Another monster Matte Proof Lincoln nailed by Phil Arnold of PCGS TrueView

WingedLiberty1957 · August 31, 2012 5:48AM

1915 Matte Proof Lincoln (PCGS PR65BN). I bought this a few weeks ago and Phil Arnold nailed the TrueView photo this week. This coin is a true rarity. There are only (roughly) 263 PCGS-slabbed 1915 MPLs in existence -- and only 41 of those slabbed coins have a higher grade than PR65.

My colorful PCGS-graded Matte Proof Lincoln collection is now up to four coins.

This is a nice zoomed up image of the obverse showing the tremendous detail (especially noticeable in Lincoln's hair and beard) that you get on these early Lincoln Proofs. This image also provides a nice view of the very wide, flat, and squared off rims ... which is a signature detail of Matte Proof Lincoln Cents.

JWAR · August 31, 2012 5:59AM

That coin was on ebay for a while

robec · August 31, 2012 6:02AM

Phil did a beautiful job with the photography.

Lots of color and lots of gloss, just how they should look. Great pickup!!

BWRC · August 31, 2012 6:29AM

That's a nice one!

bolivarshagnasty · August 31, 2012 6:56AM

Beautiful example!!! Love the virtual coin board!!

Mel

gummibear · August 31, 2012 6:57AM

Lovely set you are putting together.

Richard

Broadstruck · August 31, 2012 7:02AM

Tdec1000 · August 31, 2012 7:08AM

Not to mention how many of those were cracked out and resubmitted.

Nice coin!

DorkGirl · August 31, 2012 7:13AM

robec · August 31, 2012 7:21AM

<< Not to mention how many of those were cracked out and resubmitted. >>

Not sure what this has to do with this thread.

Lots of coins from just about every series have been cracked out and resubmitted.

MilkmanDan · August 31, 2012 7:34AM

<< 

<< Not to mention how many of those were cracked out and resubmitted. >>

Not sure what this has to do with this thread.

Lots of coins from just about every series have been cracked out and resubmitted. >>

The OP mentioned pops and rarity, so it's relevant.

MilkmanDan · August 31, 2012 7:36AM

I like how your set, thus far, are all attractive but unique looking. The 09 and 15 are similar but not the same, can't wait to see the rest of your set as you build it out. I hope you can continue adding variety to the appearance of the set.

robec · August 31, 2012 8:09AM

<< 

<< 

<< Not to mention how many of those were cracked out and resubmitted. >>

Not sure what this has to do with this thread.

Lots of coins from just about every series have been cracked out and resubmitted. >>

The OP mentioned pops and rarity, so it's relevant. >>

Thank you, I missed that.

Zoins · August 31, 2012 8:25AM

<< 1915 Matte Proof Lincoln (PCGS PR65BN) >>

I hate to have to be the one to break it to you WL1957 but...

PCGS Cert Verification actually says your coin isn't a PR65BN....

It's a PCGS PR65RD!

It's a difference of $2,500 vs. $8,000 in the PCGS Price Guide with only 19 in the pops.

WingedLiberty1957 · August 31, 2012 9:14AM

That's funny. Good detective work.

deltadimeman · August 31, 2012 9:20AM

nice one ! thanks for sharing !

mariner67 · August 31, 2012 9:30AM

Yeah, thanks for sharing.
That is one gorgeous Lincoln.

Swampboy · August 31, 2012 10:24AM

Amazing coin.

Congrats and maximum kudos to Phil.

BloodMan · August 31, 2012 10:26AM

Very, very nice!

Brol · August 31, 2012 10:34AM

Nice set!

Looks AT to me! (just kidding)

richardshipp · August 31, 2012 10:54PM

What a beautiful coin and pictures. Congrats.

bestclser1 · September 1, 2012 12:31AM

<< What a beautiful coin and pictures. Congrats. >>

dbemike · September 1, 2012 1:50AM

Great looking MPL to add to an already nice set. Congrats!!

1Mike1 · September 1, 2012 4:07PM

Awesome group of coins. Good luck with finishing your set.

robertpr · September 2, 2012 3:50AM

AS (Artificial Sharpening)?

lcoopie · September 2, 2012 3:51AM

a
I have no idea how to judge the color designation of these

b
the black background is much more appealing

c
great looking coin and photo

lcoopie · September 2, 2012 3:57AM

<< AS (Artificial Sharpening)? >>

I don't see it.

WingedLiberty1957 · September 2, 2012 9:16AM

To address the "artificial sharpening" comment made by a poster above ...

The reason that the 1100 x 555 image of this coin in the PCGS database looks kind of blurry and soft

is that PCGS (in an effort to save disk space) does very intense "lossy compression" on images as they shrink them down from the master MAX size version.

If you want to see this coin in it's full and detailed glory view the MAX sized image (which is the master PCGS image for this coin and every coin), and the only sized version that shows this coin in its full (and detailed) glory.

The HUGE Master (official) True View Image:

Max Sized TV Image in Database

This takes over a minute to download (even with a high speed internet connection) -- and you will need to CLICK ON THE IMAGE after it loads to have it pop into its FULL RES glory.

