WHERE'S NONEY?   Noney travels the world. Read the following stories by people who've already used Noney notes.

WL wrote 12/12/08...   Dear Obadiah, I met you several years ago at the Knitting Factory in NY. My band was playing there and you gave me a beautiful "Noney" No. 482/1000 with Frances on the front. I have loved and treasured this little note ever since and would like another to give to someone in my life who I really love.

RS wrote 09/07/06...   I traded a piece of it for two copies of a zine by a woman in Montreal about fictitious sexual encounters with each of the leaders of Canada's four major political parties.

SM wrote 04/13/06...   I first heard of Noney while listening to National Public Radio, just about one year ago. I'm in banking, so this new form of currency really grabbed my interest. I found I had to get my hands on Noney! After an exchange of refreshing e-mails, Obadiah agreed to exchange Noney for one Whitman Sampler, 50-State Quarter Holder. In addition, for more Noney, I ordered a full-sheet of uncut Noney to frame and hang in my office, Noney is a wonderful private currency, or complementary currency, that's good for communities and society (read more about complementary currencies in "The Future of Money", by Bernard Lietaer). Long live the People's Currency -- Art and Commerce collide! Thank you, Obadiah! What's your banker offering as an incentive? I've got Noney. Want to open an account?

CJ wrote 11/05/05...   I was looking through some used books in Angel Street Curiousities when I received Obadiah Eelcut's 375/1000 Mockingbird Potato edition of noney slipped into the back of "A Brief Sketch of Kanko's Life". I was rummaging through some old sewing machine manuals, maps, and cut out dolls books, looking for collage material. I bought the book for it's unusual typography - set on a letterpress in Japan with some upsidedown letters, typos, uneven leading, and occasionally mixed up typefaces. I hadn't found the noney until I arrived home, and it fell out as I was flipping through the pages. What an unexpected joy... I was going to cut it up and put it in my collage but I'm saving it for something else. Its life shouldn't end here

DB wrote 08/07/05...   Just recieved my first piece of Noney from my brother Mike by burning him a James Taylor CD. It has Cynthia on it and is 43/1000.

TE wrote 05/30/05...   I took Noney with me to my niece's wedding in North Central PA. At the reception, everyone had a chance to dance with the bride or groom for a dollar each. I gave the bridesmaids, who were collecting the money, 2 Noney bills (didn't record which ones) and even though they giggled, they allowed me a dance with each of the newlyweds. I also gave some Noney to my cousin who was headed for Brazil the following day, and a nephew going back to Florida. Hopefully they will spend their Noney freely and let Noney speak for itself!

GW wrote 05/25/05...   i just used some Noney in London as payment for a crashpad.

JM wrote 05/10/05...   I gave Noney to The National Gallery in London. They have a box where you donate money to the museum (the museum does not charge admission) and I left a few pounds and one of the noney notes.

JP wrote 05/02/05...   I had never heard of noney until yesterday, when I found Tha Streets #680 at a coffeeshop in Greensboro NC... I was a customer who literally found the note lying somewhere. The shop has a huge old defunct coffee cistern with a tree planted in it, and the note was lying conspicuously in the soil as if waiting to be found. As a fan of odd, foreign or otherwise "useless" currencies, I noticed what countless others had walked past: a bill that wasn't printed in drab paramilitary greens.

KT wrote 03/19/05...   i spent my noney on a design for a frisbee that has yet to be made.

IK (from Russia) wrote 11/04/04...   I've spent few noney on teachers day - to my favourite teacher. She was very glad, because it was the most unusual gift she ever had (and it was right from the heart by the way).

EB (from Belgium) wrote 10/21/04...   I've recieved Noney!! They are super great and the answer to "god" of US - dollars! very, very cool!... oh, i'm so happy! and i've started to present them to all my friends :) so you are now well known as a surrialistic artist of valueness and meaninfullnes :) Thank you for your great invention... It is like a ray of light in the world full of intrigs and hopeless. (sorry for my English) Europ is very nihilistic so this negotiable money-noney are very meaningful here and, of course, for all world.

