The Other Side Of The Coin by myautofocuslife

The Other Side Of The Coin

What does a dollar get you these days?

I remember back when, for a dollar, I could get not one but two big bowls of delicious noodles. Or a movie ticket. Now, a bowl of noodles costs at least S$3.50 and a movie ticket more than S$8. A dollar can't even buy me a cup of coffee at the local kopi tiam (coffee shop) because it costs at least S$1.20 today.

This is a shot of Singapore's one dollar coin. It's round, with an octagonal frame around the circumference. The flower is a periwinkle. The coin has been in circulation since 1987.

Popular urban legend has it that a feng shui master advised our PM to ward off bad luck for the country by having every household be in the possession of a bagua or 8-sided charm, and so an octagonal frame became part of the design of the coin. It's a cute story. 8)
Beautiful coin... I hope you have lots of them! :)
March 18th, 2012  
Beautiful shot, well done!
March 18th, 2012  
eva
Interesting text to a very nice shot.
March 18th, 2012  
Your dollar coin is beautiful! You have captured it well!
March 18th, 2012  
Nice little bit of trivia, Livia. We tried dollar coins here in the states a few times, but they were never popular. Maybe if they were as appealing looking as the one in your photo them might have caught on!
March 18th, 2012  
Very nice capture and information!
March 18th, 2012  
nice capture of the details and colour. i like it.
March 18th, 2012  
Great detail and depth of field.
March 18th, 2012  
There's a great trick to making coins shiny, maybe you've used it: leave the coin in a glass of Coke overnight!
March 18th, 2012  
I love the story! When I was young, I could get a burger at McDonald's and still have enough left out of the dollar for some candy! I love the golden tones! Great shot!
March 18th, 2012  
great shot
March 18th, 2012  
I remember mom giving me a quarter to go to the corner market and I got a comic book for ten cents. A bottle of coke for ten more and five penny candies because under a quarter there was no tax
March 18th, 2012  
Beautifully captured!!
March 18th, 2012  
Nice macro of a coin!
March 18th, 2012  
Lovely focus. Love the DoF in this.
March 18th, 2012  
what a beeautiful coin!
March 18th, 2012  
good job with the selective focus
March 18th, 2012  
Beautiful shot and fabulous story, Livia! Well done!
March 18th, 2012  
What a beautiful coin. Love the focus.
March 18th, 2012  
Great focus! Beautiful!!
March 18th, 2012  
Ooh, LOVE the focus!!!
March 18th, 2012  
it's a beautiful coin! interesting story, thanks for sharing!
March 18th, 2012  
Lovely looking coin. Nice shot of it, like your focus. Interesting story.
March 18th, 2012  
Rob
Nice lighting.
March 18th, 2012  
I find it a very beautiful coin!
March 18th, 2012  
a fav for me...love the color and focal point. you are so right about what you could and now can't do for the same amount of money. When will it stop?
March 18th, 2012  
You make me miss Singapore Livia. I have visited a number of times and I truly love it. My parents lived there before I was born - I was 'made' in Singapore but born in Australia. I think my LOVE of spicy food and curry puffs comes from being in my mummy's tummy over there for 8 months !!!
March 18th, 2012  
Love the different shades of gold on this coin.
March 18th, 2012  
Beautifully photographed, and love the story!
March 18th, 2012  
What a beautiful shot of this coin, Livia. Also love the history that you included. I remember when a dollar went so far. Gasoline was $.35 per gallon, so a dollar went a long way. Saved dimes instead of drinking milk at lunch at Elementary School and when I had a quarter would get my favorite sandwich at the corner store near school. Great memories of times past.
March 18th, 2012  
This is a really intense shot, Very well captured
March 18th, 2012  
Nice capture
March 18th, 2012  
Gold it beautiful...love your photo and the story behind it...I remember when a gallon of gas was 25 cents! This week is the first time it's gone over $4 a gallon were I live...Crazy!!!
March 18th, 2012  
You still have you Dollar. We have exchange our good Dutch Gulden for an Euro ( € ) and see what`s happen to day.
Love you close up , pov and of course ,the lines
March 18th, 2012  
Love the focus and colour!
March 18th, 2012  
Great shot and love the trivia!
March 18th, 2012  
Wonderful shot, Livia!! The lines are perfect!
March 18th, 2012  
Great detail and colour and I love the back-story, thanks for sharing
March 18th, 2012  
Very nice shot!
March 18th, 2012  
Great coin capture. Color, dof and texture are perfect. My son has been trying to collect a coin from every country for about 2 years now. We're up to 80 or 90 countries so far. Cool tale on the coin too.
