Difference between revisions of "Millennial Horn from Times Square"
(New page: '''Millenial Horn''', tin, or metal alloy, painted red with white polka-dot pattern. "Made in U.S.A." printed within pattern. Flattened and deeply abraded condition. Collected intersection...) |
|||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | '''Millenial Horn''', tin, or metal alloy, painted red with white polka- | + | '''Millenial Horn''', tin, or metal alloy, painted red with white polka-dots in a festive, encheering pattern. "Made in U.S.A." printed within pattern. Flattened and deeply abraded condition. Collected at intersection of West 42nd St. and Avenue of the Americas. 2 January, 2000, c.e. |
'''Loan Collection of [[Sherwin Bentley Harris III]], [[Mount Vernon, New York]]. | '''Loan Collection of [[Sherwin Bentley Harris III]], [[Mount Vernon, New York]]. | ||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
The location of collection, the condition, and the date of this artifact indicates that usage certainly includes sounding the turn of the Millennium, in New York's Time Square. | The location of collection, the condition, and the date of this artifact indicates that usage certainly includes sounding the turn of the Millennium, in New York's Time Square. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Comment: If this horn was sounded at midnight on New Year's Eve, it must at that time have been in usable condition, e.g., fully rounded and not yet flattened. Less than 48 hours later, it was as you see it now—flattened and deeply abraded. It can safely be assumed this damage is the result of having been run over by motor cars in the unceasing stream of traffic so characteristic of Manhattan Island—perhaps after being discarded unthinkingly or drunkenly by the very reveler who had, moments before, sounded the horn in excitement. A thought-provoking example, it is to be hoped, of time's indifference to all attempts to mark or note its passage, and also of the rapidity with which the greatest joy can be crushed. | ||
[[category:Millenniums]] | [[category:Millenniums]] | ||
Revision as of 13:42, 5 July 2009
Millenial Horn, tin, or metal alloy, painted red with white polka-dots in a festive, encheering pattern. "Made in U.S.A." printed within pattern. Flattened and deeply abraded condition. Collected at intersection of West 42nd St. and Avenue of the Americas. 2 January, 2000, c.e.
Loan Collection of Sherwin Bentley Harris III, Mount Vernon, New York.
re.000.0000.ny, former catalog no.0001021 from the Harris collection.
The location of collection, the condition, and the date of this artifact indicates that usage certainly includes sounding the turn of the Millennium, in New York's Time Square.
Comment: If this horn was sounded at midnight on New Year's Eve, it must at that time have been in usable condition, e.g., fully rounded and not yet flattened. Less than 48 hours later, it was as you see it now—flattened and deeply abraded. It can safely be assumed this damage is the result of having been run over by motor cars in the unceasing stream of traffic so characteristic of Manhattan Island—perhaps after being discarded unthinkingly or drunkenly by the very reveler who had, moments before, sounded the horn in excitement. A thought-provoking example, it is to be hoped, of time's indifference to all attempts to mark or note its passage, and also of the rapidity with which the greatest joy can be crushed.