LD wrote 10/20/04...   Noney has provided for me an unending lesson in currency exchange, ironically by NOT being spent, by it's mere presence as a debtor's artifact in my tiny hopeless-job-hunting hovel (and rather significantly, as I have found out courtesy of my twin's obsession, in the wealth and prosperity sector of my apartment's Feng Shui "bagua").

RM wrote 10/06/04...   i just think noney is so beautiful in its design and in it's message... in a world filled with mindless conformity, it is such a subtle touch requiring a moment of unscripted thought...

HDW wrote 09/30/04...   I just got a piece of Noney... last night at mahars (beeradvocate.com's best place to have a pint in the US) i'm from Albany, New York... it's Stephen 126/1000... I traded a beer for it (paulner on tap) to a gentlemen i met for the first time after talking politics and about how despite the fact that we have more opportunities to be connected through the web and internet and media yet we seem sometime even more shut off... we also spoke of how art should be free v. artists need to eat! it was about then the gentlemen asked if i'd like to trade a beer for some noney... i had actually heard about noney a few times i was so excited... i am a poet, musician, artist... i really think the bills are very beautiful

CM wrote 09/01/04...   I recently was given a $0 Noney Bill (Cynthia #160 of 1000) from a lady in California. It's beautiful! Right now, Cynthia is sitting on a pile of stuff which I'm sending to my sister and her husband, who are in the Peace Corps in Panama.

JP wrote 06/21/04...   I received your notes. They are well crafted and nicely detailed. I am awaiting an opportunity to trade them for other stuff. The idea of a noney is wide open. Noney is just as valid a currency as a US dollar if you believe it to be. All it takes is for two folks to agree on the worth. It's lots of fun to think about the idea of alternate currency.

AN (from Russia) wrote 06/15/04...   some days ago I've visit a concert and had no enough money to buy a ticket (I had only a half of sum) and I gave a Noney to a ticket -seller :) and he gave me my ticket!

BC wrote 05/31/04...   I just received a Francis noney today. I am trying to save money to buy a motorcycle and I look forward to seeing how much of the bike I can acquire with this noney!... I got the note from Pat Corrigan (Portland) who found it while moving out of his apartment and into Fort Awesome. It was payment for a pasta dinner.

JH wrote 05/09/04...   All the noney went to my 6 year old...she spends it with her dolls!!

AN (from Russia) wrote 04/06/04...   1 - the lion's share of my Noney gets my sweethard 2 - 1 Noney (494 Ursula) I gave girl - shop assistant in bookstore - she helped me to find books, consulted me about authors and publishers. It was "thanks, which can be handled in pocket" 3 - my friend Anrew present his Noney to his diseased friend 4 - I bought real wild boar's tusk (it is a HUGE! about 20 sm along) for 1 Noney 5 - 1 Noney I gave my favorite teacher in university

BA wrote 02/13/04...   I used the currency to teach numbers and conversation in Desemboque, Mexico (a hundred screaming grade-schoolers can't be wrong!)

MZ wrote 10/30/03...   Dear Obadiah, When I lived in Providence one of my jobs was as a figure model for a drawing group. The job paid $10/hour for a three hour session. The man who heads the group wanted to pay me in noney. I had been at AS220 the night this noney was being given out (sometime in May) and didn't realize what it was or anything, but I saw it, thought it was so beautiful, and was very happy to have the chance to be given noney in exchange for modelling. On the other hand, I also knew I had to go to the grocery that night and so I took one piece of noney (Tucci with the parrot and the Asian watercress) and twenty dollars. I haven't been able to trade it. I just love it too much. And it is worth more to me than a dollar amount, it is just such fine drawing. I wish noney was circulating up here in British Columbia, but I haven't seen any. I will keep my eyes out though and if the chance were to arise, I would gladly trade for it. It is truly deluxe. Thank you and keep up the good work.

JS wrote 10/20/03...   I have been somewhat tight fisted with my noney since recieving it. I know, it's not the point. I passed some out at an editorial meeting and everyone marveled at the non-tearing, faces, birds, and vegetables. I also sent some to a friend in exchange for a painting of hers. I will get it out more. If you love something set it free! Right?

