Did They Send the Right Coin ?

Yesterday the coin I won from CNG 465, lot 534 arrived . My first impression after opening the envelope was, did they send the right coin ? After looking at it closely I realized it was the coin I won, however, it was much darker than the photo I saw on their website. The coin in hand looks much better with the darker more uniform patina than the website photo, see the photos below. I did some photo enhancement on the lower coin to simulate what it actually looks like. Has this ever happened to other CT members?


Constantine I as Augustus, AD 307-337 (struck 307-308), Trier Mint, 1st Officina, AE follis: 6.65 gm, 26 mm, 6 h. RIC VI 776.
Ex Spink 169, lot 117 (part of), July 15, 2004.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Very nice coin.

Personally, I always felt that when I received a CNG Coin, that it was better in-hand than the pics.

 

Often, coin dealers overexpose the coins so as to show the details on a darkly patinated example.

Seller's photo:


My photo, which is much closer to what it looks like in hand:

 

I don't collect the oldies, but like seeing them. Answer to your question, yes, one out of twenty to thirty times. Reason(s)? 1. Poor attempt at capturing image. 2. Trying to make coin look better than it is. 3. Trying to match camera image to the visual image they see. Nice coin.

 

In my experience coins often look different in hand from how they look in pictures. Often you have to know the dealer/auction house you're dealing with to be able to judge beforehand how it's going to work out, but even then it's a toss up. I only once bought in a CNG auction and- lucky me- the coin looked much better in hand then in pics.
Like Roman Collector said, sellers often overexpose. It lightens up details on dark coins, but I feel some also do it to make silver coins look brighter and more desirable. Photography and reality have an ambiguous relationship, not only in numismatics...

 

Any coins I’ve seen from CNG have looked better in hand.

 

When I buy coins online I always hope that they look better in hand. There are some eBay sellers that have wonderful pictures but the coins in hand no so. IMO, most reputable auction houses are consistent in their photos without photo shopping the images to make them look better than they are.

 

I received a coin from a dealer (well-known but a bit controversial) who had blotted out some green encrustrations in his photo. In the photo they looked like blank areas but in fact were green blobs once in hand. Kind of frustrating.

 

.

 

The seller's picture does not show 'the coin' but the glare bouncing off the smooth surface of the coin. You can see that in hand if you hold it under a bright light (sun) and wiggle it a bit.

 

As an eBay dweller, I've gotten quite good at guessing what a coin might possibly look like from frankly terrible photographs haha

 

There is nothing worse than a deceptive seller trying to hide imperfections. I would imagine, that Most honest sellers even try to explain or highlight any flaws in writing in case they can’t be seen in the photo.

 

There are several ways to show the coin and it is for different purposing. In my opinion the "glory" shot, and then the "like it really is" shot. It all depends on the audience you are trying to reach. When the buyer is rewarded with, "much better in
hand" it is a winner for all.

 

Different in hand from the image on a web site? About half the time.

 

I have photoed thousands of coins and learned a lot in the process. As a former on line seller with a site on Vcoins, my goal was always to photo with the buyer in mind. My goal was always to take a photo with the best look of what the coin actually looks like in hand. I also had a lot of patient early customers who gave me the time to learn how to do it.

I just might do it again, who knows?

 

I'd click 100 "Likes" if I could!

There is benefit to a dealer having their customers open a coin envelope to see a newly purchased coin for the first time, and have the customer experience that wonderful feeling of, "Wow! This coin is better in hand!" That results in pleased customers, which leads to repeat customers -- and fewer returns. But the other side of that is that, presuming the coin was truly nicer in hand than the image showed, if the coin's image had been closer to what the coin really looked like it may have sold more quickly. Or possibly with less of a discount requested/granted. In that same vein, auction listings may very well receive more bidding if the the images looked as nice as the coin actually is.

For the coin photographs that I take for myself (and for when I occasionally list on eBay), my goal is to make the image look as much like what the coin actually looks like "in hand" as possible. That includes details, surface, AND coloration of patina. I'm not naive in this regard though. Having taken a boatload of coin pictures I'm fully aware that the effort to make the photograph of a coin look close to 100% of what the coin actually looks like "in hand" takes far more time than dealers (and auction house photographers) can devote to the task. Doing so just isn't economically feasible. And so, we certainly should cut them slack. They need to stay solvent, and lets face it... we need them! After all, do they not supply our quasi-addiction? ;-)

Big caveat here: I think that aiming for a coin's image to look 100% like what the coin actually looks like "in hand" is a good goal. But not 120%, if you know what I mean. Anything done to make any aspect of a coin look better than what the coin actually looks like "in hand" should be discourteously frowned upon. Lastly, I should add that aiming for a coin's image to look 100% like what the coin actually looks like "in hand" is as much of a good goal when a coin is Extra-Fine as it is when a coin is Extra-Ugly. :-o Let your coin photographs put the coin's accurate foot forward.

 

From my experience, sellers' photos usually show more details on the coins from light exposure. A few coins I have bought look much darker in real life and I have to tilt them into some light to get the same detail as the photo that the seller had listed.

 

As far as I'm concerned it's quite simple. All a seller needs to do is do the best they can to make the photograph match the coin, and if that proves difficult they should add a note highlighting where the photograph differs. It would take a few seconds to write, for example, 'photograph exposure high to capture detail, in reality the coin has a glossy black patina'.

 

The top photo was the coin pictured in the listing I bought last week.
The lower photo is the coin I received yesterday.

I took great care to be sure my image accurately portrays the coin's real color. I felt certain that the coin "in hand" would be a very different color from the listing picture. I'm glad I was right.

It's not a valuable coin, but it is quite rare. In fact, I cannot find another example on VCoins, eBay, MA Shops, Wildwinds, or even ACS.

It is a Seleucid, bronze dilepton, produced by the Tyre mint during the reign of Antiochus V, ca.164-162 B.C. Attribution: SC 1580. Hoover Vol. 9, #759 (R2).

Anyway, I suspect the color tint variation is due to the seller's photo having been taken with fluorescent lighting. But regardless of the cause, the difference is significant!

 

This is true

Having sold many coins thru CNG I can confirm their photos of bronzes usually make the coins look really bad.

Perhaps they are trying to remedy by showing the coins in a literally better light. The differences the original poster showed just reflect bright lights and exposure and frankly that's what a lot of bronzes need if you'd like them looking clearer than the coins below.