What causes this?

[Deleted User]

Most of this ebay sellers coins look like this. What causes it?
Improper storage?
In some kind of fire?
We're these slabs problem slabs?
Looks weird and really something I haven't seen much.
I'd like to learn a little about it.

gumby1234

The slabs are fine. I would guess that it is the sellers photographs making the coins look that way.

Flatwoods

I think they are scans. I know a dealer that has great coins but all of his pics look like that.

Eric_Babula

I agree with @Flatwoods - looks like a bad scanner. I'm guessing the coins look much nicer in hand than these pics. But, if you're planning on buying, I'd request better pics - even if shot with his cell phone.

dsessom

Yep, what the others said. Those are scans, not photos from a camera. Scanning is faster for dealers with a lot of inventory. It's unfortunate for the seller because scans make coins look lifeless more often than not.

TomB

Agreed about scanners. Less than two decades ago our options were film photography or scanners and those are typical images for scanning coins.