New Zealand Turning Hobbits Into Actual Cash

Curseyoukhan writes "With its economy struggling, New Zealand hopes to cash in on 'The Hobbit' by turning it into actual cash. The nation is releasing special commemorative coins depicting characters from J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved book. The coin release coincides with the premiere of the first installment in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of the book. It is also part of a publicity campaign aimed to rebrand the country '100 percent Middle Earth.'"

Comments

Future historians will be confused

[Anonymous Coward]

As they find the ancient coins, they will no doubt believe New Zealand was ruled by Hobbits.

Re:Future historians will be confused

[crazyjj]

I'm just glad New Zealand finally found an industry more lucrative than sheep herding.

Re:Future historians will be confused

[Big Hairy Ian]

I've been short changed before but this is ridiculous!

Re:Future historians will be confused

[Glothar]

Forget future historians, in 600 years, when Hobbitism rises as the worlds newest major religion, the coins will be used by fundamentalists as proof that Hobbitism is the One Truth, and encouragement for the furthering of their grim beliefs.

A large sect of Hobbitics in Western Europe will base their entire world view on the belief that there was no allegory or symbolism in the Lord of the Rings, and thus Balrogs do have wings, foxes are sentient, and that if you become suitably evil, you'll turn into a floating eyeball. They'll lobby the Grande Bankocracy of America to force the teaching of Ainuism as an alternative to Evolution. In late November, they will gather together in a large field with a bucket of these coins, separate into five groups, and then murder each other until someone spots an eagle. Then, the group with the shortest individual gets all the gold.

Why don't people think about consequences when they make commemorative coins like this?

[/far-too-much-tolkien-knowledge]

Re:Future historians will be confused

[SplashMyBandit]

> I'm just glad New Zealand finally found an industry more lucrative than sheep herding.
It's called beef. There are still plenty of sheep about but the numbers have gone down as more cows have been raised - since milk solids and beef are worth more than lamb and mutton at the moment. Yes, I'm from New Zealand so we do hear about these things.

Part of New Zealand's supposed "struggling" economy is the fact that our public debt (eg that of the government and people) is relatively low as a proportion of GDP compared to say, England, Greece etc. The economic growth rate is around 1% and poised to slow to about half that, but at least it is still growing. As a result the New Zealand dollar has been getting stronger vs the greenback etc. This helps importers but hurts exporters as NZ goods become more expensive overseas. Naturally every country would like to optimize exports vs imports, so it is a balancing act between making our goods competitively priced and easier to sell and our imports cheaper.

One observer from the UK once noted that in the UK the public would have a large segment of national news devoted to football in New Zealand he found it was devoted to economic news instead. For a little flea like us, we notice whether the dog or the tail is wagging :)

ps. I liked your joke. I just took the opportunity to bring up some tidbits you'd never hear otherwise - not that anyone is particularly interested, but the New Zealand economy is not often its own slashdot topic. Incidentally, New Zealand has some pretty hi-tech and innovative outfits, kinda like Israel (similar population) does (although New Zealand has a vastly larger land mass than Israel; about 77% of Germany in size).

Soylent Green

[thomasdz]

Personally, I'd grind my hobbits into a paste and sell it as health food. I'd make millions!

Re:Soylent Green

[dkleinsc]

Grima, is that you?

Re:Soylent Green

[wonkey_monkey]

I'd boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.

turning hobbits into cash?

[hamburger lady]

is that like turning smurfs into gold? cause remember you need six of em.

Miss opportunity.

[Dyinobal]

They really missed an opportunity here, they could of minted coins that are meant to appear as if they had come from Smaug's Horde. I'd pay for a coin that was cast to look as if it had come from the lonely mountain.

Maybe I'm just a big nerd but I honestly don't think commemorative character coins are all that interesting. Give me something that is anchored in the story

Forged in Mount Doom!

[KatchooNJ]

I can already envision the corny TV commercial hawking these things. If they showed the orcs producing the coins like they were churning out weapons in the movies, that would be pure perfection.

Re:Hobbit Port

[dkleinsc]

"I'll get wood for two hobbits," indeed.

Kinky.