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The Secret (a treasure hunt) / Image 12
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Image 12

Page history last edited by Oregonian 6 months ago

General notes on Image 12

  • This is the image for November and the immigration reference is to Russia.
  • This image is thought to be linked to Verse 10 and a casque in the New York City area.
  • Please note: This image contains several visual references to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island.  Both sites are important historical landmarks where treasure hunting is completely prohibited.  There is no chance that the New York casque is buried at either of these sites, and attempting a dig on either island would very likely result in serious criminal charges.  Please don't even attempt it.  The visual references to these two islands in Image 12 strongly suggest that one should see the islands on the way to an ultimate destination in a less sensitive spot somewhere on the perimeter of the New York harbor.

 

 

Image 12

 

Specific Observations

  Please record your notes about this image in the list below.  Use the letter/number grid to identify the point on the image that you're describing.  To keep things organized, 1) please start each observation with a letter/number combo (in bold), and 2) add new observations in the right place on the list to keep everything alphabetized.

  • A4 - The bird's right wing appears to form a "3" at the uppermost tip.
  • B5 - In the gap between the ends of the bird's wings, where we should see the edge of the window, we only see the wall.
  • C3, C6, & C7 - The colored dot patterns are similar to those used in the Ishihara test for color blindness.
  • C6 - The head of the bird is similar to at least two monuments in the New York area (see below).
  • D3 - The doorway could represent Ellis Island, the doorway to America.
  • D4 - The dark rectangle could be the World Trade Center (completed in 1973 and destroyed in 2001) or it could be the berth where ships docked at Ellis Island.
  • D5 - The building shown as an outline has the onion domes that are commonly (but not exclusively) found on Russian Orthodox churches.  They could also be a match for the spires on the main building at Ellis Island (see below).
  • D6 - The face is a good match for the face on the Statue of Liberty (see below).
  • D7 - The time on the clock is 11:00, indicating the month of November.
  • E6 - There are patches of slightly browner skin above the neckline on the dress.  The shape might be significant (although it would be very small in the printed book).
  • F4 - The flower is a chrysanthemum, the birth flower for November.
  • F5 - The shadow on her sleeve is a close representation of Roosevelt Island when the image is flipped sideways and rotated 180 degrees (see below).
  • F,G6 - The sash on the woman's dress is a stylized representation of Manhattan, flipped from top to bottom (see below).
  • F6 to H6 - There appears to be the face of a lion hidden in the wrinkles of the woman's dress (see below). 
  • J5, K6, J7 & K7 - The small shapes below the dress could represent the islands in New York Harbor: Ellis Island, Liberty Island, and Governors Island.  There isn't an obvious match for the fourth shape.
  • J5-7 & K6-7 - The three droplets and one jewel may represent the other four boroughs of NYC with Brooklyn being the jewel (2nd largest of the four and 2nd largest borough).
  • J6 - The distinctive shape formed by the bottom of the dress is often interpreted as a match for Manhattan (because of its position, hanging down from above) but it is actually a stronger match for a rotated outline of Staten Island (see below).
  • K6 - The jewel is a topaz, the birth stone for November.
  • L3 - There appears to be a lion or some other animal in the waves (see below).
  • M3 to M8 - A breaking wave forms a ridge of water.  If the wave is in a bay, it could be considered a "bay ridge," possibly in reference to that neighborhood in Brooklyn.
  • O6 - There appears to be a "74" in the water (see below).

 

 

The Image 1 - Image 12 Connection:

  • Image 1, the first painting in The Secret, is paired in several ways with this final painting, Image 12. Most obviously, these two images are the only paintings in The Secret to have a narrow shape with a rounded top. The shape is very similar to the interior opening in each of the two towers of the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge (see photo below).  Both images also feature a solitary woman in flowing robes, and the dotted background behind the dragon in the front panel of the dress in Image 1 is very similar to the dotted areas that appear at the top of Image 12.
  • Beyond the visual similarities, Images 1 and 12 are also linked in their meanings.  The casques associated with those two images are thought to be located in major port cities - San Francisco and New York - on opposite sides of the country.  Those cities have been shaped and defined by immigration and by the millions of people who arrived in America through their ports.  The entrances to both harbors are spanned by huge and historic suspension bridges that mark the entrance to a new country and a new world.
  • The two images may also be linked by the mythology behind The Secret.  Image 1 features a dragon and Image 12 possibly includes the legendary dragon-slayer Saint George.
  • In both images, the nose on the female figure is directly above the jewel. The vertical line that passes through the nose and jewel in this image is exactly the same line that passes through the nose and jewel in Image 12. 

