Intrigued, I stopped her and asked about it. It was then that she revealed that the one line of digits, from 0 to 9, was only the top of the tattoo. Here's the whole thing:
Sammy explained that this is a body art version of a clothing tag from the high-end clothing designer, Martin Margiela:
She told me that this was her "favorite design label" and said "I want to illustrate ... it's really expensive so I can't buy anything." She added that having the label on her back serves "to control my desire for buying it."
That's certainly a new functionality for a tattoo, in my opinion.
Sammy credited an artist in Los Angeles named Baku at a shop whose name I can't find, so I will go out on a limb and credit Baku Watanabe, who works at Freak Chic Tattoo on Melrose.
Thanks to Sammy for sharing this unusual tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
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