Amazing differences in auction photos-- it truly is difficult to buy coins from a picture

Longacre

A dealer recently posted a blog about the difficultly of buying coins based on an internet photo. Just for a goof, I picked two photos from two different auction companies (different coins and dates, but same grades). It is amazing how different a photo can look, especially if you deal with an auction house that is known for good photos, and one that is not.

RYK

Agree, but you can still get burned with a high quality photo.

BTW, the obverse and reverse of the crummy pics do not match. There's no such thing as an 1852-O $5.

slumlord98

Have you been slumming at "Bowers" and "Merena"? That first set of images is terrible!

fc

the first pic of the reverse appears to be a "C" but i have
a hard time telling from all the putty in my eyes.

if there is one thing i learned here, is not to trust pictures.
make sure you can return the coin if you do not like it.

so i agree with the premise of this thread.