The Instagram Single-Face TrueView

Zoins

The standard TrueViews are great and I love them, but sometimes it's nice to show a single face of a coin or even both faces vertically.

PCGS does this on their Instagram account where they show single-face TrueViews. The images have the TrueView logo but no cert number yet for verification purposes. But overall, it's a great effect for their Instagram site.

I love these so much for certain applications that I've started collecting my coins and tokens with these single-face TrueViews.

Should I start an Instagram account?

Here's one of my favorites which was formerly owned by @DCW!

I love the slogan "Time is Money" so much, I wonder if this should become my new avatar

ctf_error_coins

Instagram is a visual place.

Users want bold full frame coins with great eye appeal in their face.

Images must look good in a thumbnail so a single full frame image is best.

Images are square so a long horizontal image is not preferable.

Yes Zions, you should join Instagram.

TurtleCat

The standard TrueView look is just one. I know that when I've gotten TVs in the past it had separate pics for obverse/reverse and several combined. For whatever reason PCGS doesn't make it easy to get back to the individual obv/rev pics they take from a cert verify. I wish they would.

ElmerFusterpuck

You should absolutely start an Instagram account. Come on in, there isn't really too much pee in the water.

coinsarefun

I just can’t figure out why you haven’t joint yet? What took you so long ?

ricko

Those are very nice pictures.... I do not spend much time there... will have to visit and look it over more. Usually just go when messaged or referenced. Cheers, RickO

Zoins

So I've been experimenting with Instagram.

Here's my account. It's still early so it's unknown how active I'll be as I'm still in the experimentation phase.

https://www.instagram.com/mintminder/

One cool thing is that you can create collections so you can swipe across photos. This way, a horizontal TrueView can be split and it seems like one photo that you swipe across. In the grid view, it just looks "ok" but in the mobile app, it's cool that you can screen between them as so. The screen show below is actually two photos that are being viewed together "mid-swipe".

On my account the WLH is a split TrueView while the Die Cap is two separate single-face TrueViews.

What do people like better?

A disappointment is that you can't add links to posts. I was hoping to link to forum threads but alas it's not supported on Instagram.

Here's what it looks like on the web with one side at a time:

Bigtree

Welcome to IG! I just followed you. I mostly use IG to look at cool coins and to show off/document my collection. Mobile is the way to go for IG; I almost never use it on my computer because the interface seems clunky in comparison.

I wouldn’t be shy about following as many coin-related accounts as you can early on. You’ll quickly learn to sort the wheat from the chaff, and the fastest way to get eyeballs on your posts (if that’s what you’re after) is to follow other accounts.

I think both ways of showing the TVs are nice. I prefer the cleaner look of the single-face TVs, but that’s just personal preference.

Zoins

Good advice @Bigtree!

Thanks for following me @Bigtree @coinsarefun @sparky64!

It's good to see how others post on IG.

I see that a few people cut the horizontal TrueViews in half but it may be useful to have it done automatically, like in an app, for a smooth swipe.

I tend to like more information, like cert numbers, and I see the way to do it with the single-face TVs is to add another photo of the slab like @ErrorsOnCoins does.

P0CKETCHANGE

I usually circle crop the TV and post each side separately. As others have said, that format fits better with the medium. I do proactively give credit to PCGS for the photography, as commenters always ask how I got such a good shot.

ctf_error_coins

I do not post TrueViews, But I sometimes post two photos side by side making a long rectangle.

Instagram wants a square image.

So I add white background to my double image to make it a square as seen below ..

DelawareDoons

Some of my most recent TV's come with one siders. It's a nice change and probably isn't extra work as most photo editing at PCGS is automated from my understanding.

PhilLynott

I use an app called "Circle Crop" cause I like the way the trueviews look with a black background on a lot of coins.

WAYNEAS

Not into IG but like the pictures of the TVs.
Wayne

ctf_error_coins

When I first started, I posted one coin per day for a few weeks to build up followers.

Now I post 2 - 3 coins per week.

I just posted a very cool coin a few minutes ago

(edit) took about 2 minutes to get an offer on that coin. Thinking about accepting, but may put off the decision for a few minutes ...

Zoins

@ErrorsOnCoins said:
When I first started, I posted one coin per day for a few weeks to build up followers.

Now I post 2 - 3 coins per week.

You're up to 1,327 followers which is great!

But why slow down when PCGS has over 36k

I just posted a very cool coin a few minutes ago

(edit) took about 2 minutes to get an offer on that coin. Thinking about accepting, but may put off the decision for a few minutes ...

I know you were coy about whether you're selling coins on IG or not, but now that I see a price followed by "DM", I have to say that looks like selling to me

ctf_error_coins

Of course it is about selling as I am in Business.

