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GOOD LUCK “21” MEXICAN RECEIPT - TIJUANA - UN MILAGRO - LOTERIA - RED PAPER CLIP

$ 26.4

Availability: 100 in stock
  • All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
  • Type: Rare “good Luck” charm
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: Mexico
  • Handmade: No
  • Condition: Used
  • Modified Item: No

    Description

    This listing is for a rarely-occurring good luck item.
    It’s a passenger receipt from a Tijuana city bus ride.
    The price includes fast, insured shipping.
    I am a seller in the USA.
    This good luck item comes from a non-smoking home.
    Update: Thanks for all of the interesting inquiries. Just to clarify:
    - This is not a lottery ticket.
    - This is not a raffle ticket.
    - This is not connected to any crowd fundraiser.
    - The red paper clip is not sold separately.
    - Sorry, not accepting any trades / barter for goods or services.
    Thanks for the interesting offers!
    “GOOD LUCK ‘21’ BUS RIDE RECEIPT”,
    PLUS A RED PAPER CLIP.
    The “21” receipt measures 1 5/8” x 2 3/4”
    It has blue and red ink printing on thin white paper stock, similar to tissue paper or a rolling paper.
    The red paper clip is 2 1/8” long.
    Please see all photos.
    Questions welcome.
    Si hay preguntas, avisame por favor.
    Here’s a rare item...
    Highly valued in Mexican urban culture: It’s a city bus receipt whose numbers total 21.
    In my own world travels, I’ve observed that many countries have their own unique “good luck” numbers.
    In addition to the lucky “21” bus receipt, you’ll receive a lucky Red Paper Clip. In case you’re not familiar with the phenomenon of trading-up with a red paper clip, simply search “red paper clip” on Google or YouTube... fascinating!
    Cultural significance: I’ve been riding city buses in Mexican cities for nearly 3 decades. These cities include Mexico City, Morelia, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, La Paz, Mazatlan, Acapulco & Tijuana. When you board a city bus or “collectivo” passenger van, you pay the fare, and the driver gives you a small paper receipt. Since the receipts are randomly checked by transit officials, each receipt has a unique number.
    .I learned early on: It’s pretty common in Mexican popular culture to glance at the numbers, quickly add them up to see if they total “21”. If the numbers total “21” the ‘winner’ usually announces it to someone else or excitedly to all of the bus or van passengers & driver.
    I observed that the custom is... to do a variety of things:
    - kiss the lucky “21” receipt, cross yourself as ‘blessed’ and gift it forward to another person, either to a stranger or to a family member, friend or other loved one.
    or...
    - to recognize it as a sign of probable prosperity, and to buy a Loteria Nacional ticket at the soonest opportunity.
    or...
    - to save it with other “21” receipts as a sort of spiritual dowery, as a sort of deposit to one’s good-karma bank account, or other collectively accruing balance of good fortune & future prosperity.
    or...
    - a more common reaction to getting a lucky “21”, if it’s someone with their lover, the recipient of the “21” gets a kiss or a hug.
    Provenance & origin:
    I spent a month in Tijuana, Baja California del Norte, Mexico in early 2020. I was there attending cinema screenings, film & art related lectures and doing a few restaurant reviews, and other observations for a future travel & cultural blog on the city of Tijuana and its wealth of culture. During the month I rented an Air Bnb room in a family home in a barrio of Tijuana. In lieu of renting a car or taking Uber / Lyft , I instead took city buses and shared “colectivo”passenger vans as my sole mode of transportation. This provided me with a more “local” point of view of the city of more than 1 million inhabitants Each bus or van ride was paid for in Mexican peso coins.
    Without fail, every driver gave me a paper receipt for my paid fare. It’s partly accountability, and is an important part of keeping their public transportation system running with minimal corruption and grift.
    During my month in Tijuana, I took public buses & vans over 100 times. Out of 100-plus receipts, I only received one that totaled ‘21”, and this is it.
    Is it a lucky one? Well, an hour after receiving it. I went to a film lecture & film screening at the Tijuana Cultural Center (also known as CECUT). There was a New Years season reception post-screening. At that party I met a couple who are film investors, looking for interesting scripts. I have a Spanish-language comedy feature film script, which they have shown great interest in developing it for the television and theatrical cinema market in Mexico.
    Was it just a coincidence? Happenstance? Being in the right place at the right time? Good luck? Indeed!
    I am offering this good luck charm for sale here on eBay.
    Greedy seller? Fortune hustler? Hardly. Every sale on my eBay sales page “hwycinema” goes towards Highway Cinema, which is a film screening project that shows 16mm films for free in small towns throughout North America: towns that have no movie theaters. Past tours have included small towns like Hope, BC Canada, and Sumatra, Montana (population: 5, nearest cinema: 85 miles away), and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit Mexico(pop: 650, no cinema). To date, Highway Cinema has presented over 700 free screenings: all self-funded; without government grants, no corporate funding, without foundation support, and without crowd-funding campaigns.
    Condition: The bus fare receipt is in fair to good condition, with a few creases and a few small tears(where it was pulled by the bus driver from his receipt pad).
    No ink pen or highlighter markings.
    No staples or tape.
    The red paper clip is in very good condition, only used once for a bank deposit. It is standard thick wire paper clip with red paint or red plastic coating.
    The bus receipt & the paper clip are from a non-smoking, non-vaping home.
    Suitable for framing, adding it to a shrine or ofrenda, for adding to a special locket on a charm bracelet, etc.
    Disclaimer: This is being sold from one collector to another. No promises of great fame, notoriety or increased fortune are guaranteed. Sold for amusement not for its possible supernatural powers.
    If you have a gambling / gaming addiction, you should not purchase this item, and instead seek a support group.
    This is being sold in good faith from a person who experienced increased luck from receiving it... in the luck-of-the-draw...
    Si hay preguntas, avisame por favor.
    Price: .00 Buy Them Now..
    Shipping: Free, USPS Priority Mail,
    with insurance & tracking.
    I can only ship to USA 50 states.
    Payment: PayPal only.
    Please see all photos.
    Questions welcome.
    GOO LUCK!
    ¡BUENA SUERTE!