Memento Mori Coins
You may have found this page as you searched for Memento Mori Coins, or Carpe Diem coins. Because this is a hidden page which you were probably only prompted to look for by finding one of the limited edition coins distributed as a Public Art Installation in 2020.
Congratulations!
I hope that this coin has brightened your day, as an unexpected find. Please keep it as a decision coin - so whenever you need to make a choice about something in life, it can help bring perspective and prioritise what is best.
The coin is designed to play on a medieval theme of "Memento Mori" (roughly translated "remember that you will die"). This isn't a morbid reason to become depressed, but instead a positive reminder that your life is what you make it, and it is worth enjoying every day that you can, or as Horace would urge you, "Carpe Diem" ("seize the day").
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The text underneath is also taken from a medieval theme of the meeting of the Three Living and Three Dead. The Three Living, (sometimes shown as three kings, sometimes as a priest or holy man, a king and a rich noble man) know nothing of pain, hunger, ill health or torment. In the midst of some pleasurable pursuit such as hunting or travelling they meet Three Skeletons or three transi (rotting corpses) coming from in the opposite direction. The Skeletons accost the Three Living with the phrase:
As you are now, we once were
As we are now, you will become
Thus serving as a reminded that death comes to everyone. Again, this wasn't seen as a reason to become moribund, but to emphasise that death is a great leveller, and so even the peasants in the field will lie in the ground not far from the rich who may have squandered their time alive on trivial pursuits or gaining worldly wealth that they cannot take with them.
Please do get in touch if you have found a coin. Just let me know using the form below. And you can read more on why this is important in this blogpost.
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Didn't find one, but want one? Sometimes available on etsy here.
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Leaderboard!
As we start a new round, and new players enter the game...
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First place
14 points AJ B A find on Graemsey!
Ruling it in Orkney, including getting the teenagers involved, and I even accidentally found one!
Second place
11 points Robert LP inspired deposit in New York Library earned 3 points in January 2025!
11 points Lisa TC latest find in Monmouthshire restaurant car park which gains an extra point for distance.
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10 points Sarah Goth world travels are paying off with distance bonuses, and still brilliant for getting an organ donor to sign up!
9 points Kristi SE more points for Shetland - though finding location, they may be Andy's points!
7 points Kevin L most northerly British Isles find - Hermaness car park, Unst, Shetland!
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Hoping to bounce up the leader board in 2024!
6 points Clare S finds around oakington! And a bonus point for someone reporting twice, one year apart!
5 points Corinne D climbing with a find at Beverley registry office and another out in nature
5 points SE Jones made a move forward with a cheeky donation to the Sainsbury Art Centre in Norwich
3 points Andy E bonus points for getting it out in the Shetlands
3 points Neil W bonus for genius Pitt Rivers' Donation box!
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Everyone else is a duck so far... or playing a really long game!
Remember there are only 495 more years of play time.