It is not clear to me that this line of hatching is intended to show the hair of the eyebrow. It is possible that the hatching is not depicting the eyebrow, but merely is shading to indicate the underside of the brow ridge. The eyebrow itself may not be depicted.
I strongly disagree with this. There is definitely darker shading at the right corner of the eye, indicating to me that this is the medial commisure, which is deeper than the lateral commisure. In addition, there is darker shading outside the eye to its right, indicating the indentation next to the nose. These points seem to me to be the strongest ones in favor of its being a right eye. Besides this, the angle made at this corner of the eye is more obtuse, while the one on the left is more acute, also suggesting right eye, though less conclusively.
I don’t see anything about the canthus on this side of the eye to indicate it is lateral or medial.
The pupil itself seems to be pretty well centered to me, although the depiction of both the pupil and the iris is not very clearly defined.
Quite possible, but what the artist ended up showing is a right eye. Unless the artist was untrained, that is probably what he intended.
But the left side of the dollar eye is shaped more like the medial commissure, which is distinctly different from the lateral commissure. The difference is exagerrated in this illustration, but you can see the resemblence to the dollar eye.
The key characteristic here for me is the fact that the right corner of the eye is more heavily shaded, indicating that that corner is deeper and thus the position of the medial commisure. The medial commisure itself is not clearly indicated. As I said, the shape of the eye itself is suggestive but not conclusive. (If you look at various photos of real eyes, you will see some variation in shape.) The depicted eye is admittedly lacking in detail due to its size and quite stylized. But the assymmetries present taken as a whole indicate to me that it is definitley a right eye.
From my standpoint, I’d say it is a left eye, and that the evidence as purported by others, supports that.
I think the strongest arguments, are the direction of the hatching in the eyebrow and the over all shape of the eye, as well as the hatching that describes the folds and outer structure surrounding the eye.
The upper eyelid crease, strongly suggests that the medial commissure is on the viewer’s left side. Not to mention the shape of the eye on that side. Notice how the lower eyelid margin curves upward toward the tear duct. That indicates to me that it is a left eye.
The top row seems to look and feel correct, where the bottom row looks odd. The eyes with the light gray line over/under them, indicate the unaltered/unflipped eye.
So, in conclusion, I’d say this exhibit supports the left eye theory.
Hardly conclusive. Your argument relies on the unseen head facing directly ahead, so that the two eyes, if visible, would be symmetrical. If the eye in question is in fact the right eye, then it appears the unseen face would be turned to the left - or our right - as you might if someone asked you to look at the screen, or through a triangular hole, with just your right eye.
From the looks of things, it’s so ambiguous that I’ll go with another line of argument. Just to be on the safe side. I think I have more than enough material anyway.
Brow ridge = Seems unlikely to me. To define the underside of an eyebrow so darkly, and completely ignore the presence of an eyeborw? Also, it seems as the hatching is positioned properly for an eyebrow.
Darker Shading = The hightlight within the pupil indicates a lightsource on the subjects right side, so naturally, that corner of the eye would be cast in deeper shadow.
Top row/Bottom Row = Dunno! As an artist who has studied figure illustration, the top feels correct to me. But I will concede that this exhibit can raise more questions than answer. I guess it was more of a test for myself, then anyone else.
Well, I don’t think it’s really that ambiguous, it’s just that the noise-to-signal ratio in this thread is rather high. I would suggest asking a few optometrists or others with some professional expertise in the matter besides myself.
Looks like the left skull and brow with an right eye and lids looking over my left shoulder and up while the illuminating light of the picture is coming from my left as I face the ‘eye’.
I think there is a deliberate attempt to use both characteristics instead of just a stylized eye so as to have a better chance of catching counterfeiters as the technology of the time was understood.
It would make subtle changes easier to catch with the naked eye of bank tellers IMO.
I think you placed the eyes too far apart in the pictures, which makes it hard to tell. Plus the highlights in on the iris look odd in both layouts, because they’re not on the same side. Neither looks clearly right or wrong, in your exhibit.
I think it’s clearly a right eye, though. The shading around and next to the medial canthus is what decides it, though I think the general shape of the lids is also more consistent with a right eye. I don’t think the hatching was meant to draw individual eyebrow hairs or suggest their orientation - I do think it’s the eyebrow, but I think it’s merely shading, which appears to strictly be done with hatching in the drawing.
I think y’all are nuts if you see a left eye there.
With more looking, I can’t even posit a light source that could account for the shading on the canthus on the viewer’s left unless it’s the lateral. If the light source was on the left (consistent with the highlight on the pupil), it would be shaded by the nose. If it was on the right, it would be shaded by the eye itself - the medial canthus is in shadow unless the light source is straight on, which it doesn’t appear to be. The dark area on the right has to be the medial canthus. Plus, compare the shape of the upper lid (whatever the word is - the place where eye-shadow would be seen) to the photo - the shapes are consistent with the scan being a reversal of her eye.
I think Fear Itself presents the best argument. The dropping shape on the viewer’s left looks like the spot where the tear duct would reside. I also buy the argument that the eyebrow is meant to be shown, not shadow. I think the idea that the artist looked in the mirror or at a photo (for modern ones) of a person’s right eye is likely correct. I.e., they were asked to draw the right eye, but drew it in mirrored orientation.
I guess somebody could write the folks at the Mint about this. This calls for Cecil.
