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Noney entered circulation when Alec Thibodeau began distributing its 10,000-note supply through release events in Providence, Rhode Island.
Noney notes have since made their way into every state in the USA and dozens of countries.
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Over the course of human history, almost everything has served as money, from stones and shells to grains and molasses.
Precious metals -- in the form of coins -- were early trading instruments due to their consistent weight.
Paper currency was another development. Originating as individual legal agreements, paper notes guaranteed
specific amounts of precious metal in reserve, even though the notes themselves had no intrinsic value. They merely represented something else that did. |
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Eventually the value of currency started becoming abstract, as banks and governments began issuing more paper notes than their metal reserves
could back. This practice established a precarious situation with disastrous consequences, like bank panics.
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Currency today is more abstract than ever. Guaranteed standards are gone, with all reserve currencies now functioning as fiat money.
Money, whether in a pocket or bank account, only has value because its users believe it does. |
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Noney returns a standard (of sorts) to currency notes. Instead of metal, tobacco or rum, Noney's standard is the aesthetic value of the note itself.
It's an economic system backed by art -- art that also serves as the system's currency. |
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While Noney notes have the same basic dimension, look and feel of government-issued money, Noney has its own design.
Ten different faces show people of Rhode Island with their favorite bird and favorite vegetable. These people represent a variety of lives and professions.
Among them are a librarian, a photographer, a waiter and a trio of musicians. |
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Alec Thibodeau drew Noney's note faces, then screen printed them with violet and yellow ink onto archival sheets of polyethylene fiber,
a material that's lighter and tougher than paper. He then numbered each note by hand and signed them with "Obadiah Eelcut" -- an anagrammatic pseudonym. Noney's total print run was 10,000 notes: 1,000 of each face. |
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Each Noney note has the same denomination: zero. This doesn't mean each note has no value... just relative value.
There's no fixed exchange rate or area of operation. Noney's worth as both art and currency is to be determined through personal contemplation or negotiated transactions -- anywhere. |
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In addition to the supply of cut Noney notes, there exists a limited edition of 200 uncut sheets, also on polyethylene fiber.
These sheets feature Noney's standard ink colors on the front, but with red ink on the back, instead of violet.
Each sheet is numbered, signed and dated on the front in pencil. |
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