Pieces of Eight

I bought Gordon White's  new e-book about a week ago and started reading it and what I've read so far has been really good ... but I won't praise it until I've finished it ... and I hate to read e-books, so if I do finish it that will be magic:-)

The 'pieces of eight' in the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra

Now, why did someone like me who knows sweet FA about chaos magic (I know enough about it to spell it all-in lower-case letters;-) buy an e-book like this?

Well, when I was in Canberra I ran across some 'pieces of eight' on the wall of the Royal Australian Mint -
Making a Mint in Canberra
and then a few days later I ran across the 'pieces of eight' from the British Museum on loan to the National Museum in Canberra for their 100 objects exhibition.
"After the colony of New South Wales was founded in Australia in 1788, it ran into the problem of a lack of coinage, particularly since trading vessels took coins out of the colony in exchange for their cargo. 
In 1813, Governor Lachlan Macquarie made creative use of £10,000 in Spanish dollars sent by the British government. To make it difficult to take the coins out of the colony, and to double their number, the centres of the coins were punched out. 
The punched centre, known as the "dump", was valued at 15 pence, and the outer rim, known as the "holey dollar", was worth five shillings. 
This was indicated by over-stamping the two new coins.
The obverse of the holey dollar was stamped the words 

"New South Wales" and the date, 1813, and the reverse with the words "fifteen shillings".
The obverse of the dump was stamped with a crown, the words "New South Wales" and the date, 1813, and the reverse with the words "fifteen pence".
The mutilated coins became the first official currency produced specifically for circulation in Australia.
The expedient was relatively short lived. The British Parliament passed the Sterling Silver Money Act in 1825, which made British coins the only recognised form of currency and ended any legitimate use of the holey dollar and dump in the Australian colonies."

The 'pieces of eight' in the
National Museum in Canberra

I tend to follow the signs, because so far that always works out best for me. 
So, I bought Gordon's e-book and started reading it on my iPad.
It's good, but I recommend not starting it at 2 o'clock in the morning when you desperately need sleep. 

A History of the World in 100 Objects

Anyway, I liked what I've read so far, but I've been stung before while praising a book I had only half read, to see it turn sharply downhill in the second half of the book and making my review look "paid for" by the author.
I'm sure ... hoping, that Gordon's book is much better than that book I reviewed too early turned out to be.  

But in the end it's your money, if you buy Gordon's e-book before I've fully reviewed it.
What is Magic? - a short film by Caiseal Mor
To me everything is magic in one form or another anyway.

I found this recent talk of Gordon's above on You Tube that was uploaded on the day my father passed away (Sept 13th, 2016), so it seemed even a little more relevant to me personally as I was listening to it.  
Interesting talk.