It's neat, but far from a new art form. I had a holed Indian cent once that was a duplicate on my old Holey Coin Vest. Because it was high grade (aside from the hole), I sent it to a friend. It was supersharp on the obverse, but had some kind of smudgy deposits on the reverse. He later thanked me for the Indian cent with the neat church scene on the back of it. I had no idea what he was talking about. Turns out that what I had thought was just random crud on back of the coin was in fact paint- a tiny painted scene of a night snowscape, including a steepled church with yellow-lit windows. Really cool, once I recognized the design for what it was. The painting was obviously 100+ years old and had darkened a bit with time, but it was totally recognizable once the design was pointed out to me and the coin was turned the right way up. Sadly, I can't find the old pictures of it now. It was a kind of primitive painting, but a cool find (for my friend, who recognized it).