 

 

Other Notes: 

  • By combining the longitude (74) and the visual references to the Statue of Liberty, we can direct this search to the New York metropolitan area.  The images of breaking waves and islands in a sea of blue suggest that we should focus on the area around New York Bay.  There are at least three strong references to Ellis Island in the picture, but Ellis is north of Liberty Island and would not allow visitors to "gaze north to the isle of B."  If "isle of B." is Liberty Island, we should be somewhere south of that in New York Bay.  A line heading directly south of Liberty Island would pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and head out to sea without ever hitting land, but presumably "north" is meant more as a general direction.  The combination of evidence suggests that we should be looking for a place near the waterfront, in either Brooklyn or Staten Island, where one could have a view northwards to the Statue of Liberty.
  • For historic aerial views of New York City, try using NYCityMap. For historical photos of New York City, try using the Photo Gallery of the NYC Department of Records.  ("The online gallery now totals more than 900,000--the largest collection of historical images of New York City in the world.")

 

 

 

 

Image Matches

  The face is a very strong match for the Statue of Liberty.  Note the turn of the head, the parted hair, the broad forehead that shades the eyes, the long straight nose, and the pursed lips with the slight frown.

 

Statue of Liberty image by calestyo on Flickr
Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License

 

 

 


  Many searchers automatically assume that the bird in the image is a reference to the well-known and iconic sculptures on the Chrysler Building, but it doesn't have the same overbite and the beak is much longer relative to the head.

  The bird is actually a much better match to the stone birds on top of the Ferry Building at Ellis Island.  Note:

  • the longer beak,
  • the thinner "eyebrow" over the eye,
  • the lack of an overbite,
  • the open mouth,
  • the narrow gap where the points of the upper and lower beaks almost touch, and
  • the small tongue lifted into the gap between the beaks.

 

This is one of the strongest visual matches in all of The Secret.


  The blue spires shown in profile are a reasonable match for the domes at the four corners of the main building at Ellis Island.
 
Ellis Island by Anita363, on Flickr
Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic License   by Anita363
The arched panels at the top of the picture could be a representation of the windows in the buildings at Ellis Island.  Several of the Ellis windows are arched, although none of them are a perfect match for the shapes in the picture.
New York Pictures - Part 1 till December by Jeff Summers, on Flickr
Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License   by Jeff Summers
Ellis Island window by dlm7155, on Flickr
Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License   by dlm7155
Ellis Island Immigration Station Façade by AndrewHavis, on Flickr
Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License   by AndrewHavis
  The overall narrow, arched shape of Image 12 resembles the opening inside each tower of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.  (This is a Google maps image from Fort Hamilton Triangle.)
  The gray rectangle at the top is a very strong match for the channel where ships once docked at Ellis Island.  The channel currently even has the same red outline around it, although it isn't yet known whether that feature is a new addition or was present in 1980.

  The unusual sleeves on the woman's dress form a diamond shape around her central torso.  With the circle formed by the head and neckline, and with the hands extended out of the sleeves on each side, the woman appears to be forming the shape of an inverted baseball diamond.

 

(Simplified baseball diagram taken from Wikimedia and used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)

 

  There appears to be the face of a lion or some other animal hidden in the wrinkles of the woman's dress. 

 

  The image on the left shows the dress as it appears in the original, with only half the "face" showing. 

 

  The image in the middle shows the same dress segment with a reflection added down the middle of the "face" so both halves are shown.

 

  The image on the far right shows a stone carving of a lion on the Richmond County Supreme Court in St. George, Staten Island.  The wall with the carving faces the terminal for the Staten Island Ferry.

 


  The lower part of the dress is often assumed to be a representation of the southern tip of Manhattan, but it is actually a closer match to the northern tip of Staten Island rotated 180 degrees. 

