A nickname the late radio legend Don Imus gave himself many years ago because he was born with three testicles instead of the usual complement was “Tres Huevos.” I may be a little unobservant, but I seem to be seeing fewer and fewer pawnshops around New York City these days, so a painted ad for one on Jamaica Avenue and 93rd Avenue in Bellaire, Queens stands out for me. Perhaps some readers might not be familiar with the “three balls” symbol at all.
This traditional symbol originated in the Middle Ages in the Italian province of Italy, where pawnshop banking originated and practitioners suspended three gold spheres, supposedly imitative of gold coins, above their shops. The symbol came to be associated with the Medici family, which adopted it as their family crest.
I don’t know where this one was located but it may have been in the storefront just behind the ad on Jamaica Avenue.
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7/5/23