March 19th, 2012  
Jim
the color is perfect
March 19th, 2012  
Just wondering if it cost more than a dollar to make one of these coins? It is a beautiful coin indeed!
March 19th, 2012  
You make a coin look like a piece of art . . actually these are beautiful coins. Love the shape and the color and the story. Great clarity and gorgeous macro. As usual . . you've taken the ordinary and made it extraordinary. Your great eye and trademark, my friend. LOVELY.
March 19th, 2012  
Nice, I want one. :)
March 19th, 2012  
very cool info in the description! I've never really put any thought into taking photos of coins... maybe I'll do that this month
March 19th, 2012  
Beautiful shot of this lovely coin! You are right $1 doesn't buy much. Most things at the dollar store even cost more than $1!
March 19th, 2012  
Love the golden tone, the lighting, the pov, depth, story, and everything in this photo. Simply put, a big FAV!
March 19th, 2012  
Wonderful dof and color capture Livia, and I love the story behind it!
March 19th, 2012  
I like the legend. I also, like this photo.
March 19th, 2012  
Beautiful macro. Love the lighting that makes the coin's shine so brilliant!
March 19th, 2012  
Great focus
March 19th, 2012  
Great story behind the design of this coin. Excellent close-up shows the detail well.
March 19th, 2012  
True enough..miss the old days!!! Beautiful shot by the way~ =)
March 19th, 2012  
Great detail on the coin and with the story! Love the shiney gold piece! And you are so right no matter where you go in the world nowadays a dollar does not go as far as it used to!!
March 19th, 2012  
So intersting reading about the dollar, beautiful shot too as always:0)
March 19th, 2012  
Beautiful pic! Fantastic focus!
March 19th, 2012  
Like the story and picture of coin. feng shui is becoming more influential
March 19th, 2012  
Great focus! Thanks for the info, nice to read!
March 19th, 2012  
what a cool coin! great macro Livia!
March 19th, 2012  
great shot and great story.
March 19th, 2012  
I love your commentary. It's so interesting to hear about other currency. Lovely close up too xx
March 19th, 2012  
Wonderful focus and details! great story as well :D
March 19th, 2012  
Love the story that goes along with your shot! So interesting! Nice close up too :)
March 19th, 2012  
Thanks for the info to go with your photo. Very interesting. These things really do make you stop and think from time to time.
March 19th, 2012  
It's a beautiful coin--ours are so boring. Interesting post to go with it too. Yep, $1 here will buy you...I'm not sure, maybe a can of soup? I think even the candy bars are more and don't even go there with the coffee, lol.
March 19th, 2012  
beautiful shot, great focus and point of view in this too, love the gold!
March 19th, 2012  
Excellent macro, perfect composition, and gold tone~!
March 19th, 2012  
Wonderful shot! The coin is so pretty.
March 19th, 2012  
Great photo. Love how you captured the gold color and design is so pretty.
March 19th, 2012  
Pretty coin, and it sure doesn't hurt to carry a little extra good luck around in your coin purse or pocket. :0)
March 19th, 2012  
Great photo!
March 19th, 2012  
pretty coin~
March 19th, 2012  
Such a lovely coin, love the pov.
March 19th, 2012  
Another awesome shot! -You love your flowers and managed to get one even on a coin! :)
March 19th, 2012  
Fantastic shot and lighting!! Never held/seen Singaporean coin, but your shot sure depicts it in a pretty form :)
March 20th, 2012  
the DOF rocks! very niiiiice
March 20th, 2012  
A great, big, gold-hued, extra lucky "THANK YOU!" to all!

I didn't expect a photograph of a little coin would be enjoyed so much. Thank you for your encouragement! I am grateful for your time and comments. Thank you so much!
March 20th, 2012  
cool shot and story about the coin thanks for sharing!
March 20th, 2012  
Cool macro and a great story!
March 20th, 2012  
That looks much prettier than our AU$1 coin! Beautiful shot! Oh and our coffee shops generally charge atleast $3.50 per coffee! Outrageous! I'm coming to Singapore!
March 21st, 2012  
Beautiful coin - I am amazed. Wonderful image and I love the caption - somehow learning such details makes this place so interesting.
March 21st, 2012  
Great light and focus on this lovely coin.
March 22nd, 2012  
Lovely shot.
March 23rd, 2012  
it is really pretty! and your right, $1 buys you pretty much NOTHING these days! so sad!
March 23rd, 2012  
very creative photo to make money look so good and pretty coin too.
March 24th, 2012  
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