 

  Start at the upper left corner of the dress and the Staten Island image and imagine going along it as a driver going along a racecourse: long straight, sharp left turn, short straight, broad right turn, straight, broad U-turn at the lowest point, shallow bulge to the right and back, another shallow bulge to the right followed by a left turn and a long straightaway.  The angles and lengths are slightly distorted, but all the curves are in the correct order, scale, and orientation to represent Staten Island.

 

  There is a representation of Manhattan in the image and it's in the long, narrow sash worn by the woman.  The sash has to be flipped from top-to-bottom to see the comparison.

 

  In the usual (maddening) way of The Secret, this "Sash-hattan" captures all the major curves of the outline but distorts them just enough so that the shape is not immediately recognizable.

  The crashing waves at the lower left appear to form a clawed, upright animal facing sideways, similar to the design of the lion in the Royal Standard of Scotland.  This might connect to the possible reference to Sir Walter Scott in Verse 10.

 

  The lower image at right is a picture from a building at 450 95th Street in Brooklyn, near Fort Hamilton Triangle.  The building is called "Lyon Court" and has a blue line running just below the roofline with a repeated image on it.

  The other bit of crashing foam, to the right of the lion, is almost certainly another representation of something important.  One interpretation is that it shows a plumed knight on a rearing white horse.  If so, the figure would very likely be Saint George, who rode on a white horse to slay a dragon.  The representation of St. George in the final painting of the book would be a symbolic counterpoint to the representation of a dragon in Image 1.

 

  The painting at far right is St. George and the Dragon by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted sometime around 1504 and is now housed in the Louvre in Paris.

 

  The Staten Island Ferry docks in the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island.

 

  The patterns in the waves may show the forked trunk of a young tree, turned sideways.  The swirling patterns of dark and light areas would be a good match for a sycamore.  

 

 

Latitude / Longitude Hints

  There appears to be a "74" in the waves below the woman's dress.  The line for 74 degrees west (longitude) runs through lower Manhatten and Brooklyn.  The Statue of Liberty is only slightly further west at 74.04 degrees.
 
  The latitude of New York City ranges from 40.5 to 40.9 degrees north, but there do not appear to be any hints about latitude in the image.  There is a very clear "3" at the tip of the bird's wing, but that number by itself would make no sense as either a latitude or longitude.

Some people have suggested that the shape above the "74" could be a number of some kind, but it it more likely to be a representation of the Eye of Horus, similar to ones seen in some of the other images.

 

 

 

The Fair Folk Link

Page 10 of The Secret shows a map of the origins of the Fair Folk described in the book.

 

The immigration reference for Image 12 is Russia, Tartary, Poland Hungary. The map lists the species of Fair Folk that hail from that region as: Vazily, Lesy, Poleviki, Domivye, Vily, Ruskalki.  If the fairy from each painting is a depiction of one of the Fair Folk from the same country of origin as the immigration reference, the creature pictured in Image 12 is likely a Rusalka (singular of Rusalki).

 

It is possible this information factors into the solution.

 

Description  Features & Characteristics 

Ivan Kramskoi, The Mermaids, 1871 (Aka Drowned Maidens, Russian: Rusalka)

A Rusalka is a water nymph from Russia.

 

A female spirit that came to be associated with a woman who had suffered a tragic fate by committing suicide or especially by being drowned by murder or suicide. 

A female water spirit to be feared. 

 

Her purpose is to lure young men to their deaths, often via drowning. Seduced by her looks or voice.

 

Similar to a Siren of the Greek tradition. 

 

 

 

The woman depicted in Image 12 hovering above the water may be a Rusalka.

She is associated with water in the painting, as is a Rusalka.

 

Though a Rusalka is associated with rivers or lakes in folklore, the water reference in Image 12 is thought by many to be linked to NY Harbor.

 

The long and flowing white robe the figure in Image 12 is wearing looks very similar to the garments shown in the painting above. Perhaps the artist was familiar with this work. 

 

 

 

 

Questions, questions, questions...

