- Pareidolia is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one sees an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia There are some newbies to coin collecting and even some who have been collecting for some time who think they see images or letters & numbers on the surface of coins. They believe they were added on purpose sometime during the creation of the coin.. from hub to die to the strike Many of us know better of course and understand that there are planchet flaws, laminations and even Post Mint Damage that can cause these “images" Here is one of my all time favorites.. I saw Superman on a Nickel on the top of the Monticello Building
Here is a great example of pareidolia in the outdoors Post your examples on this thread! Coins or nature or anywhere!
I wish I would have photographed this... Just last week I was riding across the lake. I slowed for a kayaker and kept slowing and maneuvering to see which way he was going.... It wasn't until I was on top of him that my mind realized that I was looking at an odd shaped log in the water.
That one took me a moment to be able to see the sad face. It's wearing an appropriate expression upon seeing such a slum.
That image on the back of the nickel that the OP posted, I think it looks more like the Creature From The Black Lagoon than it does Superman. Oh man that's rough, really rough. We used to see about the same thing in the Philippines on our way off the base in Subic. And it was times like that when I was happy that we pay taxes. I think the magnification is a bit too much though on that sludge river picture. From a bit further away, like maybe from space, we'd probably see a nice cool stream lined with some type of intelligently crafted structures in the middle of a very hot terrain. However, if you walk about 20 feet from your computer monitor, you can see a face in all that mess. Awesome Bro!
On monitor (the way I first saw it), not immediately obvious. On small phone screen, it jumps right out.
My daughter once saw a man running a weed trimmer and thought he was walking a dog on the end of a leash. LOL
One of my favorites. My grandfather had one of these framed and hanging in his downstairs bar and I'd always love looking at it when I was a little kid. It always fascinated me. Still searching for a coin with this on it too.
Beware the Moon Rabbit!!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit The Moon rabbit or Moon hare is a mythical figure in East Asian and indigenous American folklore, based on pareidolic interpretations that identify the dark markings on the near side of the Moon as a rabbit or hare.
I usually have a difficult time seeing things that aren’t really there. It comes from having a lack of imagination and web it comes to coins, I feel blessed.
Corgi, its not a rabbit, its a Camel who dropped its carriage that chopped off a rear leg at the knee. Rabbits are wimpy things
It's important to note that saying something "looks like" an X does not impose any meaning. It can simply serve as a description of a specific shape in order to focus the viewer's attention to that particular shape within an image. Saying that something "looks like X" is, in effect, saying 'It's not an X but has that shape'.