Bill Dalzell
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ardatirion.bsky.social
Bill Dalzell
@ardatirion.bsky.social
This is the coolest one I've seen in a while!
Today would have been Frank Herbert's birthday, so I am celebrating with this merchant shinplaster from the Panic of 1837 era (actually the 1839 downturn). It features an amazing and unique vignette of a goliath worm, aka tobacco hornworm. W. Morris, Eatonton, GA, $1, Dec 17, 1839. 🗃️
October 8, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Last night, I was watching episode 2.12 of The Twilight Zone. The father of a condemned man buys a bag of fake magic dust for 100 Pesos in gold. When they jingle the coins the sound is very clear that they are holding five 20 Peso gold coins, or at least double eagles!

www.imdb.com/title/tt0734...
"The Twilight Zone" Dust (TV Episode 1961) ⭐ 6.9 | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
25m | TV-PG
www.imdb.com
September 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Bill Dalzell
“Nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and dead armadillos” is a genius turn of phrase.
If you had told me in 2012 that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign manager would be posting like this 13 years later i would not have believed you
August 31, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Being absolute shit is the only thing AI is good at, but in that it does truly excel.
some frankly amazing AI slop that someone decided to try and post on the r/dataisbeautiful subreddit
July 9, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Bill Dalzell
It is Charles F. Brannock's birthday, famous for inventing the foot measuring device named after him (and highlighted on a recent John Oliver episode). So, here is an amazing 1870s ad note for Abel H. Gunn's Silver Tipped Boots & Shoes with a Rebus puzzle on the back (solution in next post).🗃️
May 16, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Bill Dalzell
For May Day here is protest money issued by the IWW during the Nevada Goldfield Miners Strike. Workers struck after owners replaced cash wages with scrip due to the Panic of 1907. The notes reference the Exploitation Mercantile Company, In Gold we Trust, and President Teddy Roosevelt (Teddy Bear). 🗃️
May 1, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Equally comforting and depressing that we're dealing with the same shit 225 years later.
April 24, 2025 at 2:04 PM
History in a nutshell
It's so many different things interlocking and interacting all at once. Deny any of it at your peril
April 22, 2025 at 9:25 PM
How could anyone be so mean to the voice of Paddington?
February 28, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Bill Dalzell
by 30 you should have had a sandwich so good that it occasionally pops into your head like a love long lost
February 19, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Tired: guillotines
Wired: molten gold
They all want to follow the precedent of Ancient Rome until it’s time for the billionaire to die in a military expedition against mounted troops.
February 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
"Art is when there's butts"
February 5, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Bill Dalzell
It’s Black History Month, so it’s a good time to remember that the press used to strike the first coins issued by the United States was operated by an enslaved man. His name was Aaron, and the man who enslaved him was paid four shillings per day for his labor.
February 2, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Beard hair on a 1929 coin photo. I know that feeling...

#coins #numismatics
January 31, 2025 at 3:36 AM
New favorite artifact 😍
An ammonite fossil, probably carved into a face during the Late Iron Age / Romano British period, with hair ingeniously styled from the shell

A #FindsFriday / #FossilFriday crossover 🤩

📷 Feb 2022

Found at Great Bedwyn and a favourite find in the always excellent @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social
January 25, 2025 at 3:13 PM
😲
long story short i reflected on how many hospital workers cope w/ intense situations in ways that kinda mirror the severance procedure. Full distancing & compartmentalization; a strategy that doesn't even work in the show where they have a physiological barrier between work and home
January 21, 2025 at 7:08 PM
After several years of research, writing, and generally sacrificing both my eyesight and sanity, my next paper on Liberian coins has finally been published! The paper covers the 1847 and 1862 coinage, as well as related patterns. Find it in the 2024 issue of the American Journal of Numismatics!
January 17, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Banknote design is my passion
On this day in 1777, delegates from 28 towns met and declared independence for the new State of Vermont. Here we see an odd denomination note from Westminster which served as an early state capital. Vermont State Bank Office of Discount & Deposit, Westminster, VT, $1.25, 18--. 🗃️
January 15, 2025 at 10:02 PM
What an excellent and organized way to approach archival research. I'd love to see someone like @profyarrow.bsky.social or @ancient-tokens.bsky.social write the same for approaching numismatic collections!
planning archive dash to a city (and country!) ive never done research in before.
had it all planned out but i *know* (see williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2024/02/19/d...) the number one rule

ALWAYS triple check.

emailed archives: they would indeed be closed that day 🗃️😅
Doing Archival Research
A student asked me for some advice on how to do in-person research in some of the archives I’ve visited before, and I realised that much of my answer could be applied to any archives. I was g…
williamgpooley.wordpress.com
January 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
100%. I want nothing to do with it.
As soon as I see you post AI slop it’s a hard block. Don’t even care if you’re family.
Weird increase in decent people posting AI art. Even if it’s anti Musk/Trump it’s still visually ugly and morally fucked slop. I’m started muting and blocking people who do it habitually.
December 25, 2024 at 7:59 PM
Fascinating example of die repair at the Port au Prince mint. Traces of the die break persist in the reworked die at the top of the 1.
December 13, 2024 at 6:05 PM
It is high time for @mikeduncan.bsky.social to consider that he may in fact be a practicing psychohistorian.
I'M TRYING TO WRITE A FICTIONAL SF SERIES OVER HERE STOP STEALING MY PLOT POINTS
lol they're going to crash the economy
December 6, 2024 at 9:35 AM
I just acquired this lovely Haitian centime from the first year of issue for that denomination. I had only three recorded in my study, with two of them in museum collections. Both this and the 2 centime denomination for this year are rare today, yet exhibit some major die breaks.
November 26, 2024 at 4:02 PM
Hey, I'm Bill and... you know I can do better than this :(
Introduce yourself with your worst feedback from school 👇

I’m Charlie and... "spare me"
Introduce yourself with your worst feedback from school 👇

I’m Rex and I’m disrupting the class, because some people actually want to learn.
November 22, 2024 at 2:44 PM