Bitcoin Mystery Framed Photo Found In A Thrift Store Back In 2016

[relayd]

Back in 2016 I was looking around in a local thrift store and saw an odd framed picture/photo with a couple embracing in the centre and bitcoins all around, so I bought it hoping there would be a paper wallet inside.

Here is a low resolution picture of it:


After inspecting it and breaking it apart from the frame I didn't find anything. In the top middle it also says "Vires in Numeris" translated to "Strength in Numbers", some design elements are slightly raised from the paper and this was printed commercially judging by the quality of the print. I feel like the couple in the middle and the couple in the top right do not match in physical appearance, but not really sure.

I made a high resolution scan hoping to find something hidden in it, but didn't really see anything specific at the time. So I put it aside, eventually tossed out the frame as I had damaged it while taking it apart. Earlier this year I found that scan file on a backup and while messing with the blue channel I extracted the 15x8 yellow dot printer pattern. The pattern doesn't follow the known EFF Xeros display tracking dots format so I cannot decipher it.

I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about this image, I'm just curious mostly but also wondering if there is perhaps a private key some how embedded inside it or the yellow dot pattern.

1.) How do you fit a private key inside a 15x8 grid? It contains 50 dots filled in.
2.) Any known programs or steganography techniques before 2016 that could allow someone to embed a watermark, qr code or a key that would survive printing/scanning? I've found research paper about hiding water marks that can survive resizing/cropping etc but no working program or code.
3.) In part of the image when I zoom in significantly I see some weird characters/patterns, that could be something or could be nothing. For example here is a small section of one area. Anyone else see some characters & scribbles? Could have been scanner error or something else, the image is stored uncompressed however so I find it odd.


Anyways thought it was an interesting curiosity if anyone knows anything about this or if any ideas how a private key could be inside this image or the 15x8 printer pattern, would be interesting to hear. I can't post the high resolution scan or the pattern, just in case it does contain something.

[Mbitr]

Hi mate , I’ve personally not seen this before , but it may be worth you posting this in the collectibles part of the forum - I’m sure somebody could help you there . Good luck 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=217.0

[relayd]

@Mbitr, thanks for the suggestion but that sub-forum appears to be more of a marketplace. I'm just trying to see if anyone has any ideas regarding this image.

[Ryker1]

I'm just trying to see if anyone has any ideas regarding this image.

Well, I am trying to figure out my idea, and here is my opinion -- Vires in Numeris or Strength in Numbers have been connected to bitcoins since day one.
I owned a shirt with a bitcoin logo and the quote on top. But do you still have the physical picture with you?
Judging it by seeing the low-resolution image of it, it seems like it is a sort of design and not intended to keep or store the value of bitcoin with a Private Key. But we will never know as people in cryptocurrencies are ^weird ^{[no offense]}. Possibly that they will perhaps have put private keys on it. So, did you try to check if the photo has a set of layers? Perhaps there will be a layer between the surfaces that hides the private key combination.

[relayd]

I'm just trying to see if anyone has any ideas regarding this image.

Well, I am trying to figure out my idea, and here is my opinion -- Vires in Numeris or Strength in Numbers have been connected to bitcoins since day one.
I owned a shirt with a bitcoin logo and the quote on top. But do you still have the physical picture with you?
Judging it by seeing the low-resolution image of it, it seems like it is a sort of design and not intended to keep or store the value of bitcoin with a Private Key. But we will never know as people in cryptocurrencies are ^weird ^{[no offense]}. Possibly that they will perhaps have put private keys on it. So, did you try to check if the photo has a set of layers? Perhaps there will be a layer between the surfaces that hides the private key combination.

That is a very interesting idea I had not thought of, yes I still have the original image. There is a very slight bump over the slogan, swirls & middle circle. However there is no way any type of sticker or anything can hide between the layers as I just checked the entire image under a strong light source and I can see through the entire image since it's just slightly thicker card stock than regular paper. This appears to be done with a printer, looks very slightly embossed, but opposite side is smooth so not sure what this method is called.




