Flowing Hair Dollar Heritage Win.....deceptive pics! MY PICS POSTED!

AnkurJ

I won this coin in a Heritage auction, and had posted pics taken by Heritage before:



I received the coin today, and at first I thought it was the wrong coin! But it is in fact the correct one. The surfaces do not have any original skin or patina. They are completely SILVER! This tells me the coin has had an old cleaning or dip. Heritage obviously took the pic under yellow light, indicating some skin. The coin is nice, but it has been cleaned.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Sucks....dontit?

Ankur


Here are my pics:

Under an ott light:


Under a regular yellow light:


So, what does everyone think now?
Ankur

LanLord

If the pic were in yellow lights, why is the plastic white?

tightbudget

Got after pics?

notwilight

I can't see the photos but I've taken thousands of them and it can be hard to get it right. In my opinion it is much more likely unintentional. It is easy to get a photo wrong but hard to predict what will be wrong with it. sounds like a lighting/white balance issue. I'm sure I've had the same problem myself because I think I must have had all the problems by now.--Jerry

greghansen

I'd like to see other images, but even the Heritage images are suggestive of a cleaning IMO. Based on the images alone I would strongly suspect hairlines running in a 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock orientation. Probably would have had a buddy look at that one before I bid blind based on the images. Those ED's are notoriously hard to grade based on images since coins of the same technical grade can have VASTLY different eye appeal in person.

AnkurJ

Will post pics tonight.

Halfhunter06

do you have new pics?

OregonCityGold

I'd be pissed if I bid $3,450 (with juice) for that coin and it was bright silver. It seems like most of these old silver coins are cleaned to some degree, but considering the dark Heritage photo, the description "...significantly circulated yet pleasing Very Good example. Silver-gray surfaces show extensive golden-tan overtones with few digs or overt marks...," plus the fact that it's in an NGC holder, I would expect to get a decent-looking, lightly-cleaned, retoning coin, not a bright coin. This is a good reminder to be careful bidding sight-unseen at Heritage.

richardshipp

It looks nice in the first photos posted.

stman

If the coin is white than that might be a problem. Sorry but you say it might have been cleaned or dipped. I would hope when buying coins such as this you could tell the difference. Also.....

<< <i>The surfaces do not have any original skin or patina >>



And from the Heritage image you posted it certainly doesn't look like it does either. No happy talk here.

TomB

Heritage images are generally lacking and I think most folks understand that going into an auction. It seems a stretch to state that this coin is completely silver with no tone at all, but even if it is I would attribute it to the poor imaging department at Heritage and not to any conspiracy.

tmcsr69

For whatever reason, I personally have more problems with the NGC slabbed coins than PCGS when taking pics. Colors never appear right to me.

cmerlo1

<< <i>For whatever reason, I personally have more problems with the NGC slabbed coins than PCGS when taking pics. Colors never appear right to me. >>



Tom-

The white in the holder really messes with the exposure, forcing my camera to overcorrect. I usually have to manually adjust the exposure to get it right...

--Christian

GoldenEyeNumismatics

after seeing your pics, I don't feel the Heritage pictures were particularly deceptive.

ChrisRx

Awaiting the new pics verdict!

commoncents05

Any better? I did the "I'm feeling lucky" button on Picasa.



-Paul

pmac

Does Heritage really massage their photos? Maybe I'm a little naive, but with all the coins that they auction, to alter the looks through photography would almost seem counterproductive. I'm sure like most large businesses, time is money and to mess with a coin would cause lost time with a customer sending a coin back with many questions.

quickwing

As I said in my thread Auction Vs. Dealers you're better off having a trusted dealer at the auction WITH THE COIN IN HAND buy it for you. 5% for a real pro to say yes or no AND bid will usually be a long term saving.

AnkurJ

Picasa pic not a good rep. Ill take it when i get home from work with an ott light.

Ankur

Justacommeman

<<Does Heritage really massage their photos?>> I'm sure on some of the high end coins they get some extra TLC in the photography process. However, I've been told most coins get herded through 10 seconds or so a coin.........MJ

OregonCityGold

Edit: the coin doesn't look too bad - cleaned yes, but probably market-acceptable, IMHO. I've seen worse in PCGS plastic.

AnkurJ

Still a nice coin, but clearly not original. It has most definitely been cleaned at one point or another.

Ankur

doh

I think the coin looks pretty decent actually. Maybe it's had an old cleaning or dip, but so have most Bust coins. I think you should be ecstatic that the coin looks so much nicer in person than in the sub-par Heritage pics. My two cents.

Placid

Not a bad coin for the grade in my opinion. The Heritage pics do make it look darker but also make the friction marks pop more.

pcgs69

If your pics are representative of the real color, I still think it looks rather decent.

How do those few whispy slide marks near the face show in person?

AnkurJ

<< <i>If your pics are representative of the real color, I still think it looks rather decent.

How do those few whispy slide marks near the face show in person? >>



It is a nice coin. Matches my half dime and my half dollar. Was just a bit surprised when it looked totally different in person. The marks on the face are on the slab.
Ankur

coinpictures

Color me stupid, but I think it actually looks nicer in AnkurJ's pictures than in Heritage's pictures. I know I'm not an expert on early silver, but to my eye it looks like a very nice coin. In fact it looks more cleaned in the Heritage pics than in the final pics.

It's a VG, not an AU...

AnkurJ

Now...will she cross to PCGS????

commoncents05

Here is their description:

Silver-gray surfaces show extensive golden-tan overtones with few digs or overt marks.


-Paul

ChrisRx

That coin looks pretty darn normal for the grade. In fact, be glad the coin does not look 100% like the heritage picture because it does not look like any 1795 in-hand.

TomB

The coin in your images looks pretty darn close to the Heritage images.

ziggy29

When I use "white correction" to make the white insert in the slab white instead of yellowed, I get almost exactly the image you shot.

jdillane

Not a bad lookin' VG IMO. I also wondered about the slide marks in the Heritage images. Those would be of greater concern to me.

Sure she may not be totally original but looks like she's had lots of time to accrue a replacement patina, esp if your second image of the obv is representative.