There's a very popular thread about this on Collectors Universe. This was my first attempt, using Google's Gemini AI chatbot. I like how it added that touch with the earring.
Nero famously "fiddled while Rome burned". I did specify that background in the prompt, but not the musical instrument in question. The AI got it right by correctly showing him with a lyre, not an actual fiddle (violin). The violin of course did not exist in 64 AD. I did tell the AI to base the image on the coin portrait. Looks like it got his jowly neck just right, though he's a bit giraffe-ish on the coin.
Thought I'd try a Matron Head (Coronet) cent. Credit to the AI for trying here, but nope. Liberty came out too young and thin (with too prominent a nose), and not at all matronly here. (It seems to have a glamour bias?) Also, the Capitol dome in the background did not exist in 1822. Back to the drawing board. At least this version has LIBERTY spelled correctly. Earlier tries I did had it spelled LIBBERTY and LIBEERTY. The Gemini bot seems to be better about not garbling lettering like it used to, but it still does that sometimes. Tried again. Like before, I did not specify a background, and let the AI choose. It supplied some different buildings this time (not sure what/where they are, if they even exist in reality). Liberty came out still too young and glamorous as above, But hey, it got the hair curls right. So I asked the AI to make her a bit older, a bit heavier-set (more matronly, in other words), and with a less prominent nose. But I think it might have made her a little bit too old. And the hair curls no longer match. Oh well. Close, but no cigar.
I wanted to see what the Gemini bot made of my ancestor, William Bradford, and asked it to put him aboard the deck of the Mayflower. He got a slightly smaller Bible (great, more manageable on shipboard, I reckon). Interesting how the coin's text ended up carved into the gunwales of the ship. Bradford also got a little more prayerful in the AI image, but considering the unfriendly appearance of those waves, I don't blame him.
Queen Elizabeth learns what's been sneaking up behind her on the reverse of that coin all this time... I liked how this one came out on the first try. It even gave Her Majesty some pearls to clutch.
There are some really great ones on that CU thread, including animated ones. But I think you need a full subscription to create those. I don't have one.
On my one visit to the Smithsonian coin exhibit as an adult, they were playing a short video loop that showed a model dressed as the St. Gaudens double eagle Liberty stepping forward and up, bearing a torch, and transforming into the coin design. I've searched for that video multiple times, and haven't yet found it. Maybe we should just make a new one.
Those animated ones are way beyond my capabilities right now. There’s a bunch of them on the CU forum thread. Maybe even the Saint-Gaudens. I forget now. It’s a long thread. Worth reading through, though. Somebody animated the battleship on one of those old “Battleship” currency notes, and had it sailing along, firing its guns. Then it got attacked by the Kraken. Let me see if I can go find that one…
Aha, here ‘tis. (“Mr_Spud”, again.) And the postscript by “Steven59”… … which “Mr_Spud” then animated… There’s tons more over there. Check out the CU forum thread.
