed and purchased at: http://rolhq.org/html/kurantcoin.html.
Images of the Kurant can also be viewed at the site of Mr. Haseeb Naz’s private collection:
http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Lomar.htm
For reasons that will soon become evident, I would be remiss if I did not offer a few words about St. Severin's Abbey. They began in 1992 as a nucleus of religious-minded individuals. This group was shepherded by two priests from the Order of Port Royal: Fr. Klaus Schlapps (later elected as the 1st Abbot of the Abbey and then consecrated as the 3rd Abbot-Bishop of the German Province) and Fr. Michael Maier. In August of 1999, St. Severin's priory (in Buchloe, Ostallgäu County, Schwaben/Swabia District, Bavaria) was designated an abbey by the Abbot-General of the Order of Port Royal. In the fall, this religious community then moved to a small building/monastery in the free city of Kaufbeuren (also in Ostallgäu). In May of 2002, they relocated to Leinau, a small hamlet belonging to the village of Pforzen (2 miles from Kaufbeuren, still in Ostallgäu). There, these cloistered, life-professed monks operate a small fine arts college (the Kunstschule Allgäu).
Lastly, this informational segment would not be complete without a little background about the Order of Port Royal. This is a monastic community which began with the French Cistercian convent of Port Royal. It lasted from 1204-1705, and was revived from the 1930s-60s. The office of Abbot remained vacant from 1967-90, and the membership declined drastically. In 1990, Dom/Father Peter Falk (the last surviving priest, ordained in 1963), convened the remaining members of the Convent, and they decided not to dissolve the order and that renewal was to be their mission. That year, the reconstituted order unanimously elected him to the office of Abbot (prior to this, the order understood itself as a contemplative body, without any effect on public Catholic life; afterwards, they changed their politics). He was consecrated as the order's 2nd Abbot-Bishop on September 17, 1996; though he is now retired, he also became their 1st Abbot-General (the Head of the entire order). Since then, the order has grown substantially; and they have branches/provinces in Germany, Italy, England, and the United States.
Their respective Web-sites are:
http://abtei-st-severin.de/english/
http://www.orderofportroyal.org/
Along these same moonlit lines, there's another peculiar item worth mentioning: a silver “100 GOLD” piece dated (you guessed it!) 1969. The obverse shows an astronaut who is climbing down the ladder of a lunar module and who is about to step onto the lunar surface; the word “Tempo” is written to the right of the denomination. The reverse shows the silhouette of a human figure with a portion of the Moon in the background, along with the phrase “EARTH-MOON-EARTH”. I found this coin on eBay, thanks to my full-blown numismatic lunacy. I recently learned that there is a second piece in this series. The obverse shows a profile of the Statue of Liberty along with an airborne rocket in the background; it also bears the denomination “100 GOLD” (the small letters “GR.” are above it). The reverse bears the phrase “APOLLO 12” along the top and “NOVEMBER 1969” along the bottom; in the center, it shows the faces of the three astronauts who were involved in that mission superimposed — along with numerous craters — upon the surface of the full Moon — once again, we see the word “Tempo”. One Italian seller (for reasons unknown, most of the “100 GOLD” coins I have seen for sale have come from Italy) speculates that perhaps this coin was sold or given away at the time of the Moon landing — as a way of commemorating the historic event — with Il Tempo (“The Times”), a morning daily newspaper published in Rome (founded in 1944 or 1945, it is one of Italy's outstanding newspapers and one with broad appeal and influence in the Roman region).
I’ve also obtained a couple of specimens (eBay and Mr. Oded Paz) pertaining to a mysterious series of “Moon Money” coins. The first one, on the obverse, shows a lunar module landing on the Moon; on the reverse, there is an image of a cow jumping over the lunar landscape, along with the phrase “Green Cheese Penny”. The second one, on the obverse, shows an eagle with raised wings; on the reverse, there is an image of a lunar rover vehicle, along with the phrase “Moon Buggy Penny”. Both are made of copper.
