Hidden Images on Cents/Coins

I have been told this is pareidolia, but do you see any strange images within these two pictures?

 

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I think the term is "pareidolia"

With the top image, in the middle I see an alien with a large head, walking through a wheat field, carrying a donut in it's left hand.

What do you see? Or do you see the exact same thing ?

 

The second one is reminiscent of the ancient coin that shows the posterior of a draped Venus, but I still believe it is just due to metal flow and is a one-off occurrence. BTW, congratulations on figuring out how to post.

 

I never could see the image in a page full of dots.... Probably a good thing.

 

This is not a one-off as you might even have these in your change. The second image, along with many others, appears to be a Master Hub as it is on literally millions of coins over a series of years. It is not rare, but it would be challenging to complete an uncirculated set of these. Also due to the process used to place these on master hubs to follow through on master dies, working dies, and coins, it requires microscopic angular photography, so some of the images do overlap meaning you have to have them at the proper angle and power strength to capture them under a scope. I have shown these pics to other people asking them what they see, mostly non-collectors, and have received comments commensurate with what I see, which is quite different than many of the comments herein. Perhaps some of the detail was lost during transmission from scope to computer to computer to transfer to the site, but I still see what is there. Maybe people need to look closer and/or study these for a bit longer than a glance. Thx.

 

I guess I opened myself up to this roasting but from now on I will only reply to well thought out, professional, and mature audience comments. Thx.

 

Lincoln’s is right where he should be. As for everything else there are certain things that can happen when minting a coin. With our imagination we can see things that really aren’t there. It happens all the time and with more than just coins. You are normal in what you are seeing but remember, the mint has dies and the process the dies go through makes it impossible to make objects like you and millions of other have seen on our coins.

 

Our brains are programmed to find patterns. They are so good at it that they make it happen when there is nothing there. That’s what’s happening with these coins. Your brain is playing connect the dots with random points. It causes you to see a bear on a coin. It also allows to see distinct shapes in the clouds when we look at them.

 

This is a "social" website populated with some individuals who are VERY knowledgeable in coins but who sometimes have a sense of humor that might grate on some. Stick with it awhile and just don't respond to any comments you don't want to.

 

Certainly not the product of a Master Hub. Master Hubs are used to produce the Master Die. The last two digits of the date are then engraved into this Master Die creating the Master Die used for that coinage year. This Master Die is the used to manufacture Working Hubs. These Working Hubs are used to manufacture Working Dies which are used for striking coins. So if the Naked Venus originated from the Master Hub it would be a feature on every Lincoln Cent produced.

 

Pareidolia.

 

yeah, but seriously .. that's what I first saw ... a "strange image" which is what the OP stated.

I guess you can call it pareidolia ...

 

The human brain excels at perceiving and imagining patterns. And once you (think you) see something, you can't un-see it, and you can't imagine other people missing it. That's almost certainly what's happening here.

I say "almost" because we can never prove that someone didn't add these possibly-patterns on purpose, just as we can't prove that the Universe wasn't created last Thursday with all of our records and memories carefully crafted to make it seem otherwise.

 

How to construct a poll is next.

 

Looks like this....

 

If you can't see it with a 10X loop, I am not interested!

 

I honestly think that your statement here shows absolutely that you need to study the die making process more. @justafarmer gave you the chronology, now read up on the stages. Also to bear in mind, is that a slight lessening of pressure during the strike will result how the metal moves to fill the incuse areas of the die. This among many other reasons can result in the way the finished surfaces appear.

 

Uh..............I really don't see any of this. I'm not sure if I'm glad I don't or wish I did.

 

I see it now!!! It is Lisa Simpson's Sleestak baby jamming in the forest...............

 

You need to look closer as it is not just me seeing these and others at first glance often have the same reaction as you do, but after they look closer they see and explain the same thing that I see. These also are not lone examples but pics of coins that have numerous examples. Also have other pics some of which might be better but these are the two I chose to show for now. Study the centers of these pics or at least the upper center of the first one and the vertical center of the second one.

Or it could be the opposite of Pareidolia which also exists. If a large percentage of people see something and then others herein (who have been told this is pareidolia), jump on the bandwagon and agree with people they are accustomed to agreeing with, regardless of what is actually there, then they could be intentionally experiencing the opposite of pareidolia.
Points to remember:

1) This comes from a collector who has been specializing in error/variety coins for many years, (several decades) and fully understands the minting processes.

2) At least 80 examples of each coin have been examined which all contain the same images. Some images like the second pic, occur on nearly all coins made for a given year or even several years, while others are rather scarce and likely were produced by a single die, such as the first pic.

3) By nature and definition, "Hidden Images" are difficult to see, as they are "Hidden". Study some hidden image art and you may see what is often very difficult to see.

4) Numerous other images exist on these but only two examples are now shown. I have the advantage of having reviewed all of the pics from differing angles and differing magnifying powers so I am not simply trying to convey what is not there, to waste your or my time.

5) Once you know what and where a given image is, you can then locate these with a 10X power loupe, but you may not see as much detail as you would like.