# Owl On Dollar Bill **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883 "2002-11-15T17:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malinthas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Malinthas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malinthas)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/1 "2002-11-15T17:21:28Z")
Recently, I showed a co-worker the old “owl on the dollar bill”. If you’re not familliar, take out a dollar bill. (If you’re that poor, there’s an image at [http://ion.eas.asu.edu/cool53\_one/images/one\_opt\_spider\_10x.jpg](http://ion.eas.asu.edu/cool53_one/images/one_opt_spider_10x.jpg)). Look at the “shield” around the number 1 in the upper-right-hand-corner. In the northeast depression, you can see a tiny, tiny “owl”. (some say spider). Now, you and I know this is just part of the background pattern… a similar image is found in two small peaks along the botttom of the bill. My co-worker, however, is convinced I have revealed some great, forbidden secret. Please assist and find me an article on how this is not really an owl. You will have my eternal thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/2 "2002-11-15T17:42:05Z")
It’s a spider. Just look at the webbing in the background. Unless, of course, you know of web-spinning owls. Corr ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/3 "2002-11-15T18:14:40Z")
“The owls are not what they seem.” ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/4 "2002-11-15T19:25:13Z")
Rice University controls all. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/5 "2002-11-15T20:24:21Z")
Awwww… He’s so cute! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/6 "2002-11-15T20:28:24Z")
The U.S. Treasury department has no information on it on their website, so I’m guessing it’s just one of those artist’s decisions made long ago that nobody remembers why. There are other things on U.S. currency that the Treasury Dept. doesn’t remember why about, like why is there a Pyramid on the Great Seal, and why prefixes weren’t used for the names of states around the Lincoln Memorial on the $5 bill. [http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/portraits.html](http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/portraits.html) ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/7 "2002-11-15T20:30:01Z")
Maybe mine’s counterfeit. I don’t see no owl! ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/8 "2002-11-15T21:16:43Z")
> [@](#): > > My co-worker, however, is convinced I have revealed some great, forbidden secret. I have a great, forbidden secret. Where do you suppose I should inscribe it to make sure it stays a secret? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/9 "2002-11-15T21:22:37Z")
It looks like part of the background pattern to me. You can see the same thing on the lower right just beneath the last “y” in “Secretary of the Treasury” and also on the lower left below “Treas” is “Treasurer of the United States”. There’s a dark space where there are few white lines and beneath it is a place where many white lines converge. If you use your imagination, the converging lines look sort of like a primitive drawing of a bird or bird-man, with head and wings. In the place where it looks like a spider, it isn’t so obvious that it’s just part of the background because most of the background is covered by the shield and leaf. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/10 "2002-11-15T21:32:53Z")
To me it looks a bit like Chad looking over a wall, if he was an alien that is, and the background pattern is like he’s saying “Wot No WWW?”. But if you look at it in negative and flip it upside down it looks like a black helicopter circling overhead… ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/11 "2002-11-15T21:37:35Z")
Thank you for uncovering evidence that the country is being secretly run by a manufacturer of crappy cigars. Bibliophage’s observations look like bats to me, symbolizing what you are if you actually believe any of this. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/12 "2002-11-16T00:07:13Z")
I spent some time with a dollar and a magnifying glass, perusing the designs in question. I don’t think they are owls, as they lack the prominent large eyes owls have. I don’t think they’re spiders, as the legs go directly downward instead of up-then-down. If you really strain your brain, they could be octopi, but…no. They’re just nodes of the looping, lacy lines of the engraver’s design. Check out the tiny details of the intentional pictures and numbers. If the engraver wanted to depict an owl, don’t you think it would have looked more like an owl? In the midst of all that precision work, do you think he would have slipped in such a cartoonish creature? Poppycock ‘n’ tommyrot! –Nott, getting a little huffy ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/13 "2002-11-16T05:15:14Z")
Actually it looks like a bald eagle looking straight at you… ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/14 "2002-11-16T05:35:07Z")
Originally posted by: \*\* everton \*\* > [@](#): > > To me it looks a bit like Chad looking over a wall, if he was an alien that is, and the background pattern is like he’s saying “Wot No WWW?”. But if you look at it in negative and flip it upside down it looks like a black helicopter circling overhead… BwahHAHaAWAAAAWAHAHHAHhhhhhh! SNxxxJX, BWahaahhHAHAHHhahaha!!! GOODNESS! I am Sooooooooooooo GLAD you cleared that up for me! I always KNEW that was the case! 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 ! Sorry, it really WAS that good! ---
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/15 "2002-11-16T07:30:20Z")
Wouldn’t the tiny owl be in the NorthWEST depression of the shield in the upper right hand corner? ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/16 "2002-11-16T11:44:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MadSam \* > \*\*Wouldn’t the tiny owl be in the NorthWEST depression of the shield in the upper right hand corner? \*\* Could be a Saw-Whet Owl (also a tiny owl), found in the NorthEAST of the US (and on some of the PA license plates.) screech-owl (also a teeny, tiny owl, also found in many parts of the US) ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owl-on-dollar-bill/136883/17 "2002-11-16T11:47:44Z")
Please ignore that last posting. I misread **MadSam** ’s response as to a joking comment on the type of owl (Spotted Owl, found in the NW of the US) depicted, not where the critter-in-question was on the dollar bill. Dammned decaf and lack of sleep. screech-owl (who is definitely NOT a morning owl today)