TPC1.5

#Episodes

Episode 1.5

Tape click

Welcome to The Phosphene Catalogue no. # 15005
We see light where others see only darkness.

I am not grateful to you, Morwenna, for involving the owners of The Catalogue in your concerns.
I wish you had come to me directly, though I understand why you did not.
I had overstepped with my descriptions of the private lives of those I live with:
The description of the Rossetti House Openings I did not intend to go further than between you and I.

Regarding Lobby Art 37 I acknowledge I damaged it. It's being taken out of my salary, as I suppose is fair, though I don't see how it is worth ONE THOUSAND POUNDS, when made with less than a SINGLE pound of materials.

Oh Edie, why did you paint that wretched thing?

And of COURSE the mistitled "Forest Spirit" was stolen, it was cut out of the frame! Bonhams or Christie's or anyone would tell you the same.

We don't have to print that fact, but surely, we can be candid, privately?

I will be more careful with what I say, here.
And more careful with the company I keep.

Tape click

Side A: The Book

Lot no. 6623. "Codex Praedicmentorum", Elizabeth the Judge. 1412. Leather-bound vellum.

We present an unusual piece from our vault library in this issue.
Though most of the work we feature in The Catalogue can be broadly described as 'visual art', I have before me a marvellous example of a monastic manuscript produced, unusually, by a woman.

Elizabeth the Judge was not a nun at a convent working in a scriptorium, she was the head of a monastery where her gender and identity were secret until her later, explosive years.
I have little enough space to write about the book itself, so I will allow the reader the pleasure of discovering her life history, the rules she broke, and the bridges she burned both figuratively and literally for themselves.

The codex is large, as examples from this age often were.
These are not pocketbooks, nor books designed for travel at all.
The codex is fully a foot wide, one and a half feet tall, and three inches thick.
I note, while carefully looking through the leaves of the codex, that much of the space is taken up with esoteric illumination:
Graphs, charts, maps, and elaborate calligraphy.

Though written in Middle English, it should not be a challenge for the interested contemporary collector to read.
Elizabeth instructed her monastic scribes to write in the language of the lay person, rather than Latin.
This, of course, caused much outcry during her career. Indeed, our research indicates that it may have caused her to be exiled as a novice, forcing her to take on a new name, yet another masculine cover, and re-think her plans.

When next we hear of her, she has manoeuvred herself into the position of abbot of the Black Friars of Carlisle.
It was during her time here, we believe the Codex was written, by her, personally.

The subject matter of the book is, at first, difficult to discern.
It talks of types of people, their languages, races, colours, wealth, intelligence, and something she calls "Animus".

What, at first reading, I thought an encyclopedia of the people half a millennium ago, has shifted in my mind to something else.

Elizabeth the Judge has catalogued people to find their best "Animus". My colleagues and I interpret this as "use", or "purpose".

After technically grouping people into thousands of categories, she then assigns them their Animus, such as:

I do not like the way I feel when reading this book.
The judgement of people into these categories is the antithesis of the way I, as an artist, think of the world: In infinite shades of colour.

And yet.

And YET.

The rhythm of the words of the codex wormed their way into my mind as my eyes passed over them.
As I read, late into the night, my instincts began to subtly align to the argument put forth in the book.
By the end, I was overjoyed to know, for certain, that this categorisation could simplify the whole world, we could build governments and justice systems on this perfect framework.
Order could be achieved, finally!

In the morning, after sleeping late, right at my desk, I felt that I had come out of this fugue state, and no longer felt so sure.

It's a cruel, reductive book, certainly.
But, a valuable one.

Morwenna, please add six zeros to the valuer's starting price.

Tape Click

Intermission

Hi folks, Tris here, writer of The Phosphene Catalogue.
Thank you so much for listening to our show!
It's an independent production with just Wolfie and I working on it, and so you bet we have a Patreon with cool perks for you:

To listen to the next episode right now:
Our membership starts at just 3 pounds a month, and for your support, behind-the-scenes updates direct from us and access to a private Discord channel on my server.

If you would like to support us more, higher tiers can get access to exclusive bonus episodes, high-resolution concept art and other digital artefacts, free stuff from our store and even your name in the credits.

No matter how you support us, even if it's just spreading the word to your friends, thank you so much for making the show possible, I have great plans for season 2 and beyond!

OK, let me turn over this cassette.

Side B: Iron Coin

Lot No. 0348. "Lucky Coin", David Isaac. 1973. A large coin made of dull iron.

In front of me I have a circular coin, 2" across, struck in iron.
Made by a friend of both myself and The Catalogue, David Isaac, who has provided the information that it is the only coin made from this die, and therefore one-of-a-kind.

The buyer can be assured of a unique item in more than this regard, however.

The design on the face is that of an hourglass, sand halfway between the two bulbs.
Surrounding this central motif are twisted thorns imitating the shape of a classical laurel wreath, and at the top, a sun with a delicate halo.

On the reverse is a human skull, jaw and eyes wide, both recessed and dark where the unpolished iron is black.
Around the skull is a geometric pattern, inset from the rim of the coin, and at the top is a right-facing waning crescent moon.

