Ornoth

Well, that was curious...

Inna and I have a saying: “Nothing good can happen if you don’t leave the house.” Usually it’s a simple reminder to help motivate us to fight the inertia of rest and get outside. However, once in a while it also comes up when we go out and something unexpected, good, or interesting happens.

Today we went out for a walk to enjoy Pittsburgh’s rather generous definition of "fresh air and sunshine". It was the first time either of us have been outdoors (for more than a couple minutes) since we went into self-imposed Corona virus lockdown nine days ago.

Our route included a cul de sac in some nearby parkland that’s commonly used as a meeting place for anonymous gay hook-ups. Since the road is cambered to both sides for drainage, Inna suggested we walk right down the middle, where the road is flattest.

Walking along, something on the ground caught my eye: a brass-looking coin. The US doesn’t have brass coins in circulation, so I thought it might be foreign, maybe a Canadian Loonie or something more exotic. I put on a glove, bent over, picked it up, and Inna and I examined it...

Looking first at the text, it read “HEADS I WIN”. That meant the back probably said… Yup: “TAILS YOU LOSE”. As soon as that was confirmed, we saw that the design on the reverse was a pair of buttocks. And after some squinting at the worn design, the obverse was confirmed to show a woman’s face and bared bust. It is exactly the same as the image on this page (as usual, you can click to see the full-sized image, if you’re interested in a detailed view).

A tacky and puerile novelty, but curious and noteworthy nonetheless. I pocketed it and brought it home.

Where I turned to the interwebs for advice. Apparently, such “flipping coins” were in common use by troops during the two World Wars, and have also been used over the years as tokens in coin-operated peepshow viewers. The smutty ones are all pretty similar, and are commonly referred to as “Busty Bettys”. Authentic antique examples are considered collectables, but apparently there are plenty of newer copies around, such as the one I found.

So there you go: there’s no telling what kind of stuff you’ll find if you just step outside your door and look!