From Mr. Jack Phillips (he was the publisher of Fun Money, the quarterly newsletter of the American Play Money Society, which ceased operations in 2002; he now has a Web-site — http://s88204154.onlinehome.us/pmjack/index.html — that focuses on “play money”), I purchased a neat “Interplanetary Space Patrol Credits” token. It is a 10 Credits piece, made of composite gold plastic. On the obverse, it has “MOON” written along the bottom; in the center, there is a large image of that cratered satellite. There are a couple of additional denominations (25, 50, 100) pertaining to the “Moon”, as well as similar sets pertaining to “Saturn” and “Terra”. The pieces vary in color (in addition to gold, there are silver, black, blue; therefore, I am fairly certain there are 48 varieties in all). Altogether, these interesting tokens were connected to a TV show from the 1950s called Space Patrol, which aired on the ABC network (March 9, 1950 to February 26, 1955). The show was a live, action-adventure saga (or “space opera”) set in the 30th century. In an episode entitled “The Great Bank Robbery” (it aired on March 29, 1952), a character named Major “Robbie” Robertson is forced to assist in solving the theft of two million credits from the “Interplanetary Reserve Bank”. Not only was Space Patrol also broadcast as a radio show, but it even appeared in a short two-issue comic book (Summer 1952 and November 1952) published by Ziff Davis. According to the Web-site of the Solar Guard Academy (http://www.solarguard.com/sositemp.htm), which is intended for fans of 1950s science fiction television shows, the coins were part of the show’s “Name the Planet” contest, in which kids were given a chance to win 1,750 prizes, the best of all being “a clubhouse that could be moved by a 15 wheeler”. The contest took place at the height of Space Patrol’s popularity. All the kids had to do was suggest a nifty name for “Planet X”, which was the home/stronghold of the evil Prince Baccarratti. Planet X was substantially larger (it varied from 5 to 15 to 5,000 times greater) than our Earth and it was populated with man-eating plants and prehistoric monsters (such as the Ice Demons). To participate in the contest, kids were supposed to visit their local Weather-Bird Shoe store, where an employee would give them a free prize: an official Space Patrol Interplanetary Coin Album along with “three silver space coins”. Kids were then supposed to fill in the all-important entry blank in their coin album. If a child could not find a Weather-Bird Shoe store in their neighborhood, he or she could simply get a box of the “new” Ralston Hot Cereal (the one with pictures of Commander Buzz Corry or Cadet Happy on the front of the box). Specific instructions on how to enter this great contest were to be found on the back of these boxes. There were several prizes to be won. The Grand Prize was a real Rocket clubhouse: a life-size silver and scarlet replica of the Commander’s rocketship, the Terra IV. The humongous spacecraft was 35 feet in length and weighed 10,000 pounds. The Ralston Rocket came complete with its own full-size motorized flatbed truck to haul it around. The rolling clubhouse also came equipped with everything a child could possibly want: bunk beds, camping gear, electric lights, lockers for space gear, cooking supplies. “You can take the rolling clubhouse on trips, camp outs with your dad, sightseeing trips, or use it for you and your friends Space Patrol Headquarters.” In addition to the Space Patrol Rocket, the winner would also receive a bonus of $1,500 in cash for him or her to spend. Second prize were 750 Schwinn Varsity 3-speed bicycles, available in boy’s or girl’s model. Third prize consisted of 1,000 pieces of official Space Patrol goodies/equipment (250 Auto-Sonic Rifles, 250 Outer Space Helmets, 250 Emergency Kits, 250 Space Patrol wristwatches — just like the one worn by Commander Corry — made by a company called “U.S. Time”). All of these neat prizes were featured prominently on the “Planet X” episodes. As for the “husky” plastic Space Coins, these were free to everyone. They were readily available at Weather-Bird shoes (the gray ones) and inside the “new” boxes of Hot Ralston (they each contained a Space Patrol coin the size of a half-dollar in three glowing colors: blue, gold or black). “The coins have pictures of the Moon, Saturn and Terra embossed as a design on them.” Based on my e-mail communications with Cadet Ed (Mr. Ed Pippin), who runs the Solar Guard Web-site, “The silver were the common coins with the color coins harder to find. There were also coins in the ‘Diplomat’ pouch