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Four pictures of the same coin (my scan, my photo, Todd's photo, and NGC's "Internet Imaged&quo

lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
Forgive me for posting a Darkside coin, but I think it illustrates perfectly how different one coin can look in a variety of photographs and scans. The devil of it is, I still don't think any of these "nailed" it.

Here's my first picture of the coin, done on a cheapo scanner. This is sort of how it looked in the seller's pictures when I bought it off eBay, only his pictures were even smaller and darker (more like the last picture in this post, actually.)

image


So when I got it, I was delighted to find some beautiful toning that wasn't in the pictures. Here's my feeble attempt at capturing the colors with some handheld shots on my old Mavica camera.

image


Now, we've got a more professional photograph from Todd (blu62vette):

image


And, last (and definitely least), we have the images NGC charged me three bucks for, with their "Internet Imaged" service. Now, mind you, I did not expect something of the caliber of an expensive PCGS "TrueView" photoset for three bucks. But heck, man- I could've done better with my scanner! (In looking at some of the other pictures I got with that submission, I think NGC is also using a scanner.)

(Edit to add: their originals were a bit bigger than this.)

image

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Comments

  • MyqqyMyqqy Posts: 9,777
    Nice looking toner! And i think NGC should figure out a much better way of imaging coins if they are going to charge for the service...
    My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable !
  • Rob beautiful coin to be a Darkside. If I am breaching etiquette please forgive me. May I ask what the coin is worth. I am sure there is somewhere on line I can go to search out a price for this coin but I think I will go straight to the horse's mouth. If you prefer not to say no offense taken. I am just asking because I am curious.

    Ron
    Collect for the love of the hobby, the beauty of the coins, and enjoy the ride.
  • MyqqyMyqqy Posts: 9,777
    Is that a palm tree on the reverse? image
    My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable !
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Catalog value on this coin is only somewhere around ten or twelve bucks. It's ridiculously undervalued in Krause, as a lot of these Victorian issues are. I spent more on the plastic than I did on the coin itself. (And probably will spend more yet, if I go PCGS TrueView with it.)

    It's a tiny little thing- comparable to a US silver three-cent piece or maybe a half dime, but a bit thicker than those. And yes, that is a palm tree on the reverse.

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  • leothelyonleothelyon Posts: 8,349 ✭✭✭✭✭
    But heck, man- I could've done better with my scanner!

    Or with a crayon!

    I think you paid them to take a picture of their own product. There are no closeups of the coin?

    Amazing!

    The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!

    My Jefferson Nickel Collection

  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Well, the original NGC pictures (one exposure to a side) ARE bigger, and you can see more of the coin (I merged them into one picture and downsized 'em to 800 pixels wide for my own purposes), but the fact remains that they are really dull, flat, lackluster images that look to have been made on a scanner, and not even a very good scanner. Mine would do better.

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  • MarkInDavisMarkInDavis Posts: 1,697 ✭✭✭✭
    I guess we can see why Todd is a professional.
    image Respectfully, Mark
  • seanqseanq Posts: 8,568 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The NGC pictures are definitely scans, though they look more like optical scans than digital ones, which in my experience give better detail and less pixelation. I still wish I could find a way to fire up my old Epson optical scanner again, the interface (SCSI) cable is obsolete and I've been told that replacement cables for modern ports will not give me the same results I used to get.


    Sean Reynolds
    Incomplete planchets wanted, especially Lincoln Cents & type coins.

    "Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
  • lcoopielcoopie Posts: 8,692 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nice demonstration
    LCoopie = Les
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Excellent LordM... good demonstration of the difference in picture types and skills of the photographer. Cheers, RickO
  • messydeskmessydesk Posts: 19,642 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Based on the 4 pictures, I think I know what the coin looks like.
  • ThePennyLadyThePennyLady Posts: 4,439 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It is hard to understand why the auction companies also can't/don't have better coin photographers. As further evidence of this, here are photos of Bowers & Merena's photos of my 1914-D (from a few years ago), and then Todd's photos.

    imageimage

    image
    Charmy HarkerThe Penny Lady®
  • pocketpiececommemspocketpiececommems Posts: 5,723 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The Palm tree makes it look like the reverse of the Columbia commem.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Charmy- there's a helluva difference, huh. I would imagine that little photographic discrepancy could mean a few hundred bucks, eh?

    It's sort of a moot point on my coin, which cost me a whopping ten bucks. Like I said, I just paid more for the plastic it's in than for the coin itself. But it's such a lovely little coin- I've had a real soft spot for it these past few years. D'you ever have one like that... a coin that technically shouldn't be worth all the fuss, and yet, on some sentimental level, it is?

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • DDRDDR Posts: 1,560 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Excellent post, very educational. Thanks, LordM.
  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 33,811 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Todd's photos look very nice, however it appears the coin could possibly have more of the "glow" that some toner TrueViews have if taken another way.

    The photos for Charmy's coin look exceptional.

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