Woohoo! Just added to my primary collection!!!

TwoKopeiki

Huge thank you goes out to Spudmasher on the forums for agreeing to part with an absolutely gorgeous 1802 Mexico 8 Reales in PCGS AU55 plastic that blows away the only other 1802 AU55 example (that one also happens to be a Pittman pedigreed coin). Fantastic luster and color that fits all of the characteristics of coins I look to add to my primary collection.

Very excited to own this one and can't wait to photograph it when I get home from work tonight.

By the way, it's in a Secure Plus holder, so PCGS has a low-res picture of it on their coin certification page, which does not do the coin justice.

Here's the current PCGS image of the coin:




UPDATE: Finally got home from work and here's how the above coin looks if you just so slightly tilt it into the light

bidask

Original and crusty....very nice!

bronzemat

Beautiful, congrats on the addition.

TwoKopeiki

Thanks guys. If you like it now, just wait a few hours for my pics

WWW

Definitely a coin to be proud of. Looking forward to seeing your images of it.

FilthyBroke

Very nice! Looks like there is some color on that one, too. Can't wait for your pics!

OldEastside

Youuu, where do you find this stuff
anyways were still waiting

Steve

TwoKopeiki

Bah humbug! What a day to be stuck at work! Don't these people know I have a coin to image?!?!

marcmoish

oh my I like that alot - and yup its really well graded too

You sure did well with that one!

JCMhouston

That's very attractive.

TwoKopeiki

Finally got home and had a chance to shoot it. Photos in the first post

worldcoinguy

Excellent addition and pictures. Don't you hate it when life gets in the way of the hobby? If I have a package waiting for me at the post office, it makes the next day at work miserable in anticipation.

WWW

Wow! Talk about being green with envy.

Zohar

Simply awesome!

percyb

Gorgeous!

mnemtsas2

*drooling*

classport

Love it!!

DorkGirl

Love your pics!

TwoKopeiki

Thanks, all. This coins is pretty awesome. Very happy that Spudmasher decided to part with it.

If you guys (and gals) happen to see some AU 8 Reales already in plastic selling at a local B&M - please dont hesitate to let me know Could be a very quick flip for you.

Spudmasher

Two Kopeiki - Glad you found the piece to your liking. I have been buying/selling since the early 60's and have ran across my fair

share of nice pieces. This was sitting in a B&M that I have dealt with since the 60's for about an hour. The dealer told me he had purchased

for $60.00 and sold to me for $88.00. I knew that I had to get in our hosts holder to get the money. I primarily collect early US so that is why

the departure from my possession. There are still alot of nice peces out there if you can learn to grade, and understand what originality

looks like. Ron

TwoKopeiki

Yup, nice flip for you, Ron. Good example of knowledge of grading and originality pays off.

Hyperion

delightful surfaces 2k!!!!!!

FilthyBroke

Great pics, I knew there was some color hiding in there!

What kind of light do you use for your pics? I need to try something different with mine, to make the colors pop.

TwoKopeiki

William, I glued a piece of white paper around an OTT light for diffusion and angled the coin slightly into the light. The trick with that is getting the right depth of field to make sure the part of the coin further away from the lens due to tilting is still in focus. As you can tell, the bottom part of the obverse pic is slightly out of focus due to this. Since you're shooting an angled coin, there will be some distortion (picture would look oval like the one below) that will need to be corrected in post-processing. I select the coin in Photoshop and then create a new blank image of a square, paste the coin into it, and free-transform it into a circle. Drop me a note if you want me to walk you through it.

Here's what it looks like when I shoot it down at an angle:



As you can see, due to the diffused light washing over the slab, the image is hazy. I adjust the contrast to remove the haze:



As you can see, the coin looks a bit elliptical due to the angle. I stretch it back into a circle afterwards, as I mentioned before.

GolfguyinTX

Great pickup

FilthyBroke

Thanks for your explanation, Roman. It sounds like we use similar techniques after the initial shot, but it's the OTT lighting that I need to go back to and give another try. A year or two back I had picked up several different lights to test and see what I could make work for me. In the end, I went back to natural sunlight diffused through a window shade. Sounds odd, I know, but I got my best results that way. The problem is, the changing conditions from day to day have me waiting for the right time to shoot, and that is only a few hours a day and only under the right weather conditions.

Anyway, I'm going to dig my OTT lights out of whatever box they're in and give them another shot. I have a homemade copy stand around here somewhere too....

Cool, I have a new project for the weekend!

TwoKopeiki

In terms of lighting, I also use a grey card to set white balance before shooting or before I change a light set-up.

BS

Congrats on another great addition.

marcmoish

There are still alot of nice peces out there if you can learn to grade, and understand what originality looks like. Ron


true bingo!!

That is what I noticed right away with Roman's piece - it talks right away - one doesnt have to convince one's self how nice it is or what the attributes of its glory are.

dizzlecc

Nice original 8 reales with great color. Nice addition to the set. Good job with the pics to show the color.