The Toning Premium Thread

Ironically, the very first coin posted in this thread is an 1882-S Morgan Dollar.

 

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Lafayette, your breadth of expertise and writing style are eerily similar to a former poster's whose avatar is Lehigh.

 

My shipment of these coins came today. They look great!




I am keeping 3 of the 4, only sending back the 1886, which was a bit on the dark side.

The seller's photos were excellent! I took a photo of the neon 1885-O with my iPhone, and as you can see it looks very close to the sellers photo. The photo below was a hand held photo balancing my iphone in one hand and the slabbed coin in the other -- standing next to a sliding glass door (it's dark and rainy here today). So there is no artifical light in that photo, just some muted sunlight diffused through the clouds and rain. Amazing color on that coin!

 

He is my twin brother, he invited me to join the forum about a month before he was banned. And yes, he has taught me a lot in the past few months.

Mark

 

they ban people from this board? does anyone know why? that seems sort of extreme

 

And what the people did to get banned was sort of extreme also.

 

Like that Kennedy , can't see a big premium on it though , $45 .

 

Hate when I come in at the wrong page . LOL

 

i guess i will never know the facts on the Lehigh case ... i will just have to let my imagination run wild ...

Rzage, i hear you on the kennedy ... i would have considered buying it at the right price also

 

It's good you two worked it out! Do you guys finish each other's sentences and all that? I missed the exchange that got Lehigh banished from CoinTalkdom, just caught the very tail end. I didn't get it.

Anyway, glad you're participating. I've learned a lot on this thread. I must say I was disappointed, though, that you didn't think more of my '84 Morgan (post #1758). It's a bit more intense than the current image; that was when there were problems with Photobucket and I had to use IMGUR, which washed it out for some reason.

 

Sharp-looking coins, Winged. That '78 also is really nice; I like it a lot.

 

hey oval, i just went back and looked at your 1884 (on page 118). That's beautiful! The gold color reminds me a little bit of my 1878, although yours is in nicer condition. MS65 STAR! Isn't it fun having a STAR coin, I only have one in my collection.

 

Thanks for your compliment Winged but I'm not sure the color of my '84 is coming across in the image (I don't know, maybe it is). I'm familiar with the color of your '78: it's a nice, warm tan; the blue complements it nicely. It makes for an attractive coin. Mine is iridescent, i.e., comprised of several colors simultaneously (magenta, gold and green). It seems to change color as you rotate it. I've never seen a toner like it before.

 

your '84 sounds fantastic, but I don't think the photo you posted is doing it justice. try taking another picture of it -- i would like to see a better shot. some toned coins are really hard to photograph. there must be a trick and I am not sure i have figured it out totally.

 

It's a difficult coin to photograph; I think Todd of BlueCC did an excellent job. Check out his website: http://bluccphotos.com/. If you compare its color to your '78 I think you'll see what I mean. The luster grazes are also toned; they disappear if you tilt the coin a little. He couldn't shoot it to get everything "perfect."

 

WOW ... Stunning coins on that site! I was drooling. Your '84 was the centerpiece! Man oh man... 67[FONT=&quot]★ .. [/FONT]I can only dream of owning something like that someday.

 

Well, thanks again, but really, my coins don't compare to some of the toners that have been on this thread. Todd has photographed some of the nicer, truly monster-toned Morgans that come up for auction on sites like Heritage, too.

PS: I'm going to edit my last post to show only his home page.

 

In this little dead period between people posting toned coins. I just thought I would share a little photographic journey I've been on.

A few weeks ago I bought this toned coin off ebay for $197 (this was a contest coin a few pages back); and I have posted 3 photos of the same coin.

LEFT: The ebay seller's photo is on the far left.
MIDDLE: When I got the coin in hand, I photographed it with my iphone (middle photo) however it didnt really capture the blue color.
RIGHT: Finally this morning I took another photo with my iphone, with a different sun angle, and this photo did capture the blue color better.



I am posting this for 3 reasons:

First, I just wanted to show how different photos can show the coin's color differently. I think it's interesting.

Second, I am interested in learning how to best photograph toned coins. So if anyone has any tips, feel free to share. Is diffuse sunlight a bad way to photograph toned coins?

Third, I was interested in some feedback on the seller's photo (left). I think the sellers photo might have been enhanced in some way -- as it's so bright and lit up. However I could never get my photos to look like his no matter how much playing around I did with the color settings or filters in Adobe Photoshop. So I have a feeling the seller might have a special light box with very bright lights that makes toned coins really light up. What do you all think, was this a digital enhancement (software) or was this just snapped under special lighting conditions (very bright).

I did my two photos (center and right) with my iphone (hand held) in diffuse sunlight only -- no artificial light. Do most people photograph toned coins in diffuse sunlight or do they use very bright artificial light?

 

I follow many of the ideas in the book "Numismatic Photography", 2nd edition
By Mark Goodman. Pertaining to light, he advises using artificial lighting, specifically "Reveal" incandescent bulbs made by GE. The more vertical the lighting the better. I have found that too much bright light gives a washed out image. A macro lens with manual focus on a camera with manual adjustments for everything and mounted on a copy stand is recommended. I suspect your iPhone with only 5 megapixels and everything automatic is not the best for accurate pictures. Coin photography is somewhat of an art and I haven't mastered it yet, but the nice thing about digital is you can easily try different settings and see your results almost immediately.

 

gachtor,

thank you so much for the book tip ... i will buy that.
the light bulb tip is great as well!!

i never heard of a copy stand but i googled it ... ahhh
this looks like the way to go