  • Does the dock area at Ellis Island actually have that red outline on all three sides?
  • Did the dock area have the same red outline in 1980?
  • Could the colored dots actually represent a pattern that was present on the floor or ceiling of the old Whitehall Ferry Terminal before it burned down in 1991?

 


 

Proposed solutions:

 


 

 

Alternate Contact info: 

 

Permissions Process:

 


 

Comments (Show all 73)

AlexK said

at 2:56 pm on Feb 13, 2018

Thanks Drumm, that changes everything about a lot of theories. I just hope she was speaking from fact. If not, it would be a horrible diversion lol

Drumman said

at 11:40 pm on Feb 16, 2018

I'd also like to note that I believe the sash, when flipped, better matches Manhattan (and the Bronx) than the even the bottom of her dress.
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/123823872/Img12Sash-hattan.png

If that matches, take a wild guess where the black line approximately points...

Oregonian said

at 8:17 am on Feb 17, 2018

Great catch! I'm sure you're right about the flipped outline.

(I also love the name "Sash-hattan." I used that when I added your image to the page.)

AlexK said

at 12:11 pm on Feb 17, 2018

Stash-Hattan is a good theory not brought up before, at least to my knowledge. And if you are right, that black line is pointing towards Battery park, downtown Manhattan area. Maybe the line is an indicator for Broadway? Someone had theorized before that the Isle. of B could be the Aisle of Broadway. In any case, great find Drumman. I will be working on this for a few days, I am sure LOL

Lori Sobota said

at 8:44 am on Feb 17, 2018

One thing I noticed, for whatever it's worth and I'm sure someone has already noted this. Looking at the images from Chicago and Cleveland, and the specific location where the casques were found. Those are placed pretty much dead center in the image. Like for Cleveland, the wall is right in the middle of the photo. On the Chicago one, the fence post is also right in the middle of the photo. So if you were apply that here, then it's ultimately got something to do with that sash. Unfortunately, Manhattan is just so darn big :)

AlexK said

at 12:22 pm on Feb 17, 2018

That is a great observation, Lori. I often look at the solved puzzles to see if I can see patterns as well. With all the theories, even with the new Sash-hattan, it all comes back to about 3 or 4 actually digging spots. However, once you are there, the location becomes more illusive. Most parks in NYC go undisturbed thankfully. There are laws to preserve the parks here and not make them into parking lots. Battery park and bowling green for example, have looked the same for decades if not more. You can look at historical paintings and see that bowling green park looked exactly the same over a century ago, with the round fountain and soil surrounding it. Again, I have no idea how deep that soil would be there, but other then that, there is absolutely no loose soil around there.

Drumman said

at 9:48 pm on Feb 18, 2018

Not sure if anyone saw this in the Verse 10 thread (particularly Alex, since you were oon sure today):

Has anyone considered the idea that “east steps” might means stairs instead of paces? I know the number is assumed to be 22 (2x11), which depending on height would probably give a staircase of 1-2 stories. NYC is notoriously flat in topography, but it’s possible that there is some kind of hillock or building entry (it looks like Federal Hall, for example, has 18 steps).

ohowsherocks said

at 5:42 pm on Feb 25, 2018

I was looking at the areas with dots in the "window" at the top and thought they looked like those hidden image picture you had to look at cross eyed to see the picture. After tying that for a while I figured the dots are too big. Then I thought they look like those pictures you had to use a red film to see the true picture/message. Maybe 3D glasses. (blue/red) Has anyone tried this? (Google "hidden picture red filter" if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

MontyMan said

at 11:42 pm on Mar 17, 2018

Found almost an exact match to the window panes. The russian orthodox cathedral of transfiguration of our lord in Brooklyn. Wish I could post a pic.

Mr Toot said

at 9:32 pm on May 2, 2018

I’ll post this again because someone took it down: at C5 in the middle of the gull’s chest is a keystone shape with a typeface B at the center. Could this be the Isle of B from verse 10?

JulieM said

at 9:56 pm on May 2, 2018

B laying on its back?

Kang said

at 9:43 am on May 3, 2018

Trying to see what you're referring to. Do you need to look at the picture upside down in order to see the letter 'B' in it proper orientation?