that were available via mail and after the show went off the air in secondary markets.” Describing the amazing contest at his Web-site, Cadet Ed writes: “Not many contests can say they are still remembered after 50 years. The NAME THE PLANET CONTEST was a contest to end all contests. Even by today's standards, it was a Whopper of a contest. It took two companies to sponser it (Weather-Bird Shoes and Ralston), television and radio shows promoted it and the grand prize weighted 10,000 pounds!!!! The Space Patrol television and radio shows were the main avenue of promotion for the contest.” The first of many “teasers” began on August 29, 1953 with the TV episode entitled “The Mystery of Planet X” (“The mysterious appearance of a new planet, estimated to be five-thousand times the size of Earth, plunges Buzz Corry and his crew into one of the most startling adventures in the history of Space Patrol. Captured by the Earth's sun, the gigantic planet moves ominously into orbit on the outer edge of the solar system.”). These “teasers” began to take on the form of a contest in the autumn of 1953. On September 12, 1953 mystery coins contained in packages of Ralston Hot Cereal are promoted on the TV episode “The Primitive Men of Planet X” and the radio episode “Escape from Planet X”. On September 19, 1953 the first announcement for the “Name the Planet” contest, where viewers/listeners could win a “Rocket Club House”, is made on the TV episode “The Hate Machine of Planet X” (“Prince Baccarratti trains another of his diabolical mechanical creations on Terra to create bitterness, resentment, and dissension among Space Patrol and the people of the United Planets.”). On September 26, 1953 the radio episode “Target Jupiter” began airing commercials for “Swell Space Coins” hidden inside boxes of Hot Ralston. “The contest would continue to be promoted on TV and radio till the 1st of December when the contest ended. The radio show ‘Revolt of the Space Rats’ broadcast on November 28, announced that there were only 3 days left to enter ‘Name the Planet’ contest. The television show ‘DOOM OF PLANET X’ November 28, closes the contest and Prince Baccarratti's operation…for a while at least!!” (“After escaping a fourth dimension trap, Buzz, Major Robertson, and Happy destroy the Time Warp Machine and conquer the villainous Black Falcon, Prince Baccarratti.”). According to another Web-site (http://cmp.bravepages.com/sp/sp_articles/sp_premiums.htm), a boy named Ricky Walker was awarded the rocketship/clubhouse for submitting the winning name for Planet X, “Caesaria”.
Jean-Noel Bassior, who authored a book entitled Space Patrol: Missions of Daring in the Name of Early Television (http://www.spacepatrolbook.com/introduction.html), provides much information about all the Space Patrol merchandise. This allows us to understand why the “Name the Planet” contest was so hugely popular. “One of be best things about Space Patrol was that you could look and act like your heroes. You could actually get the gear that the Space Patrol gang used in their adventures — the uniforms, caps and boots they wore, the weapons, gadgetry and communication devices that saved their lives. You could own these things for only 25 cents and a boxtop from a package of Wheat Chex or Rice Chex. This seemed too good to be true. It was like ‘carrying an object out of a dream,’ says Elliott Swanson, who watched as a child in San Francisco. ‘That you could buy and own the objects used by Corry and Happy created a powerful psychological link to that imaginary world. I know of no other television show that did this to that degree.’” An endless array of Space Patrol merchandise (toys, clothing, household items) was marketed during the show's existence. These “fell into four categories: boxtop premiums; in-the-box items (cards or plastic coins buried in cereal); catalogue items; and merchandise sold in retail stores.” In order to maximize their gains, the Gardner Advertising Company “insisted that entire half-hour episodes be built around these toys. The profits offset their advertising costs and forged a strong bond between kids and the show.” Department stores were deluged with Space Patrol paraphernalia. By 1952, Life magazine “estimated the show's viewership at 7 million.” They also “predicted the sale of Space Patrol merchandise that year would reach $40 million.” According to Stephen Handzo, who wrote one of the book's appendixes, “The Space Patrol experience involved more than passive enjoyment of the program.” Incidentally, images of the plastic “Interplanetary Space Patrol Credits” are displayed throughout this site.