If I put anything between the light source and picture I can see the outline of it, I would assume I would see something if there was anything between the layers.

But good and unique suggestion, thank you. Anymore ideas welcome.

[Timelord2067]

I don't suppose you happened to run a "black light" on either the image, or the picture frame?  Some puzzles are hidden in plane sight (quite literally)  Before you unravel the puzzle, you have to know what the puzzle is (the dots etc could just be a clue).  Have you searched online for anything similar?  It could be the couple in the center image were both into crypto pre 2016 and manufactured the piece of art themselves.

Thanks for sharing.

[relayd]

I don't own a blacklight, any suggestions on a cheap one? I tried passing a light source through a blue filter, not sure if that's how it works, but didn't see anything.

Wouldn't blue channel expose anything on the print if there was something hidden? For example it works to make the yellow dot pattern pop out in the scan.

Frame I disposed of a while ago as I broke it apart to see if anything was hidden inside of it, so that's gone.

Thanks for the suggestion btw, I've thought about it as well.

[Darker45]

@Mbitr, thanks for the suggestion but that sub-forum appears to be more of a marketplace. I'm just trying to see if anyone has any ideas regarding this image.

I have seen threads on the Collectibles section which are neither buying and selling nor auction, so I guess you can try raising this one there. If this piece of art is something worth collecting and has value more than its face value, someone might have already come across this and knows a thing or two. The Collectibles section has a lot of experts on Bitcoin-related artifacts.

Does the photo have a sign or some sort of scribble at the back?

[relayd]

No back of it is blank white, thanks for the suggestion may post it there later if nothing comes up here.

[Lorence.xD]

No back of it is blank white, thanks for the suggestion may post it there later if nothing comes up here.

Maybe black light is your only hope so far because there seems to be no clue as to what is behind that, maybe try to Google search the image, maybe that can give you some clue or check if there is a way where it can be scanned like an RFID or something like that.

[bL4nkcode]

Try to search this online but unfortunately can't find the same image/frame you had. If you can remember where you bought this online or offline then people can help you for good.

But as for the collectibles that has private keys, all of them have the wallet address displayed on the collectible with a hologram (optional) and private key printed on the back or somewhere hidden in the collectible and its obvious a private key no need to decipher or whatsoever not unless someone make a bitcoin puzzle put in that frame.

Now if you think that its a collectors item then why not sell it in the collectible section but if you think its not then do whatever you want to do bout it.

[relayd]

Not a collectors item, it was something someone clearly made and donated to a thrift store. Maybe even an employee printed and put it in a frame, thrift stores sell all types of painted and printed pictures & picture frames. Many times people clean their houses and donate stuff to be sold at thrift stores. It's possible there was something here but it was removed before it was donated, maybe a wedding gift at some point or maybe a type of paper wallet someone made and was later donated by mistake, or maybe someone made a puzzle or something. Who knows.

The question is if there is a hidden bitcoin wallet embedded in here, probably not but there is always a small chance. Just an oddity, wanted to see what people think and if there was some known easy way to embed codes that survive print/copying. Or maybe the creator will see it. Yellow dot pattern or Machine Identification Code is one way to survive printing, there is one embedded in here but that could just be from a printer, best it could tell me is the date when this was printed. But I cannot decipher it 100%, it uses a 15x8 format but doesn't follow the only single decipher of such format at all.

This is the known eff pattern for some xeros printers, the one i found doesn't follow this format at all but it does correspond to 15x8.


The only numbers I can get out of my pattern (which I haven't posted) that can even correspond to date are 8, 12 & 16.
It cannot be August or December of 2016 because I bought it before that
So I guess it could be 2012, 2008 would be impossible.
8 & 12 are next to each other so maybe August 16th 2012.
Or it could all be wrong, not sure.