JulieM said

at 12:46 pm on May 3, 2018

The B is just about mid bird,p. A ref point, draw a line down from where the inner wing crosses the arc. To see as a proper B rotate 90 to the right.

Kang said

at 2:30 pm on May 3, 2018

Hmmm. I see that one now, thanks. Oddly, I also see a completely different one - made of some of the same lines - in the same spot. If the image is upside down. Stranger still, looks like a 'P just left and slightly higher. PB? = BP? = Byron Preiss? Or I'm chasing phantoms. Not sure what to make of it.

JulieM said

at 9:07 pm on May 3, 2018

Sorry, I do another B but not the P

Kang said

at 9:24 pm on May 3, 2018

Again, don't know if this is really here. But this is what I was referring to.
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/126041210/PB.png

JulieM said

at 9:44 pm on May 3, 2018

Yep

JulieM said

at 9:17 pm on May 3, 2018

Hi Kang, I added a photo to the files, sorry I can’t name photos. Anyway I highlighted a second 3 in the wing. No idea why 33

Kang said

at 9:36 pm on May 3, 2018

@JulieM Saw the file you posted. Yes, I think you're right about that one - I noticed that too a while back. Though the 'number' is Definitely 11- There seem to be 3's all over this puzzle. The 3 water droplets, 3 'bubbled' upper panels, 3 Vols (in the verse). There are at least 2 more you can (arguably) find if you flip the flower upside down and zoom in. I believe it's important.

JulieM said

at 10:14 pm on May 3, 2018

Inverted and saw, also noticed the Y or tuning fork in the mum

JulieM said

at 10:43 pm on May 3, 2018

I believe there is a 35 on her chest just above the curve on her dress.

Audimike78 said

at 11:03 am on Aug 1, 2018

could the "74" in the water be a reference to the Step Street on 74th? The steps do run east and west. Also there are 36 steps that I can possibly tell from Google maps. Maybe its really 22 steps (double the clock) up and then north to the isle of B. also when your at the base of the steps the left side is red brick and the right side is "whiteish" stone.

Brad said

at 2:10 am on Dec 7, 2018

OK... I have finally gotten around to taking a better look at this image, and the lack of everything is disturbing me.
Also, the detail and warp of the water is disturbing me as well.
I am thinking it may be ananaorphosis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphosis for anyone interested.
I haven't been able to work it yet, so I may be wrong. One thing is for certain... you will need a solid image for it, not an on-screen one, as the angles required won't allow an image ot be formed on a screen. Some photoshoping may be able to replicate the effect, but you're better off printing it and looking.
This technique has been used since the Rennaisance, and was popular in the 1970's and 80's. So it fits the bill for a possibility.
I see two possible kinds: Perspective in the dress (view it from the bottom of the page, looking above the sash at the wait, and on the left you can see a possible set of letters. I can't make it out, so I might be completely wrong here! It would account for the odd folds in the clothing, especilly on the right sleeve. May also need to look upside down???
The second kind I can see a possibility of is a cylindrical one in the water at the bottom. It may require putting a cylindrical mirror/ reflector somewhere around the point where the wave is breaking in the middle of the page. The curve lines at the bottom of the page could correct themselves if it's placed right. I can see an N, A and possible a P. The same may work for the blue section on the face of the wave. It would possibly require the right sized mirror/reflector to get the correct distortion correction.
I am on the hunt for some shiny things! If anyone finds something there, please post!!!

JT said

at 4:05 pm on Mar 3, 2020

So no one has posted here in years, and I am not from the New York area, so here me out. The gray giant is The Jersey Turnpike in Jersey. The slender path is Highway 78 which heads to New York. The journey leads to Black Tom Island. Obvious helicopter tours may have been in the area for the Statue of Liberty. There is a large parking lot. At the time in the 80's, there was a new grove of tree's being planted in a red soil. Check 1979 aerials on HistoricAerials.com. Those tree's are grown now and it is a shaded picnic area. To the NNE is Ellis Island. The towers of the building line up nicely to the spires in the painting. The blue area of the painting that has the spires has a circular dot that appears to circle a portion of Black Tom Island. Several V junctions exist that 22 steps could be counted from. How the park (former man made island) relates to Indies Native is yet to be determined. If anyone has that connection to the history of Black Tom Island, please respond with it here. Also, if you visit the park and do some recon/probing/gpr, let us know the results here as well. Thanks

JT said

at 4:11 pm on Mar 3, 2020

To be honest, the painting with the Spires is most telling. You can even see Cavens point behind Black Tom Island, and a speck in the blue area east of the "island" that would be the location of Ellis Island. But, the large circle on Black Tom island is most prominent in the painting.

