Science  People  Locations  Timeline
Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Home > JSG Boggs


J.S.G. Boggs is an American artist best known for his hand-drawn, one-sided copies of US banknotes. He does not attempt to spend these "Boggs-Bills" as legal tender. However, because of his fame and the quality of his work, he is often able to exchange the bills for goods far exceeding the face value of the bills. He views these "transactions" as a type of performance art, but the authorities often view them with suspicion. Boggs aims to have his audience question and investigate just what it is that makes "money" valuable in the first place. He steadfastly denies that he is a counterfeiter or forger, maintaining that a good-faith transaction between informed parties is certainly not fraud, even if the item transacted happens to resemble negotiable currency.

Boggs was first arrested for counterfeiting in England in 1986, but was acquitted. He was arrested for a second time in Australia in 1989, but also acquitted. Since 1990 some of his work and even his personal effects have been confiscated by the United States Secret Service Counterfeiting Division, although no legal case has been brought against him.

Recently, Boggs has moved on beyond his hand-drawn works, and embraced digital technology, creating his latest works on the computer. These works resemble paper money in fundamental ways, but add subtle twists. One of his better-known works is a series of bills done for the Florida United Numismatists ' annual convention. Denominations from $1 to $50 (and perhaps higher) feature designs taken from the reverse sides of contemporary U.S. currency, modified slightly through the changing of captions (notably, "The United States of America" is changed to "Florida United Numismatists" and the denomination wording is occasionally replaced by the acronym "FUN") and visual details (the mirroring of Monticello on the $2, the Supreme Court building, as opposed to the U.S. Treasury, on the $10, and an alternate angle for the White HouseThis page is about the official residence of the President of the USA. For other White Houses see White House (disambiguation). See also 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (musical . The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President on the $20). They were printed in bright orange on one side, and featured Boggs's autograph and thumbprint on the other. The total run was several hundred, and they command a modest premium, but not as much as his older, hand-drawn works.

Other money art that he has designed include the mural "All the World's a Stage", roughly based on a British 20-pound note and featuring Shakespearean themes, as well as banknote-sized creations that depict Boggs's ideas as to what U.S. currency should look like. A $100 featuring Harriet TubmanHarriet Tubman ( 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York), also known as Black Moses was an African-American freedom fighter. An escaped slave, she worked as a guerrilla, farmhand, lumberjack, laundress and cook, refugee org is one known example.

A good, though slightly outdated, reference on Boggs is Lawrence Weschler's book "Boggs: a Comedy of Values".

Other money artists include William HarnettWilliam Michael Harnett ( 1848- 1892) was an Irish- American painter who helped pioneer a trompe l'oeil (literally, "fool the eye") style of realistic painting. He painted still lifes of common household objects arranged in such a way that the painting wa, John F. PetoJohn Frederick Peto ( May 21, 1854 November 23, 1907) was a United States trompe l'oeil ("fool the eye") painter that was long forgotten until his paintings were rediscovered along with fellow trompe l'oeil artist William Harnett. The artists knew each ot, and John HaberleJohn Haberle dates was a 19th century United States trompe l'oeil artist whose specialty was paper money. He was warned by the Secret Service to cease and desist, but continued anyway. Other artists who painted currency, among other things, during this pe, who made trompe l'oeil paintings of U.S. currency in the 1880s and Otis KayeOtis Kaye dates was an American artist during the early 20th century. He was known for trompe l'oeil paintings of U. currency, similar to the work of William Harnett before him. He incorporated the currency with other elements and gave the resulting colla, who made both paintings similar to Harnett, and also actual-size pen-and-ink drawings similar to Boggs, from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Also related is Emanuel NingerEmanuel Ninger, known as "Jim the Penman", was a counterfeiter in the late 1880s. He drew, by hand, $50 and $100 Legal Tender Notes. He worked for weeks at a time on each note, and this was profitable because at the time one of those notes was extremely v (Jim the Penman), who drew counterfeit notes, with the intent to defraud, by hand in the 1880s.



Read more »

Non User