Lost: Dollar Bill
A picture of the stamped bill (130 K).
Forty-seven bills were stamped and placed into circulation. Nine were found, but
only three of those were actually returned. Several people wrote or called asking
what the reward was. Some sent photocopies of the bill to prove they had indeed
found it. Here's my form letter for those who were afraid
to send the dollar without reassurance about the reward.
K. LoPresti of San Jose said my form letter was outrageous and insulted her intelligence.
She said if the reward were something worthwhile she might send the dollar, but
if I couldn't tell her, it was a standoff.
H. Franklin of San Francisco returned one of the dollars, along with a note asking
"Are you for real?" I sent him seven $1 lottery tickets along with a note that
said, "Yes, I am for real." I didn't hear back from him.
A couple from Fremont found the dollar in a 7-11 in Auburn, California. I sent
them three pairs of new argyle socks.
J. Simms of San Jose found one of the dollars and called my house wanting to know
about the dollar thing. I was out of town. My girlfriend said he was rude, stupid
and belligerent. He wanted to know the nature of the reward and whether it was
in connection with a burglary or something. My girlfriend played dumb. Mr. Simms
got angry and said "I think there's something funny going on here." He said he
was going to check it out with the police.
He called again five hours later, saying "I checked this out with my lawyer,
and he thinks there's something funny going on here." He called again after I
got back in town. Wanting to calm this brutish dolt, I told him I was a
writer and said this was an experiment in human nature. It was just a game,
and he could play along or not.
He wanted to know what the reward was, but I explained that it varied
depending on how I was feeling. He asked, "Well, uh, how are you feeling?" I
told him I would decide when I got the dollar.
A few days later I got the dollar. I didn't want to send him something worth
less than a dollar, as that would only confirm his paranoid suspicions that
everyone's out to get his money. And I certainly didn't want to send him more
than a dollar's worth. So I sent him a different dollar bill. I sent it
registered mail, so he would have to go down to the post office and sign for
it, and so he could see that I'd gone out of my way and spent additional money
in order to inconvenience him.
Back to the Dollar Project
Back to the Church of the Almighty Dollar
Back to the Earl Vickers Museum of Conceptual Art