Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Wednesday Search Challenge (June 21, 2011): What's the story with these two pictures?

A friend pointed out these two images of the Statue of Liberty and asked a simple question: 


     What's the story with these two images?   


 Statue version 1

Statue version 2




As you can see, they're pretty similar, yet my friend assures me there is a strange-but-true story about one of these images.  


And, drat him, that's all he'll tell me.  "You'll figure the story out for yourself, once you know how to search for it..."  


So.. for today's challenge, can you find the strange-but-true tale about one of these images?  (I assure you--these are both actual images of real objects.  Neither is a CG model.)   


Search on! 







































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6 comments:

  1. HansJune 22, 2011 at 11:34 PM

    After looking at both pictures, my first thought was that one of them was a replica.
    A search on ["Statue of Liberty" replica] led me to the Wikipedia article "Replicas of the Statue of Liberty" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicas_of_the_Statue_of_Liberty). After studying the text I found the following passage: "In April 2011, the U.S. Postal Service announced that three billion postage stamps mistakenly based on a photograph of this replica were produced and would be sold to the public."
    More information was easily found:
    * Statue of Liberty Stamp is Wrong: Uses Vegas Statue - http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/statue-liberty-stamp-wrong-uses-vegas-statue-2777627.html
    * Statue of Liberty postage stamp shows Las Vegas - http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/18/uk-usa-stamp-liberty-idUSLNE73H01S20110418
    * WHOOPS! USPS Statue Of Liberty Stamp From Vegas, Not NYC - http://chucktaylorblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/oops-usps-statue-of-liberty-stamp-from.html
    * Statue of Liberty on U.S. stamp is a replica standing outside Las Vegas hotel and casino - http://www.linns.com/Liberty_042511.aspx

    The subtle differences: A light colored rectangular patch appears on the center spike of the replica's crown, while its eyes, eyelids and eyebrows are more sharply defined than the original statue. The hair on the replica across the top of the face and at the side of the face has different characteristics than on the original statue.

    ReplyDelete
  2. krossbowJune 22, 2011 at 11:37 PM

    Could what you are looking for be the U.S. Postal service issuing a Lady Liberty stamp using Statue 1 which is from New York New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Statue 2 is the one in New York City.

    Thinking this might be what you are referring to I searched for ["statue of liberty" stamp] in News search for the middle of April.

    http://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&bih=1015&biw=1916&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbm=nws&source=og&sa=N&tab=wn&q=statue%20liberty#q=%22statue+of+liberty%22+stamp&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&sa=X&ei=f94CTousKMLZ0QGNtKGUDA&ved=0CBgQpwUoCw&source=lnt&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A4%2F12%2F2011%2Ccd_max%3A4%2F30%2F2011&tbm=nws&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=98b1488eb2dc1545&biw=1916&bih=1015

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 23, 2011 at 2:03 AM

    "The US Postal Service regrets issuing a stamp featuring a photo of a Las Vegas casino's replica Statue of Liberty rather than the original in New York harbour, a spokesman has said."
    Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13101814

    1 search, 1 click: http://i.imgur.com/iWc1a.png

    ReplyDelete
  4. PeterJune 23, 2011 at 5:41 AM

    Not much search engine dexterity needed for this one, as he story behind this snafu is fairly recent.

    My search arguments to get to the NYT story were:
    http://www.google.com/search?q=fake+vegas+statue+liberty

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/us/15stamp.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. RobinJune 23, 2011 at 2:01 PM

    It was pretty clear that the lower one was the real one. You can even see the observation deck. My first reaction was "the other one is so perfect, it looks like it comes from Las Vegas". Used [fake statue of liberty] and found the same story as peter.

    ReplyDelete
  6. EMLBJune 24, 2011 at 7:21 AM

    I did a google image search for "statue of liberty likeness." One of the images was of a stamp with the image identical to the first version you posted. I clicked through to the link and got the story from the LA Weekly blog: http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/04/statue_of_liberty_vegas_stamp.php

    ReplyDelete

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