Hello. My name is Tom Hockenhull. I'm Curator of Medals and Modern Money.
I'm here to tell you about the Boggs in the British Museum.
And here it is. So what is it? Well it's a drawing of a banknote.
It's based on this. This is a Bank of England five pound note. And you can tell that it's not
a genuine note, or I can tell because it is a drawing, but also it's actually printed on one side only.
Whereas this banknote is printed on both sides. And it's made or drawn in the mid-1980s by an artist
known as J.S.G. Boggs. He was American-born. He moved to London in 1980 and about five years later he
alighted upon the idea that he could literally draw his art and make money from it. Allegedly,
this was in a restaurant one evening when a waiter looked at him drawing something on a napkin and
said "Oh that's rather good you could, you know, use that to pay for your dinner or something" and he
realised that actually this was a really good idea. He could literally draw his own money.
So, he began to try to live his life literally by his art by drawing these notes which he would then
go into restaurants or shops or to his landlord and attempt to pay. Only ever spending them at
face value. So, if he went into a restaurant and the meal cost – for argument's sake – four pounds fifty, he
would hand over his drawing of a five pound note and ask for the correct amount in change.
They'd usually be an icy silence when he did this before he explained that he was an artist and that
if the recipient wanted they could have a genuine five pound note to pay for the meal or they could
have a drawing. The choice was theirs. There was no attempt to subterfuge. And if they accepted
he asked for the correct amount in change, and a receipt which he retained, and they kept the drawing. Later
on, his gallery would attempt to track down the notes that had been spent and buy it back. Usually
at an inflated amount, thus ensuring that all parties to the transaction were happy. At which point they
would reunite the drawing with the receipt, and the change, and that would become the artwork.
It was Boggs' attempt to mystify or blur the boundary between art, money and functionality
Now, in 1986 he got his first solo exhibition at the Young Unknowns Gallery which was a
gallery down in Waterloo, and prior to that he began to generate quite a lot of media interest.
And the Daily Telegraph had suggested that what he was doing might be in contravention of
counterfeiting laws. This panicked Boggs and so he wrote to the Bank of England – to the
governor at the time – asking for permission in order to reproduce his drawings of banknotes.
The bank denied him permission, and so Boggs wrote again and asked them to come and
take a look at the things that he was drawing because they couldn't possibly be confused for
the real thing. This is an unusual case he acknowledged. Would they give him permission
in order to carry on drawing these copies of banknotes. Again, the bank declined,
and this time it instructed Scotland Yard to conduct a raid on the Young Unknowns Gallery
and three police officers turned up and they confiscated various works, literally pulling them
off the walls. Including this work. As you can see this is the frame from the Young Unknowns Gallery.
Scotland Yard decided that there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute,
however, the Bank of England used its prerogative to bring about a private prosecution in order to
bring a bring Boggs to trial, and this was held at the Old Bailey in November 1987. in the meantime,
Boggs became somewhat notorious throughout London for his work and for the impending court case.
He visited the British Museum in the autumn of 1987 where there was an exhibition co-curated by
the bank and the British Museum exploring 300 years of the bank producing paper money.
A rather odd episode. Clearly his notoriety meant that he was recognised very quickly. Boggs went
into the exhibition and having had a look around he sat down, took out his sketch pad and started
drawing. This was clearly seen as a provocation.
And a gallery warden came over to Boggs and said "You can't do that, you're breaking the law". And Boggs
sort of said "Yeah, okay, whatever." and carried on drawing. Half an hour later as
he describes it, a big bouncer-type came over and said "Hello Mr Boggs. We're not supposed to be here
are we?" and promptly threw him out of the museum. As we shall see, that didn't entirely put Boggs off
the museum, which would prove a few years later with this drawing, which I'll come to in a minute.
In the meantime, in November, the case went to trial and it was held over four days at the Old Bailey.
Boggs was represented by Geoffrey Robertson QC and his defence hinged on the application of the term
'reproduction'. "What is a reproduction?" Geoffrey Robertson QC asked the jury. Well, first he
suggested, a reproduction is never worth more than the real thing – which of course Boggs' works were.
Second, he suggested only a moron in a hurry could mistake this for the real thing. And after four days
the jury agreed, and it took them 10 minutes to find him not guilty. At which point all the works
were returned to Boggs and he was able to leave the court a free man. The loss of the trial was a major
embarrassment to the bank. Boggs was walking free from the trial, with his works, and he was able to
continue drawing notes knowing that there could not be a prosecution in the future. So, what could
the bank do? Well, it made one very important change to the design of its notes in future.
Which is not on this note, it should be on a modern note. what it did was to introduce the copyright
symbol onto its notes. It says 'Copyright, the Governor and Company of the Bank of England 2016'
on this note and indeed all modern Bank of England notes carry the copyright symbol, thus ensuring
that if in future a prosecution for counterfeiting offences were to fail, the bank could always pursue
a copyright infringement. This was one of the notes that was presented as evidence at the trial.
You can see because it says 'Crown Court, Exhibit 3'. So, how did it get to the British Museum?
Well, three years later the museum was planning a major exhibition. We call them cross-departmental
exhibitions, which means that it pulled objects from across the museum into one space. And the
exhibition was called 'Fake? The Art of Deception'. There we go, it has a rather meaty volume with it.
The museum approached Boggs' solicitor in preparations for that exhibition and asked
if he would consider lending a work. Boggs duly lent this work and even said that after the exhibition
if the museum wanted he would be happy to donate it to the museum. The museum's response
can be seen in this letter from October 1990. This is a copy. The original is held by the Boggs estate.
It says "Sir, I am directed by the trustees of the British Museum to convey to you this
expression of their best thanks for your generous gift of your drawing of a five pound banknote,
previously on loan to the 'Fake?' exhibition at the British Museum. I have the honour to be, Sir,
your obedient servant. David Wilson, Director." And that is how the Boggs came to the British Museum.
Boggs left the UK in the 1990s and moved back to the USA taking the vast majority of his archive
with him. And in 1992, Boggs' Pittsburgh studio was raided by the US Secret Service
during which they confiscated many works including those from the trial. This work was already in the
British Museum by that point. Boggs died in 2017 and to date this is the only work by him to have
entered a UK public collection. It's unusual for us to acquire a work like this, after all
most of our notes in the collection look a little bit like this. They're not framed, not behind glass.
They certainly don't have a Crown Court sticker on them. However, this of course tells the whole
story. This frame is from the Young Unknowns Gallery in Waterloo and on the back we can see
Boggs' handwriting. A piece of paper box elucidates by saying 'these four drawings were prosecuted
at the Old Bailey'. And if you'd like to see it, it is currently on display in room 68 –
the money gallery – where it has recently gone on display next to a work by the artist Banksy, who
in the early 2000s was printing notes in order to use in an art installation
and they very nearly got him into a lot of trouble. But that, as they say, is another story.