I used to think it was rather odd that a couple of coins had actually been issued on behalf of Luna, but considering how many people have truly believed they were the exclusive owners of that desolate orb, what’s more surprising is that there haven’t been MORE Moon-related coins through the years! By this, I basically mean that there have been a slew of colorful people who’ve “owned” the moon over the years (and if those people were convinced that they were the “owners”, they could just as easily believed that their celestial possession was in need of its own currency and/or coinage). In his marvelously researched 204-page book, Unreal Estate: The Men who Sold the Moon, Virgiliu Pop writes: “For eons, the Moon has been the symbol of supreme desire. Asking for the Moon meant asking for the impossible. Owning the Moon and the stars meant both the ultimate want and the ultimate folly. And, proven that a fool and his money are easily parted, there ought to arise people eager to exploit this weakness.” A 1929 newspaper article (Reno Evening Gazette) even mentions that in the last decade of the 19th century, numerous confidence men in New York City were known for selling “lots on Luna…and scores of other commodities that would appeal to the credulous public.” To Pop, “The fact that lots on the Moon were offered as far back as the 1890s — and maybe even earlier — is not surprising…The desire to own the Moon, even a tiny slice, is hardwired into the human mind. There is no child who has not raised, at least once, a hand towards the Moon and stars, trying to grab them.” His outstanding book goes on to show us that there were dozens (and potentially hundreds or even thousands) of moon-eyed individuals “who, with differing degrees of conviction, thought they were the first ones to embed the flag of their desire on the alien orbs.” The first lunar proprietor mentioned by Pop is Aul Jürgens, to whom the Moon was bestowed in 1756 as a gift by King Frederick the Great of Prussia. Pop’s book then details a cavalcade of noteworthy men and women who have independently claimed ownership of the ever-present Moon (of course, a handful of these loony individuals were merely contributing their own personal twist to an endeavor that would be difficult to characterize as anything besides a light-hearted antic, publicity gag, or practical joke). Some of the major ones involved in “this annoying business” are: a man named A. Dean Lindsay (Ocilla, GA), who made his claim official in 1937; the “Elves’, Gnomes’, and Little Men’s Science Fiction, Chowder, and Marching Society” (a Berkley science fiction fan club), which filed a legal claim for a triangular area on the Moon (containing the craters Ritter, Manners, and Sabine in Mare Tranquillitatis); Jenaro Gajardo Vera (Talca, Chile), who became a lunar owner in 1953; the “The Lunar Fantasy Corp.” (Miami Beach, FL), which began selling 100-acre “ranches” on the Moon for $1 in 1954; Robert R. Coles (Glen Cove, NY), who in 1955 formed the Interplanetary Development Corporation and began selling, for $1, a “General Quitclaim Deeds” to one acre of land on crater Copernicus; Roman Starzl, (Le Mars, IA), who decided to “privatize the Moon” and began offering160-acre tax-free lunar farms/homesteads in 1957; William E. Dudman Jr. (Maricopa County, AZ), who became a lunar claimant in 1958 (he later sold lunar deeds for $1 an acre); the Celestial Gardens Development Company (Cape Canaveral, FL), which began selling, perhaps as early as 1965, $100 deeds for one-acre lots in Celestial Gardens, “a subdivision of lands” located in the Sea of Tranquility; the Ohioan city of Geneva, which signed a “Declaration of Lunar Ownership” in 1966 (“the document allowed the sale of 100 deeds ‘for the sum of $100 describing 100 acres from Mare Umbriam’”); Alfred W. Rohde (San Antonio, TX), who filed a land claim and deed declaration in 1969 for a lunar subdivision known as “Moon Landing, USA” (he envisaged it as a “State and Model City for mankind on the Moon”; the development, though not entirely in earnest, would contain 10,000 half-acre lots — homes/apartments complete with streets and utilities — to be sold to eager “Moonsteaders” for $5 apiece; Rohde even held a contest for the public to design the official “State Flag”, and he “offered a grand prize of $100 and several runner-up prizes comprising lunar acreage, lunar passports valid until 2001 and commemorative coins”; Rohde received 1,200 submissions); José Cassiano de Jesus (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), who sold land on the Moon in 1969; Barry McArdle (a Chico State University graduate), who established the Lunar Development Corporation in 1971 and began — all in the name of fun — traveling the country as “The Moon Man” in order to sell (for one dollar) ownership certificates to one acre in the Hartland Crater (in reality, there was no location on the moon called “Hartland