The year is 1986, the scene is London. J.S.G Boggs is exhibiting his controversial art work at the Young Unknowns Gallery. As the crowds amuse themselves with Boggs’ work, the pounding of boots invades the scene. The police have stormed the exhibit with a warrant for Boggs’ immediate arrest. But what crime has the artist committed? Perhaps he has plagiarised somebody else’s work, or maybe his art is made up of severed limbs of children, or something equally horrific. Nope. Boggs was being arrested for counterfeiting currency.
For those who have heard of Boggs, and the lucky few who happen to possess some of his art, you will know that Boggs literally drew his own mock-banknotes on paper, and spent them (although for legal reasons, he officially sold them in exchange for goods and services equal to the value of the banknote that his art was supposed to represent).
Now Boggs never intended to deceive people, they knew his notes were not the genuine article. That is to say, they were not designed to look like they had been produced by any kind of “monetary authority”. So why did Boggs’ notes warrant an arrest for counterfeiting? And furthermore, why did this arrest just happen to take place in public, in front of hundreds of people?...
Read more at:
http://www.coinchilli.com/144/J.C Axe