Baraka said

at 5:37 pm on Mar 3, 2020

Could the bird be a representation of the birds on top of some lampposts in Green Bowling Park? It would be interesting to see close up pictures of these birds and see if they are a match. From Google Maps there are no clear pictures but it may appear that birds are different on each lamppost. If a lamppost bird is a close match to the image's bird, it could be the wow moment. Can anyone go there and share some pictures?

Thks

Joecool said

at 5:36 pm on Oct 25, 2020

Hello fellow searchers! I haven't been involved in the search for the casque in New York, mostly concentrating on the San Francisco search. But me and my lovely wife (a NYC native) have what we think is a dead on solution for the New York puzzle. It's not a conventional or a consensus solution though, so if you trust the current solutions are correct and just need a bit more luck to find the casque, then our solution is not for you. Note we are using the images and the poems just like Preiss wrote them, nothing wacky or out of the ordinary, just a different base assumption. Every item in the verse and most of the items in the image fall perfectly in line. So if you would like to do some field work and join us in this solution, just drop me a line. We're out in San Francisco, and won't be going to NYC any time soon, so we need some local help. Cheers!

Limey said

at 11:29 am on Oct 9, 2022

The folds in the dress at G6 are very similar to the sculpting above the doors of Trinity Church NYC, in fact the general pose of the figure in image 12 is similar too.
https://citybeautifulblog.com/2021/01/08/trinity-church-on-wall-street-since-17th-century/#jp-carousel-3497

Jim B said

at 1:00 pm on Oct 9, 2022

Very interesting. I see the similarity in the folds in the lower right portion. The location of the church also fits with the area the puzzle seems to be leading us. BTW, I agree with your “grey giant” assessment from your previous comment.

Limey said

at 7:29 am on Oct 16, 2022

Thanks Jim B, and of course Trinity Church is the resting place of Alexander Hamilton.
I also think that Brooklyn could be a good location possibility too:
The woman’s dress is a match for Manhattan and I think that the three water droplets and the jewel below her dress (J5-7 & K6-7) represent the other four boroughs of NYC. The jewel appears to be the second largest in size and Brooklyn is the second largest of the boroughs. Manhattan has been depicted as the giant and the jewel is in its shadow – like Brooklyn is overshadowed by Manhattan, figuratively speaking. Brooklyn connections – Fort Hamilton, George Gershwin (“Rhapsodic Man” – Russian/Jewish), Isaac Asimov (“him of Hard word in 3 Vols” – writer of Hard science fiction and author of the “Foundation” Trilogy– Russian/Jewish), Byron Preiss himself, the ‘rampant lion’ in the water spray at M4 is a good connection to the motif on the Lyon Court building at 450 95th Street in Brooklyn just below the roofline as mentioned already and the building outline at D5 is a good match for the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord in Brooklyn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Cathedral_of_the_Transfiguration_of_Our_Lord

Jim B said

at 6:47 pm on Oct 23, 2022

Limey, as someone who subscribed to to the Asimov magazine back in the day, I like the idea that him of Hard word could be Asimov. That being said, he was alive and well when the verse was written, so not sure PB would have used him in a clue.
Also, one of the most famous lions in NYC are the Patience Lions in front of the main library. https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/library-lions They’re in Manhattan (not Brooklyn) but on the way there from the Intrepid.