GW wrote 08/27/03...   I have a pen pal in Visalia, CA. I traded a noney bill for a self portrait (she does amazing crayola portraits of girls who don't exist). She used the silver crayola for her underwear. It was an even exchange, I'd say.

RK wrote 08/22/03...   Dear Obadiah, I have not used my Noney as much as perhaps I would have liked, having recently moved to Connecticut for a job and not frequenting coffeehouses or any retail establishments as I did while in Providence. I was recently without a gift for a birthday party for a new friend. With just a few hours to put together a gift, I made a card from a grocery sack (the only paper at my disposal) and enclosed two Noney bills as my gift. The birthday girl, turning 40-something, was thrilled by the bills, beautiful enough to be a gift alone, but more valuable than the meager money I could have afforded to enclose. Noney is the perfect gift, reminiscent childhood birthdays when we all received money in a birthday card, but much more special. Thanks, Obadiah!

DD wrote 08/04/03...   On June 21st, I traded two stacks of Noney (#'s 328 & 329) via mail for a beautiful hand-set letterpress small bookwork from a fine press in Florida. "Putting Up Mangoes" by John Cutrone. One print project for another. Our summer solstice here in Providence was as gray as the news, but the mood that this press creates in their work makes me contented and happy with the world. I received the book in the mail and read it aloud to my boyfriend in thanks for supplying me with spending Noney.

YE wrote 07/08/03...   it was a rather humid evening, my band member Sarah Olsen and i were heading to the Civic Center to see Black Forest/Black Sea. at a band practice one day we were cruising the internet to find some bands that would be fun to play with and stumbled accross them. they sounded really intersting so we set out to see them. their set was great, the live looping samples of Miraim's cello as she added more harmonies to it was spectacular. the two of us were blown away. after show we gave them a demo CD of our band, Next Haven, to possibly play with sometime in the future. inturn, the Jeffery, the guitarist gave us a slip of Noney, Ryan 350/1000 i think it was. a very pleasureable night out.

Beata wrote 07/07/03...   Noney's arrival in London: I was waiting at the Greenwich station for a train back to Central London and just when I found out that all the trains were cancelled this guy came up to me and asked how he could get back to the town centre. He was in London just for one day on his journey back from Ireland to Boston. We chatted together for a while and I explained how to best spend his afternoon. It was so good to talk to him. By the time I realised I really wouldn't mind having a nice coffee with him in Covent Garden he was gone. He left me this note. It's Frances, #327/1000. Oh well, if he's ever looking for people to cycle across Europe with here is me: beata345@aol.com... Meanwhile I am noney rich and looking for ways to spend it!

JK wrote 07/01/03...   It is a gorgeous day, an amazing day. I'm walking down Empire street carrying my drawing board and a big plastic box of colored pencils, crayons, china markers and sharpies. I'm headed to AS 220 where I have an appointment to meet Obadiah and draw his portrait. I am paying him to pose in noney, a currency of his creation, and if he likes the portrait I have agreed to sell it to him for noney. (For the record, I love noney. It is beautiful. I have a tendency to hoard it rather than finding ways to put it in circulation as is intended.)... July 1, 2003 is in fact the first day of my retirement. For the past twenty eight years I have made my living as a school psychologist and special education administrator for the Coventry Public Schools. For all of that time (actually since third grade) I have also considered myself to be an artist, but in terms of making money and time spent, my career in public education has been foreground and my art work has been background. For the next hour and a half, on this first day of my retirement, I sit in the window of AS 220 and draw Obadiah. We talk about our specific projects, Alice Neal, ghosts, book binding, the interface between art and finance, skulls, the day of the dead, music, and writing... Slowly the portrait emerges from colored lines and shading I'm laying down on a bright red piece of paper. It is not bad, a good likeness and a decent drawing. Sometimes I get one and not the other, sometimes neither, but this one has at least bit of both. As the drawing emerges, so does another image. The image of my life in retirement comes a little more into focus. I feel a foreground/ background shift. The making of the art moves forward, taking up more of the frame, while the thinking about kids in schools recedes. This is the perfect way to be spending the first day of my retirement. It gets to that point in the drawing where I'm not sure it is done, but I know if I keep working on it there is an increasing chance that I'll mess it up. I stop. I peel off Bexca, Tha Streets, Jennifer, Frances, and Cynthia to pay Obadiah for modeling. He asks me how much I want for the portrait and I ask for 10 noney! A whole pack! He doesn't flinch. Just hands it over. Damn. Maybe I could have asked for two whole packs. This pricing of art is worse than playing no limit Texas hold 'em in Vegas. Now that I'm retired, my Tuesdays are free. I'd love to make Tuesday noney portrait day. It turns out that the window of AS 220 is a great place to draw. Any takers? Call me at (401)783-0610 or e-mail me at jkotula@aol.com.