But it is way, way more than that.

Like I said before, I am trying to build something.

Mr Lindy

Chris, what is "DM" ?

Some coins are "NFS", I assume not for sale as no price is listed.
Are these yours in your collection or cool errors you've found images of on internet ?
I am interested in learning more about the instagram

@ErrorsOnCoins said:
Of course it is about selling as I am in Business.

But it is way, way more than that.

Like I said before, I am trying to build something.

ctf_error_coins

@LindyS said:
Chris, what is "DM" ?

Some coins are "NFS", I assume not for sale as no price is listed.
Are these yours in your collection or cool errors you've found images of on internet ?
I am interested in learning more about the instagram

@ErrorsOnCoins said:
Of course it is about selling as I am in Business.

But it is way, way more than that.

Like I said before, I am trying to build something.

DM means Direct message like the PM here.

I only post coins that are still in my inventory. (note) a bout a year ago I did post some consignment coins. I no longer have those.

NFS means the coin has sold.

robec

@LindyS DM is the Instagram’s version PM’s here.

robec

Some people take separate screenshots of the obverse and reverse from the TrueView and post them. It makes each photo larger since they don’t have to share the same frame.

The_Dinosaur_Man

I haven't joined instagram either and I'm part of the younger crowd. My friends make fun of me for that. I don't mind Instagram, however after writing code and doing some website work, I prefer going a more customized route with interactive images.

messydesk

I occasionally tell myself to get on Instagram for coin stuff. One of these days, I suppose. I do have some eye candy to share, and some to sell, even.

Mr_Spud

Assuming you want to make it obvious it’s a TrueView number and that it would show the certificate number, Would something like this work as a template?🤔

DCW

Here's one of my favorites which was formerly owned by @DCW!

I love the slogan "Time is Money" so much, I wonder if this should become my new avatar

For sure, that should be your avatar! Great piece and a great design.

Zoins

@robec said:
Some people take separate screenshots of the obverse and reverse from the TrueView and post them. It makes each photo larger since they don’t have to share the same frame.

This is exactly what can be done on Instagram and what I did with my WLH TrueView.

This looks good on Instagram because it looks like one photo when you swipe left and right, but when viewed vertically, like on the forums, it looks strange.

Zoins

@DCW said:

Here's one of my favorites which was formerly owned by @DCW!

I love the slogan "Time is Money" so much, I wonder if this should become my new avatar

For sure, that should be your avatar! Great piece and a great design.

It's my Instagram avatar!

Zoins

@Mr_Spud said:
Assuming you want to make it obvious it’s a TrueView number and that it would show the certificate number, Would something like this work as a template?🤔

That looks nice too and is a possibility.

Is this something Phil @PCGSPhoto can do?

WAYNEAS

@robec said:
Some people take separate screenshots of the obverse and reverse from the TrueView and post them. It makes each photo larger since they don’t have to share the same frame.

Great looking beauty.
Wayne

ElmerFusterpuck

Just followed you out there! Over 95% of my posts have coins, plus some occasional travel postings, I'm up to 3800+ followers now. I'm sure some of them are junk profiles, and I actively block spammers and people who post obvious fakes. But it's been fun the past few years and I've met some great people thru that platform as well as getting some nice coins.

Zoins

@ElmerFusterpuck said:
Just followed you out there! Over 95% of my posts have coins, plus some occasional travel postings, I'm up to 3800+ followers now. I'm sure some of them are junk profiles, and I actively block spammers and people who post obvious fakes. But it's been fun the past few years and I've met some great people thru that platform as well as getting some nice coins.

Wow, 3800+ followers! That's awesome! Congrats

Having to block people is interesting and is something I hadn't considered!

U1chicago

@Zoins said:

@ElmerFusterpuck said:
Just followed you out there! Over 95% of my posts have coins, plus some occasional travel postings, I'm up to 3800+ followers now. I'm sure some of them are junk profiles, and I actively block spammers and people who post obvious fakes. But it's been fun the past few years and I've met some great people thru that platform as well as getting some nice coins.

Wow, 3800+ followers! That's awesome! Congrats

Having to block people is interesting and is something I hadn't considered!

It's not common (at least for me) but sometimes it's best to block certain people. This includes known scammers and spam profiles (you will get the occasional message from a new profile with a shady link-just like the junk emails that go to your spam folder; don't click those and just block them).

Zoins

One thing I just ran across is that the single-face TrueViews do have an important advantage of the "Split TrueView" approach and that's it can be used to show the reverse first easily.

I might try both approaches for a while to see if I can figure out which one gets more likes, like A/B testing