"Ahh", you might be saying after you load this one ... "THERE is all that great detail that I wanted to see!!!"

What I do is when i make nice quality 1100 x 550 (black background images for display), I take the PCGS master MAX size image, cut out the coins, then resize in Photoshop, then save the new image using a "VERY HIGH QUALITY" setting for JPG compression .... typically the 90% setting.

You can get a feel for how much PCGS compresses the 1100 x 550 size TrueView images in the PCGS database if you compare the actual image size of my 1100 x 550 black blackground image (664 KB) ... with the 1100 x 550 size image in the TrueView database (200 KB). So the aggressive compression that PCGS uses makes the image softer and blurrier, but does save PCGS about 70% of the (disk) space needed to store the image. So I completely understand why PCGS wants to compress the heck out of their TrueView images in the database.

Here is a great side by side of my "optimized" black background trueview which is based off the master MAX sized image and uses a HIGH QUALITY compression algorithm when converting to JPG:

My 1100x550 black background TrueView image based off the MAX image, saved using high quality compression (image size = 664 KB):

vs. PCGS's softer and blurrier (and more heavily compressed) TrueView photo in the database

The Official 1100x550 TrueView image which is heavily compressed using low quality compression (image size = 200 KB):

The upshot is:

The difference you see in these two photos is .... my black background image is based on the official PCGS master (MAX sized image) and uses a MUCH HIGHER QUALITY compression algorithm (i.e. much less compression) -- while PCGS more heavily compresses the official database version of the 1100 x 550 size TrueView photo (which makes that image softer and blurrier). The benefit of PCGS's method is it makes their white background image much smalller (200 KB) vs. my much higher quality black background image which checks in at over 3 times the size at 660 KB. However there is no comparison in the image quality (take special notice of Lincolns hair and beard detail).

Clear?

In any case, you really don't get the detail in Lincolns hair and beard until you get a single side up to about 1100 pixels in width.

robec · September 2, 2012 9:24AM

<< To address the "artificial sharpening crack" made by a poster above ...

The reason that the 1100 x 555 image of this coin in the PCGS database looks kind of blurry and soft

is that PCGS (in an effort to save disk space) does very intense "lossy compression" on images as they shrink them down from the master MAX size version.

If you want to see this coin in it's full and detailed glory view the MAX images (which is the master PCGS image for this coin), and the only sized version that shows this coin in it's full (and detailed) glory.

The HUGE Master (official) True View Image:

Max Sized TV Image in Database

"Ahh", you might be saying after you load this one ... "THERE is all that great detail that I wanted to see!!!"

What I do is when i make nice quality 1100 x 550 (black background images for display), I take the PCGS master MAX size image, cut out the coins, then resize in Photoshop (doing a straight RESIZE) then save the new JPG image using a "VERY HIGH QUALITY" setting for compression .... typically the 90% setting.

You can get a feel for how much PCGS compresses the 1100 x 550 size true view images if you compare the actual image size of my black blackground image (664 KB) ... with the 1100 x 550 size image in the TrueView database which is only 200 KB. So the aggressive compression that PCGS uses makes the image softer and blurrier, but does save PCGS about 70% of the (disk) space needed to store (serve) the image. So I completely understand why PCGS wants to compress the heck out of their TrueView images in the database.

Here is a great side by side of my "optimized" black background trueview which is based off the master MAX sized image and uses a HIGH QUALITY compression algorithm when converting to JPG:

The upshot is:
The difference you see in these two photos is .... my black background image is based on the official PCGS master (MAX sized image) and uses a MUCH HIGHER QUALITY compression algorithm (i.e. much less compression) -- while PCGS compresses the HECK out of their version of the 1100 x 550 size TrueView photo in the database (which makes that image much softer and blurrier). The benefit of PCGS's method is it makes their white background image much smalller (200 KB) vs. my much higher quality black background image which checks in at over 3 times the size at 660 KB. However there is no comparison in the image quality (take special notice of Lincolns hair and beard detail).
Clear? >>

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Great explanation!!

rmpsrpms · September 2, 2012 11:36AM

The max image has definitely been sharpened but has an appropriate level of sharpening in my view. I use as little sharpening as I can get away with so as to not look artificial but still compensate for jpg downconversion. It may be that since the image is actually very sharp and detailed that if you have your monitor settings in a non-calibrated setting (like they come out of the box) then the sharpening applied to the screen image may put the coin over the top.

lkeigwin · September 2, 2012 11:45AM

Gorgeous! Be still, my heart.

How can anyone not love MPL's?
Lance.

Shamika · September 2, 2012 12:11PM

A man could cut himself on those rims.

illini420 · September 12, 2012 6:20AM

Awesome set so far... love the image of all of the coins together too

lordmarcovan · September 12, 2012 7:07AM

Awesome coin.

The black background TrueView looks great, too. I like that. Izzat some kind of a special one, or are they doing the black now... or letting the customer choose?

PS- I like the "virtual coin board", too.