| Photograph Information |
Photographer's Comments |
Camera: Vivitar 4345
Location: Hatton Garden, London
Date: Jul 25, 2007
Date Uploaded: Jul 25, 2007
Viewed: 229
Comments: 9
Favorites: 0
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Q. What do you call a man with three balls?
The answer of course is a pawnbroker
OK now for the dull history bit
The symbol of the three balls was part of the coat of arms of the Medici family, who established the Medici trading and banking empire in Florence, Italy. The Medicis were a 15th century Italian family of bankers and lenders, with considerable fame and fortune. They became so well known in the finance and lending profession that the other lenders, wanting to share in their success, adopted similar coats of arms, signs, shields and symbols, with three golden balls being the most popular. Once other merchants involved in monetary dealing adopted the three golden balls as their symbol, the three balls came to symbolize the entire profession founded on the ethic of mutual trust.
I am not sure if you have pawnbrokers in the US but in the UK they are places where people take there goods and exchange them for cash. The pawnbroker holds on to them for a period of time during which they can reclaim it by paying him back (plus interest). If they dont reclaim it after a certain amount of time then the pawnbroker can sell the goods and keep the money he gets from doing it
OK, I work on a street called Hatton Garden in London (well I actually work in an office, but you know what I mean). Hatton Garden is traditionally the diamond and jewellery centre of London and there are still lots of independent traders working there.
In the middle of these shops is a pawnbroker. Starnegly enough it was not until today that I noticed he had the symbol hanging from his shop front
I had the trusty/crappy Vivitar with me (which I am growing strangely found of taking to work) and just took this shot, which despite its quality I kinda like as just an element of the street that I work on |
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07/27/2007 12:35:21 AM |
I never knew. That's a great bit of trivia and a wonderful story. I will look around here and see if the US pawn brokers have picked up on the three-ball symbolism.
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07/26/2007 07:49:59 PM |
That is a fascinating background for this shot. (Yes, we have pawnbrokers here; is there a kind of shady reputation associated with pawnshops in the UK? There is in the US, overall.)
And can I just be all ugly-American here for a minute and fawn over Britishisms? I love the names you all give your streets. "Hatton Garden" is very cool. (My all-time favorite Britishism is "strait-waistcoat" for straitjacket. AWESOME.) |
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07/26/2007 03:25:59 PM |
| This is a really great shot & the story makes it even cooler & very interesting. When you were takling about the pawnshop & then said you had the camera I got scared for a second that you were going to bring it in the pawnshop...ah! :) |
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07/26/2007 08:42:51 AM |
Interesting composition. The three balls against the "For Rent" signs -- it tells us something about the neighborhood.
There used to be several pawn brokers where I live, but now we only have one, and he doesn't have nearly as interesting a sign, and he seems to deal a lot in used stereos, used DVD's, and old electric guitars. Interesting that  Redjulep reports that pawnshops are thriving in Arizona. I guess we Californians are busy putting our souls in hock to Visa and MasterCard.
Very interesting notes, Jon. Thanks for sharing. |
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07/26/2007 01:15:18 AM |
Nice slice of street, Jon. I like the balls - so to speak - ahem. The guild symbols is more of a European and UK thing, but we do have pawn brokers and shops here - LOTS of them. One of the ones here in Phoenix has a giant gorilla out front (oh so many jokes with the balls... must ... keep ... mouth... shut). Anyway - I love your photo. Great sky.
That Vivtar - you realize that you are pretty much the only one who has one here on DPC? |
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07/25/2007 10:52:58 PM |
I'm glad that you clarified that you actually work in an office as opposed to working on the street because it would make me wonder what you really do for a living and whether or not we would be seeing some more night shots now. ;)
The symbolism story is a very interesting one. And I like the display and the clouds in the background. It is a shame that the signs had to be in the background but I do believe that Richard Susskind has to be doing the happy dance for all the free advertising being done here. (Unless of course he is now getting a lot of crank phone calls.) |
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07/25/2007 09:51:26 PM |
First of all, I am SO glad that was not a true joke that you started with. I have a terrible reputation (well earned, I might add) of not getting things very quickly. Very interesting history lesson, glad to hear you don't "work" the street.
Nice mix of textures and lines. I love the sky, as when I think of a pawnbroker, I think of the places people must be in to use one. So it all really just ties together nicely.
(ETA: was that a joke? Now I'm feeling dumb after reading the other comments..... must let me know.)
Message edited by author 2007-07-25 21:52:28. |
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07/25/2007 08:19:14 PM |
your joke was pretty funny jon .. and a great shot and i love that silvery sky ..
we have pawnbrokers in australia ... in fact i've hocked quite a few things in my time .. the one i regretted the least was the clarinet and the one i regretted the most was when i pawned my pentax slr ... it was years ago and i ended up replacing it with an olympus .. then my stepfather gave me his canon which is sitting in a camera case along with a heap of 1600 & 400 asa film ... i dont think i'll be using it again coz i've totally fallen for my canon 400D digital ...
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07/25/2007 06:49:25 PM |
| Cool, love the sky, yeah, we have pawnshops. Very interesting story about the origin of the symbol, how neat! |
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