Ladder Drinkers

The Ladder Drinkers pin is hard to make sense of, even a little bewildering. It's a good match for the first day back at work after a long weekend, and it complemented my surreal experiences with some TSA airport guards who recognized me as a frequent traveller. It can't be good to be 'known' to those folks - I really must shave more often, or wear polo shirts and khakis or something...

Taking it from left to right, there's a man sat in a frame nursing a tankard: a black cone stands above him. To the right of him is a trio of frames and two textured gold bars, one horizontal and one vertical. Above them stands a ladder, atop of which sits a woman drinking from a tankard. Quite how - or whether - one should interpret this collection, I really can't say. But I bet they're drinking beer.

Even the materials are a bit of a mystery. The cone could be ebony, or it could be plastic: it feels like ebony though. I think the people and frames are blackened silver, and the textured bars are made of gold. The initials MTJO are on the back, but I couldn't find out anything more, which is a pity: I really like this pin, and would like to see whether the designer's other works are similarly enigmatic. I hope so.