Heritage, the "experts" in coin photography according to Coin World

K6AZ

This was just brought to my attention. This coin is currently being offered by Heritage in an internet only auction that did not sell:

Heritiage 1896-O Barber Dime

Now it just so happens that I imaged this exact dime last year for a guy who was selling his collection. Keep in mind that at the time I was still using a Nikon 4300 camera. Now these "experts" according to Coin World not only don't feel a five thousand dollar coin is worth a digipic, they can't even manage to do a scan right. Incredible.

jonesy

I'd say the buyer is going to be thrilled!!

RYK

One who buys a coin from Heritage on the basis of the picture and the written description (there is none for this coin) leaves much to chance. For an inexpensive coin, it might be worth the gamble. For an expensive coin, for my money, no way.

darktone

I think their pictures are pretty good. Sometimes certain coins just don't photograph well and I don't think they take dozens of shots of each coin to choose from. To take as many pics as they do they probably only do one of each side and the hard to photograph coins suffer- although the Barber dime pictured was botched by them! mike

K6AZ

Mike, I could understand that theory if this was a $100 coin. But it is a $5000 coin, and obviously did not meet the reserve in the internet only auction. With the amount of business they do, if they hired an extra person who really has a handle on digitial photography, I think that person would more than pay for their salary. I know a lot of people who will not bid on the Heritage auctions unless they can see the coin themselves or have someone they trust look at it.

seanq

Bring this up enough in here and maybe you can get a free lunch out of it, too.

Seriously, Greg at Heritage has been willing to listen to criticism (constructive or otherwise) here before, why not drop him a note directly and lay out your concerns (or even make him an offer)?


Sean Reynolds

swhuck

K6AZ, we would like to thank you and the other posters in this thread for pointing out the differences in the images for this 1896-O dime. We have reshot this coin, and you can see the results at http://www.heritagecoins.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=25022&Lot_No=13363.

If you see an image on our website that can clearly use improvement, please let us know at bid@heritagecoins.com, and we will do our best to arrange for a fix.

kieferscoins

http://www.heritagecoins.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=25022&Lot_No=13363

michael

wow which planet are these coin photography experts supposed to be on? certianly not on the planet earth

K6AZ

Stewart, with all due respect, I don't understand why you've redone an image after a coin did not sell. The time to get decent images is before you offer it. I really don't understand using scans for $5,000 coins.

morgannut2

K6AZ-Add me to the list of non-bidders/ non-sellers at Heritage, until at least they make an effort to improve their images.