Crater”; Hartland was simply McArdle’s middle name); Arnold O. Morales (Tucson, AZ), who in 1974 began selling deeds to 1,000-acre parcels on the Moon for $4.98; Michael Mason, CEO of Green Cheese Enterprises, who in 1975 began selling — again, just for jocular purposes — “replica deeds” to 10-acre plots for $5 (“We used the word ‘replica’ to emphasize that it is not a real deed”); Dennis M. Hope, CEO/President of the Galactic Government and “Head Cheese” of The Lunar Embassy (Contra Costa County, CA), who filed a “Declaration of Ownership” pertaining to the Moon in 1980 (he thereupon formed the Lunar Embassy and began selling properties on any/all existing extraterrestrial bodies; he launched his first Internet venture, the MoonShop, in 1996; he has been selling extraterrestrial real estate at his Web-site, http://www.lunarembassy.com/, since 1998; even Rob Vanoudenhoven, the founder of Robland [see my separate listing for this coin-issuing entity], purchased a piece of the moon in 2006 for the citizens of his micro-nation); John Vurich (Los Gatos, CA), who in 1985 “staked a claim to 22,500 square miles of lunar territory” and planned to build a residential community called “Lunar Estates” (for a fee of $19.95, people could purchase notarized deeds to 10-acre lots by the Sea of Tranquility); Rich and Hope Walter (Lapeer, MI), who in 1988 began selling 5-acre lots for $24.95 through their “Lunar Land Co.”; the Universal Lunarian Society (Beverly, MA), which in 1989 began “recording claim deeds on the lunar surface, with the aim of building the city of Lunaria on the Moon” (in 1997, they commenced selling sites in crater Copernicus for $50 an acre); David Ferrell Jackson (New York City, NY) and his Lunar Republic Society (http://www.lunarrepublic.com/), who proclaimed/created an independent and sovereign Republic of Luna in 1999; Donald M. Pifalo, who filed legal documents with the Hillsborough County Courthouse in 1991 in order to give ownership of the Moon to his fiancée; Jorge Fernandes da Cunha (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), who officially registered his ownership of the Earth’s rocky satellite at a notary office in 1996 in order to give the Moon as a gift to his beloved daughter; the Western Federation Church and Tribe (http://www.education-1.net/tribe.htm) and its leader (His Eminence Sir Dr. Chief Alexander Swift Eagle Justice [D.D., Ph.D., J.D. - Theologian, Academician]), who claimed the Moon and Mars in 1998 and designated them as “Independent Political Entities”; and another Internet-based outfit (its now defunct Web-site is http://www.MoonCertificate.com), which offered the public an opportunity to buy lunar land deeds beginning in 2004. The preceding list is extremely abbreviated and it simply does not do justice to the stupendous stories Pop has carefully and meticulously compiled. The only way to truly enjoy them is to have the actual book in your hands.
Incidentally, Pop also mentions Richard Allen Garriott (for more information about him, please refer to my separate listing for Sosaria/Kingdom of Britannia). In 1993, this “computer-game tycoon, space buff and investor, voyager, and son of astronaut Owen Garriott” purchased a Soviet Lunakhod from Sotheby’s (this lunar rover had been launched in November of 1970 and was still in Mare Imbrium on the Moon). His ownership over the Lunakhod is legally sound, pursuant to Article VIII of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies), “In an interview published on April 13th, 2001, ‘Lord British’ — as Richard Garriott is known — declared being ‘world’s only private owner of an object on another celestial body’. As a consequence of him owning the Lunakhod, ‘ [t]hough there are international treaties that say no government shall lay claim to geography off planet earth’ — Garriott professed — ‘I am not a government. Summarily, I claim the Moon in the name of Lord British!’” A few months later, Garriott admitted that “My claim on the Moon is only meant as an interesting intellectual exercise”. Also, in one of his chapters, Pop writes extensively about James Thomas Mangan and Celestia (please refer to my separate listing for this coin-issuing entity); Mangan, after all, made the Moon — along with Mars, its two moons (Phobos, Deimos) and Venus — “Protectorates” of Celestia on July 25th, 1958. Once again, I must reiterate that Pop has done a magnificent job of researching all of this lunar mania and collecting the astounding stories under one cover. I cannot offer enough superlatives to describe just how cool his book is. Even if you just have a passing interest in this topic, you simply MUST read it. Pop’s opus, by the way, does not focus solely on the Moon. The author devotes many pages to characters who’ve set their eyes/hearts on owning other celestial bodies, such as Mars, Venus, Mercury, Uranus, and even Near Earth Asteroids (4660 Nereus and 433 Eros).Return to the Main Index