R.I.P. Metropolitan Museum of Art Admission Badges (1971-2013)

For the first Monday since 1971, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is open to the public (step right up to see the blood-stained roof deck, which looks even spookier in a steady drizzle!). But there’s a price to pay for this new seven-days-a-week schedule: also for the first time since 1971, admission will not come in the form of a brightly colored metal badge. The museum has moved to paper tickets. Quel scandale! Blame it on the rising cost of metal and a dwindling supply of manufacturers of tiny tin discs in a rainbow of 16 collect-them-all hues.