Featured Deep Mirror Prooflike Washington Quarters

Yep, they exist.

There have been 28 of them graded by NGC throughout the entire series (out of 200,574 coins graded). (That's 0.014% graded as DPL)

And now, I own 4 of them. Yes, I own 14% of the certified DPL population.

I happened to notice these coins (all from the same seller) on Ebay, and had them in my watchlist. Lo and behold, the seller made me an offer (since when is that a thing?) and it was a good offer (significantly lower than his buy it now prices. So, I bought the lot of them. He told me that he had searched mint sets and picked these out himself, which is corroborated by the sequential cert numbers they posses.

Starting in the late 1980s, the US mint began experimenting with plating their dies to improve die life. They used a chrome plating, which, as you can imagine, polished up to a mirror finish. The first few strikes from a new die might reach DPL status, the next hundred might be PL, and then it would strike shiny coins for a few hundred thousand more. Different series began using chrome plated dies at different times (the nickel is known in PL beginning in 1984, by 1988 all series have these chrome effect PL coins).

Well, these arrived last week. I began attempting to photograph them, and it was giving me so much trouble. It was nearly impossible to get anything other than a black disk. So I pulled out my copy of Goodman's treatise and decided to see what he had to say. I've practiced with PL coins, but modern DPLs are another level. Turns out, he calls these "high contrast" coins, and recommends using low contrast lighting. That is, he recommends pulling the camera up higher, and using lights high up near the camera. I have three lights, but I found that sometimes 2 worked better for these coins. Where I was getting a black disk before, I was now getting detail, and a great view of the fields. Turns out, Goodman knows what he's talking about!

So now, I present for your viewing pleasure and comment, my new set of DPL Washington quarters. They are all graded NGC MS-66 DPL.

Feel free to comment on the coins, the photography method, or post any DPL coins of your own!

 

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Just... WOW!

 

Verrrry nice! Great pick up.

 

Maybe it's just me, or the photos and I don't mean to offend, but these don't look any better than a newly minted coin I get in circulation. Rough looking on fields of obverse. If a TPG slabbed them as DPL or PL, okay, but I'm not seeing it. JMHO

 

Can't say I own a DPL, but I do have a PL.

 

Probably wouldn't be a DPL in today's standards.

 

Those are really neat! I have photographed highly reflective coins with a diffuser (a milky white juice jug) over the coin with the lights shining through it.

 

No-relief, reflective coins are very difficult to make look good. One reason is because coins themselves, while impressive in their depth of mirrors, aren't particularly photogenic. For Jason's quarters, I'd probably pull out a sheet of paper and use it as a light reflector, giving a very low-contrast light. You need the light source to have a very limited dynamic range, since the coin does you no help in diffusing it. Every bright reflection is oversaturated. Every shadow is black. Most of the coin is a flat surface that you need to somehow place in between. Watching the image histogram while shooting is important so that you see just how much of the image is being lost in shadows and highlights. Shadow and highlight detail can be recovered somewhat in post-processing unless it has been lost (unless you don't believe in post-processing).

I have a few approaches with using a piece of paper. One is to make a trifold tent to place around the coin like 3 sides of a square, leaving the other side open for the light source. Sometimes this works. Another is that I'll tear a hole in the middle of the paper and cram it onto the end of my lens so it looks like I'm shooting through an umbrella. Then I'll point the lights at the paper, or maybe one light at the paper and one at the coin from a distance. I could go on, but by now you should get the picture that it's tricky and complicated. I don't have such a coin handy to play with, otherwise I could post some examples.

 

I don't know if I will be able to cope with this revelation, but out of all the ways I could've found out, I'm glad that you were the one who told me.

This is one of my favourite (new, at least to me and you apparently) features on eBay. I've been shocked by some of the deals that have been thrown my way, ones that I would've been too afraid to make myself because I figured the dollar amount was "insulting."

I forgot you were a 3 lighter. That just always gave me too much exposure in the past; 2 halogens have always worked well for me. I also routinely keep the lights and camera up high, regardless of what I'm shooting. Who knew I'd been preparing all my life for DPL coins?

Jokes aside, your photos are bloody well brilliant, and those are phenomenally struck coins. Congrats.

 

Yeah, the “seller made you an offer” is fun. Sometimes you watch something simply because you want to come back later for a better look or compare items. It’s happening more and more.

 

Got to agree with you. I don't want to put anything in my 'Watching' que anymore. Some sellers just don't know when to quit.

 

I've got a PL 2001 Vermont State Quarter (my favorite design). It really looks like a proof.

 

I need to play around with diffusion. I haven't really gotten it to work well for me yet, but I know it was one of the recommendations in Goodman's book for these types of coins.

Thanks for the tips on how you do it!

 

I guess I don't understand the concept of DPL. Shouldn't the devices be frosted and the fields fully reflective? I don't see the contrast in any of the photos except the one of the DPL Morgan dollar.

 

The devices need to be frosted for cameo designations on proofs but it isn’t required for PL/DPL on business strikes. Sure is nice when you see them on a prooflike coin though.

 

Nope, this is a common misconception. There is no frost requirement for PL or DPL. It looks great when there is, but not required.

The only requirement is the depth of the mirrors in teh fields.

 

Wow, beautiful! Thanks for sharing that with us.

 

A cameo DPL would have frosted devices though.

 

ANACS did designate "Cameo DPL" for a while. That designation is no longer in use.

 

Congratulations on the new additions @physics-fan3.14! Good job on the images as well. I’m currently struggling to photograph a semi-pl WLH, so I can only the challenge these presented.