J. S. G. Boggs

J. S. G. Boggs
In his studio with a painting of a $100 bill
Born	Stephen Litzner (1955-01-16)January 16, 1955 Woodbury, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	January 22, 2017 (aged 62) Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Nationality	American

James Stephen George Boggs (January 16, 1955 – January 22, 2017) was an American artist, best known for his hand-drawn depictions of banknotes.

Boggs was born Stephen Litzner on January 16, 1955 in Woodbury, New Jersey. He attended Brandon High School in Tampa, Florida, but was expelled in his junior year.

Boggs began drawing currency in 1984, when a Chicago waitress accepted a drawing of a one-dollar bill in payment for his restaurant tab.

His drawings of currency, drawn only a single side of the note, came to be known as "Boggs notes". Boggs notes were both art objects and part of a performance. Boggs would exchange the notes only for their face value: when he drew a $100 bill, he exchanged it for $100 worth of goods. He then sold any change he received, the receipt, and sometimes the goods he purchased as his "artwork", typically to art dealers and collectors. Boggs would tell a collector where he spent the note and the details of the transaction, but he did not sell the notes into the art market directly. The buyer would then track down the person in possession of the note in order to purchase it. Boggs noted that after the initial transaction the notes would be resold for much more than their face value, with one Boggs note reportedly being resold for $420,000.

One of his better-known works is a series of bills done for the Florida United Numismatists' annual convention. Denominations from $1 to $50 (and perhaps higher) feature designs taken from the reverse sides of contemporary U.S. currency, modified slightly through the changing of captions (notably, "The United States of America" is changed to "Florida United Numismatists" and the denomination wording is occasionally replaced by the acronym "FUN") and visual details (the mirroring of Monticello on the $2, the Supreme Court building, as opposed to the U.S. Treasury, on the $10 and an alternate angle for the White House on the $20). They were printed in bright orange on one side and featured Boggs's autograph and thumbprint on the other.