May 21, 2009 -- The chance to tour the world again
How much is twenty thousand francs worth after two hundred and eleven years? For the sake of the exercise, I tried some rough calculations on the Measuring Worth site and came up with a figure somewhere between two and ten million dollars (depending on which metrics you want to use), so the answer is: a lot. Certainly much more than an organ-builder's son could manage.
Von Kempelen certainly isn't taking any guff from this youngster, which is no surprise considering Maelzel was only a gleam in his parents' eyes the day that the automaton made its first appearance.
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It's been a while since I posted any links to my fellow webcomickers, so this week you get two big announcements.
The first is that Jeremy Love's Bayou swept the heck out of The Glyph Awards, which it richly deserves. I cannot wait for the print version of this story. If you haven't checked this webcomic out yet, go do so as soon as you can. You're missing out, otherwise.
The second goes to fellow history nerd Carol "Klio" Burrell, who has just signed up to draw the graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler's Kindred. I am so excited about this, I can hardly stand it. Octavia Butler's books are so amazing, and it's a relief to know that the artwork's in such capable hands. Till the book comes out, make sure to swing by Klio's ongoing webcomic, SPQR Blues -- there're four years worth of archives to keep you busy.
Hat tip to buddy Rich Watson for both stories. Congrats are also due to Rich on another successful year of Glyph Awards!
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I'm surprised he's asking so much. One would think he'd love some clutter out of the attic.
Ah, but the automaton itself represents very little. Don't forget that the price would also include its secret -- which not a single other person had figured out. Though he didn't like the machine all that much, it seems that von Kempelen was very proud of that fact.
Of course. I hadn't really thought about that. :)
Obviously he gets the automaton, and judging from Wolf's declining health, perhaps it's obvious how....
And the secret would have been worth at least that much to someone who really wants it. Even today, magic tricks sell for such huge commissions and licensing fees (Kevin James sells a DVD containing one single trick, The Floating Rose popularized by Copperfield, for $50) that the "Magician's Code of Honour" isn't so much honour as cheating someone out of money.
Oh, I don't know as I'd go so far as to call it "cheating"; after all, value is based on rarity. A very rare, successful secret would obviously demand a much higher price than a common one, or one that was easy to figure out. If you want to know the trick, you have to pay enough money to make it worth the magician's while to tell -- and we'll definitely see that concept again in the second half of the book.