MD wrote 06/16/03...   Thursday night, May 15th. Sitting alone in a neighborhood bar after receiving my stack of Noney earlier in the night at AS220. This stack of Noney in my pocket. And I forgot the stack of Noney in my pocket for a moment, looking around the bar, sipping my beer slowly. And I saw, curiously, a statuesque plastic penguin holding court over the beer-drinkers and drink-sippers. And then, a sidelong glance brought my eyes to rest on a great plaque proclaiming the 25th anniversary of the Jamestown Penguin Club. "Jump into Jamestown Bay on New Years' Day!" It was then I remembered the Noney in my pocket and the mustard colored bill with the penguin blazened on the front... Ryan/Penguin/Cucumber. So I thought with a flash of realization, that there was a principle I would observe in employing my Noney. That principle would be consistent with what I find to be a great guiding force in my life, namely, synchronicity - serendipity, whatever you want to call it... meaningful coincidence. So, I pulled out the bill and placed it alongside another bill as tip for the bartender. Flash-forward several minutes... the friendly barkeep picks up the curious bill and wrinkles her brow... as she read the bill, began to comprehend - aesthetic value - I related the moment of synchronicity that prompted the "payment". In "exchange" she offered up the story of the bar owner, who happens to have a special fascination with penguins and is a member of above-mentioned Jamestown Penguin Club. Noney for stories. "I got no dime but, I got some time, to hear a story..." She (barkeep) walked over to the register and placed the bill over the keypad, prominently. Interesting... juxtapose money/Noney. Synchronicity guidepost again points the way...

WD wrote 06/11/03...   On the first night that Noney was introduced, I managed to spend two of them before midnight. Improv Jones, after conferring among themselves, agreed to accept one Noney for a portion of their usual cover. After their show, I went to Cuban Revolution, who also conferred briefly before deciding that it would look great on their wall, and traded a ginger beer for it. If I get the chance, I want to see if I can use Noney one a one-on-one basis with Willimantic's local currency, the Hour. Unlike Noney, the Hour has a quantifiable value, so more Hours are worth more, but I'd like to see if they'll at least trade for just one Hour.

LK wrote 06/09/03...   Help, I am down to my last Noney bill. I am in Italy; I am having better luck passing the Noney, than I am with trying to pass travelers checks. I do not suppose that you have yet set up a system where you can make a wire transfer for this stuff I hired a beautiful translater to help me get through a couple of tough days. In the end we became very good friends, and she would accept no Money; so a white rose and an Ursula Noney note did the trick. If I could make the smile on her face, when she saw the Noney, into my own personal currency i would be a rich man. All I can do for now is to take that magic moment to the bank. I'm sending this from a cafe near Venice, and hope that it gets to the mint.

JS wrote 06/08/03...   first and foremost, i brought noney into the bedroom. i won't put out unless there is noney involved now. we kinda role-play sort to speak and i am a john in more ways than one. and from there my wife will spend the noney at all her favorite shops. she bought a 7' and book at a used music shop in north providence. well who said making/spending noney is easy.

JK wrote 06/06/03...   I first saw noney at AS220 on gallery night, May 15. I was there for the opening of a show of my drawings. I had put up a grid of figure drawings under the title The Drawing Swap. The idea behind the piece was that anyone could take down and keep one of my drawings if they put something up in its place. Early in the evening, after only a couple of swaps had been made, I saw a man studying the grid. He settled on one of the figures, took it down and put noney in its place.