The reader will be familiar with this common design, I am certain.
Momento Mori on one side, Momento Vivere on the other - remember that you will die, but do not forget that you yet live.

The coin has two remarkable properties, of interest to any collector or reader of The Catalogue.

The first is that when flipped and caught in the hand, the coin always lands on the hourglass side.
This is the property that gives "Lucky Coin" its name, of course.
My colleagues and I had a very amusing half an hour attempting to get the coin on to its skull side.
It can be placed on either face, just as any coin may be, or if dropped.
Only when spun into the air and caught by the hand does the improbable happen.
But more than that: The deciding factor seems to be INTENT.

If thrown idly and caught, either side may appear face-up.
But if thrown with the INTENT that you wish to know which side it will be, or you attempt to predict, either quietly to yourself or said out to the room, the hourglass inevitably shows up.

The coin is beautifully designed. Mr. Issac is an accomplished painter, but its clear that the artist is working outside his normal favoured medium.
The composition is pleasing, the relative sizes of the hourglass and skull good, as are the complementary designs around them.
The striking process, though better than expected for the first attempt, perhaps would have benefited from refinement and further iteration.

Mr. Issac made only this single coin, and as far as we know, no more of this design have been made by him.
But perhaps that has more charm than multiple perfectly formed examples would have?

The second extraordinary property was introduced when Warrick Blackwood passed this item to me for description.
I was astonished to see him, and asked if he had re-considered helping me with my research into the black ship mark.
He had not.
He was here about the coin.

He had accepted it from Mr. Issac and filled in the intake paperwork, signed by both parties.

Warrick placed the small archival box, labelled Lot No. 0348 containing the item and paperwork on my desk, removed the lid, and took out the coin.
He then asked me to hold out my hand.
I did so straight away, I thought at the time he had discovered another property of this amusing coin, perhaps working out the trick of making it land on the skull side as reliably as the hourglass.

But that was not the case.

"I give this as a gift, freely, and expect nothing in return." Warrick said to me.

I laughed and thanked him, and then he explained.
The coin has an owner, a favoured person whose pocket it returns to if ever lost, or stolen, or, it turns out, even freely traded.

Warrick told me that it had caused him a great deal of concern, as a valuable item like this should be stored in one of our thick metal safes.
This is difficult to achieve, he said, when one finds the coin returned to one's trouser pocket every morning, upon getting dressed!

I realised at this point that perhaps I had been tricked.

"So this is my problem now, is it pal?" I laughed.

He shrugged, and said something about it only being my problem until we find a buyer.
He wrote the exact wording of the gift-giving incantation into the notes, it was all there, he said.

That was an hour ago. I dismissed him, slightly annoyed, and began my recording of this tape.

In making this clever coin, David Isaac would have carved a pair of detailed plaster moulds, and cast a two-sided die from the plates, for striking, once dry.

I suppose, by necessity, he carried it everywhere since making it in his studio, one of the two-story buildings in the courtyard at the back of Rossetti House, right next to my own.

I did not realise he had built or bought the metal-working tools to do this, but I am often wrapped up in my own work for days or weeks and don't speak much to anyone!

Last weekend, I was in the large square kitchen at Rossetti House, preparing a midnight supper for myself.
I had forgotten to eat during the daylight hours again, because I was working on my latest painting, a portrait of my friend Edie, but from years ago, as I wanted to remember her happy, before it all went wrong.

There was plenty of cheese and fresh bread left over from Friday's Opening, which I again did not attend, and the bread especially made it an exquisite sandwich!

I had tidied up and was preparing to return to my room, when I paused, surprised by the sound of the lounge door opening, and the raised voices of David and Josephine echoing down the hall, suddenly louder.

Pausing to listen (please don't judge me Morwenna) I heard Josephine say,

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that for me, but what does the inheritance matter if we -"
She stopped speaking suddenly, as David spoke angrily over her,
"It's not the money or the position at the firm or any of it that matters."

"He said he will stop me seeing my sisters, no family dinners, no playdates in the park, he'll burn any letters written to them."

His voice broke as he repeated the words.

I couldn't bear to listen any further, I slipped out of the kitchen, and took my little supper to my room.

I wonder why David made this coin?
I should ask him.

How strange for a thing to know for certain to whom it belongs.
A comforting person to return to after journeying wherever the day throws it.
And for the owner to know for certain the outcome for the future, in this small way.

We should all like to be able to peer into the future and ask a simple question, with a simple yes or no answer.

This coin: What would it mean if, one day, the owner flipped it and it showed the skull?

Foley

The sound of a coin flip in the background

CREDITS

The Phosphene Catalogue is a NAMTAO production.

The voice of Jude Francis-sharp is Wolfie Thorns,
The show is written and produced by me, Tris Oaten, and all the music can be found at my website http://namtao.com.

Special thanks to our Art Producers:

To listen to the next episode RIGHT NOW, and get bonus content, free shirts, and even your name in the credits, it would be very kind of you to support us at
patreon.com/phosphenecatalogue

For links to our merch store, the music, and mastodon account, check out the podcast's website,
https://phosphenecatalogue.com

Thank you so much for listening,
See you next time.