Limey said

at 5:35 am on Oct 30, 2022

Yes Jim B, the fact that Asimov was alive at the time I thought could be a clue that “… still speak” is referring to a person still alive. I think that the NYC Public Library lions, or one of them, is a close likeness to the lion face in the sash when the half face is mirrored to make a complete face as in the “Image Matches” section above, and yes good point, on the way from Intrepid, on 5th Avenue.
The other lion shape in the water spray at M4 is very close to the Lyon Court roof line repeated motif as, again, already observed in the “Images Matches” section above.
Also, the Hamilton coat of arms features a rampant lion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_family#:~:text=The%20Hamiltons%20of%20Grange%20descended%20from%20Walter%20de,III%20of%20Scotland%20given%20between%201390%20and%201406.

Limey said

at 9:38 am on Oct 23, 2022

When the image is flipped sideways and rotated 180 degrees, the shadow on her sleeve at F5 is a close representation of Roosevelt Island. The Roosevelt Island Bridge could be the “arm that
Extends over the slender path” (East River Channel) connecting the Island to Queens Borough, and is a vertical lift bridge which could be the “whirring sound” when it’s rising. Also the island side of the bridge gives direct access to the Motorgate Parking Garage where “Cars abound”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Island_Bridge

Limey said

at 5:38 am on Oct 30, 2022

Image uploaded comparing the sleeve shadow and Roosevelt Island.
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/150898407/sleeve_F5.jpeg

Limey said

at 2:30 pm on Nov 8, 2022

The shape of the wave near the bottom right of the image at M7-8 looks like one of the Bison in a diorama in The American Museum of Natural History NYC. Not sure if it was an exhibit in the early 80’s.
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/151016778/image12_bison.jpg

Limey said

at 10:46 am on Jun 24, 2023

While looking back at old threads for Image12, I came across this post on the Q4T site from ‘varin’ who sees a whale in the water on the left side, and I see it too. http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/153496044/image12_whale_image_in_sea.jpg
Were whales common in NY harbour back then? (it seems have them now), or at the NY aquarium (or a mural there?), I know that the John J. Carty Park had a kids one but later on, or maybe it’s a reference to the old Whale Oil Petroleum Company in Whale Square Brooklyn.
A possible connection I make is to Herman Melville for his novel “The Whale” (or “Moby Dick”). The book was first published in the UK in 1851 in 3 volumes, and also he was quoted as saying “A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things”.
http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/153496047/the-whale-melville_3_vols.jpg
I thought I’d found the letters of his name in the lines “The natives still speak Of him of Hard word in 3 Vols.”, (which seems like a cryptic crossword type clue) but it’s missing an ‘M’!

Limey said

at 10:47 am on Jun 24, 2023

‘Hamilton’ fits in though - The Federalist Papers 1st printed under the pseudonym ‘Publius’ (hard word – Latin?), the 1st 77 essays printed in 3 different newspapers (Vols.?) and then later in two volumes and then the last 8 essays in the New York papers (3rd vol.).
If the Japanese “Chicken” hint is to be believed as correct and not misunderstood in translation, then I’m thinking it’s got to be Dickens (studied by the native students at a nearby high school).

Limey said

at 10:49 am on Jun 24, 2023

Sorry, 1st comment should read "I came across a post on the Q4T site..."

Limey said

at 11:15 am on Jul 1, 2023

The window panels behind the bird at grid reference B5/C5 are a pretty close colour match to the R15 NYC subway car livery. These ran until the mid 80’s - http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/153552261/R15_NYC_train.jpg
and see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R15_(New_York_City_Subway_car)
There’s been one in the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn since 1976.

Limey said

at 9:46 am on Jul 8, 2023

I think that ‘Liberty’s’ right sleeve is the key and location marker. The unusual shadow under her nose looks like a pointer pointing to the sleeve. http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/file/153612699/image12_casque_location_marker_resized.jpg
See my full solve on the Verse 10 page.

A question – why is the Topaz jewel blue in Image 12?
Why didn’t BP or JJP make it orange?
As The Litany of the Jewels states - “A Topaz is the Russian prize: The royal sunstone, frozen fire”.
Sounds ‘orangey’ to me, see:
https://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/imperial-topaz/imperial-topaz-info.php
And I know you can get blue Topaz but it looks remarkably like the jewel in Image 10 which if the German connection is correct should be a purple Amethyst, which may have been discoloured in printing, but not the Topaz. All the other paintings seem to have correct coloured jewels.
Just seems strange to me.

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