NV wrote 06/06/03...   I spent a "Stephen" at Skater's Edge, a skateboard park in Taunton, MA. I always get in for free, but only in exchange for working an hour or so, sweeping up, cleaning the party room, whatever. But this time, the owner, Dave, let me in, without working, for one Noney Stephen bill. Thanks.

CD wrote 06/01/03...   Today I went to the mall. It is a sunday and rainy and the mall is packed. On my way out, the parking complex is swarming with cars. I debated whether to try my first Noney exchange with the parking attendant. I figured the person in the little booth would just be cranky and look at me like. "Just give me the friggin dollar and get yer car outta here, lady." I think that is how I would be faced with a stream of mall shoppers throughout the day. But I wasn't in a hurry, so I figured what the heck. A very cute girl was at the booth and I approached her and asked, "Would you consider taking one of these? It is an experiment by a Providence artist." She looked at me and said, "OK," and lifted up the gate. I said, "Really? Do you want to pick one out?" flipping the pile of bills in my hand. She said, "No, that's OK." So I handed her a Cynthia dollar cuz she was so cute and it was appropriate. She looked at it back and front. I said, "They are all individually signed and numbered." She said, "OK" and I drove through. I am feeling really good about entering Noney into the massive system of mall income. I envision it like a little trooper, infiltrating the system and causing just a little bit of havoc. One can only hope. I will try to use the rest of my Noney in places where it will be most unexpected.

MW wrote 05/28/03...   so, i spent two noney bills at acme paying for a movie and a late fee. it was the first noney they had seen (max and chris), but they knew of its existence and were curious. i think they might be putting the bills up on the wall. then, we paid jodie marston and matt everett last night entirely with noney, and kevin barker took some home to nyc with him. he says he wants to hold onto the bills; i chastised him roundly and told him to spend at least one. my next plan is to send some into providence municipal court for a parking ticket--do you think that is a good idea?

ZK wrote 05/27/03...   i keep trying but i haven't been able to spend my noney yet! i asked the lady [at the local bar] if she would take noney and she said no i can't pay my bills with noney... one success story though - one of josiah's friends got a bottle of water from geoff's with noney.

JH wrote 05/23/03...   i tried using noney at the york toll booth. "no, you can keep that for yourself," was the response to the offer. i explained that it was original artwork, but the next reply was "i can't tell that to my boss" I did, however, encounter a tag day in roxbury. i stuffed a bill in a teenage athelete's collection can at a red light. i also used it as partial entrance fee to a cerberus shoal show (which was amazing).

ET wrote 05/21/03...   Here's one funny story. I attempted to buy a cup of coffee at a local (Boston) cafe that I thought would be pretty open to that kind of stuff: wow it really sparked a remark. I approached him with the line "I just got back from an art opening in Providence and came back with this artwork/money. The value is completely relative, depending on your perspective, and I'm wondering if you would consider accepting this in exchange for some of your goods" Basically his reaction sums up to this: "Coming from an Art History Major, that's not art: I could do that" Whoooah, huh. I wonder what kind of art history he studied. Anyway- I said that's fine, I was just making a proposal. So I sat down, with my $1.76 coffee and continued my studying. About an hour later, when I guess some sort of Sunday rush died down, he approached me. The dialogue continued for about 10 minutes with the bulk of it concentrating down to this: He apologized for not being open to the idea, but said that he did not think this was an original idea and that I should not pull that on him on "a busy Sunday". I replied: "Well it is interesting what you think, moreover, it is interesting how people react in situations of stress" He responded: "Now that's art. An experiment how people react in stress. Not this (pointing at the noney). You should do that. Go to Starbucks and see their reaction."

JC wrote 05/19/03...   I tried to use noney to pay my electric bill and now I'm being pursued by a collection agency. We have to try and get larger corporations to accept it.

MO wrote 05/19/03...   I've started circulating Noney notes as of tonight (May 19) by using them (along with some "real" American currency) to tip a waitress (Kim) and a bartender (Rob) at Trinity Brew House in Providence. Hopefully they will spend their notes well.