The color of money in scrooge's money bin

[jgarvin]

It's silver.  Almost all US coins minted during the time Barks wrote those early
Scrooge stories were made of silver.  At one point (sometime last year) I argued
that many of them might have been gold, but since that time I have changed my
mind.  For one thing, I found a one-page gag panel that features a silver-polish
salesman offering to demonstrate his product on a few of Scrooge's coins:
Scrooge says sure and opens the door to his bin where see the sea of coins.
This seems pretty conclusive evidence that Barks intended the coins to be
colored silver.

Perhaps the European editors colored the coins yellow for the same reason that
Barks chose gold coins in his moneybin paintings: the yellow coloring makes the
bin a much warmer and more appealing place.  Or perhaps they felt gold was a
more universally understood color to represent wealth.  I think it's true that
Don Rosa is the only current artist/writer who is carrying on (strongly) the
Barksian notion that the contents of the moneybin are more sentimental in value
and may have just as many nickels, dimes, and quarters, as it does more valuable
coins or items.  For other traditions it is just as valid to think Scrooge might
keep the main bin full of gold coins, and keep his more sentimental trinkets
lower in a more secure section of the bin... or vice versa.

On another note, I find the whole debate as to authorship, ownership, and the
way Disney characters, settings, and stories have been co-opted for use
throughout the world, to be a facinating one, worthy of discussion and thought.
I thank each of you for your points of view.  When I think of something
intelligent to say, I might chime in myself.  :)