Since I just finished my
PNY set and have been staring for longer than a healthy person should be, I decided that despite what the haters and losers (of which there are many) may say, the
PNY photo inlays are the greatest of all time, almost unintentionally (ignoring the $1ks, which feature a dumb landmark for a $1k chip).
1)
The $1-$500 inlays hit enough landmarks to scream "NYC themed" but throws some bones to locals and their knowledge
Tourists could look at the chips and say "wow this is so cool, Maude! Can't wait to show Jeremiah back home in [insert inferior state here] what we won on our trip to the Big City!" They were as much souvenirs as they were cheques. Locals, however, could pick up a $5 and reminisce, "that's where the Rafiqi's cart sold me bad chicken before my college graduation," or pick up an $1000 and say "that's where I caught a bum vigorously masterbating to Brooke Shields' spanx ad." For locals like me, they're snapshots of absurd NYC-only moments.
2)
They PERFECTLY capture pre-9/11 New York City
It's almost eerie looking at the entire lineup and realizing that 9/11 had a direct impact (no pun intended) on essentially each location featured on the chips. Obviously the $500 (imho the star of the lineup along with the $20) features the Twin Towers themselves and the Brooklyn Bridge, but Pell Street ($20), the Stock Exchange ($100) and Lower Manhattan (snapper) were all directly in the debris radius, and represent not only Ground Zero itself but the area around it--they are unintentional commemorations of what would become sacred ground shortly after the casino petered out. Let's not forget about the ESB ($1), Radio City ($5), and Rockefeller Center ($1k)--the protocols and accessibility to each of these places would never be the same, not to mention these are all places al-Qaeda would've loved to hit as well. With the context of 9/11, I think the inlay choice--however arguably tacky at the time--now serves as a time capsule of what the city used to be like.
2b)
Conversely, they capture for New Yorkers how much the city has changed in two short decades
Ting Fu Garden no longer exists on Pell St, though from what I hear they had incredibly Sichuan fare. Chinatown has been, at least in my eyes and experience, the least gentrifiable ethnic enclave in the Five Boroughs--there is not much turnover in Chinatown--but not even one establishment featured on the $20 inlay still exists. The $2.50 chip is maybe the wildest example--between 9/11 and Bloomberg/his development deals, the part of the "skyline" featured on the snapper is almost unrecognizable. Beautiful, old buildings covered up by heaping hunks of metal that do nothing but serve as target practice for terrorists.
For some odd reason, the snapper's inlay is also the only photo that was flipped/mirrored. You might say "what if they took it from the East River, and not the Hudson), to which I say, "impossible because the S&P Building would be right on the water, since it is on Water St along the East River)." I've attached screenshots of more or less where the $20 and $2.50 photos were taken, and it's obvious that the City changed a lot, especially that area.
View attachment 667239View attachment 667238View attachment 667240View attachment 667237
3)
They are unintentionally racist by 2021 twitter standards
Yes, artists-formerly-known-as-
PNY-management, we know the $20s are only going to be used for Pai Gow. The chips are already yellow--you don't need to rub it in our face by making the photo Ting Fu's Garden and its neighbors on Pell St. I think that's what the kids these days call a "microagression." If the
PNY debacle happened in 2020/2021, the casino wouldn't open--but not because Giuliani's a douchebag. It wouldn't open because Gen Zers on twitter would cry hate speech and get them #cancelled. I find it funny, because in 1997 the
PNY execs 10000% thought they were doing diversity and sensitively catering to the Asian market. I can hear some greasy floorman saying "they'll appreciate seeing scenes of home and flashes of their native tongue." Again, I find this funny because the twitter shitstorm in 2021 would be unparalleled.
Thank you for your time, this has been my thesis.