Especially reading some of the posts here then looking at my image then looking at the coin....yep lots of room for improvement! lol Namely that mark on the cheek, you can barely see anything there in hand just a tiny mark at certain angles and my image makes it look like an eyesore. The obverse is also semi proof like and I made it look dull with no luster instead. I tried and failed imaging other proof like coins today and need a lot of work there.
My other 1893 columbian has similar sails and before I bought that I searched through like 20 MS images and all but like 1-2 had weak sails so I just assumed that was super common with these?
Wow! That slab shot really improves the look of the coin. It just goes to show you how lighting can really make or break a coin. This GTG will be a great learning experience on your coin photography journey.
I am not at all surprised. I would have thought that a star would have been appropriate. To me, it is a high in grade 65. I have posted my Columbian 64 NGC star before here, and this coin is more attractive.
I too love this issue. I purchased my first commem at Hudson's Department store in Detroit in around 1963 because I had never seen a commem before. Twas a really beautiful au with great color and cost me .75 cents. That purchase opened my eyes to the fact that there are many numismatic items to collect. While I stopped collecting US as my primary focus, I still can't resist a beautiful modern coin whether it's US, or world. My main focus is Byzantine, Arab/Byzantine, and British trade tokens in that order. Nice coin, have fun with photography and keep trying different techniques.