3 Leg Buffalo Poll

Here are the NGC Pics off their Verification Page made into a collage by me..
#1-#2-#3 all in order

 

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I wouldn't use those images though since they are scans according to Illini420(He might know someone there or something)..

I don't think it's a smudge on the obverse either, do you give the same credence to that smudge being on the case as well?

 

I don't know how they do their images for sure, I just used the word "scan" in mentioning it to you the other day to generically mean that it's an automated process (from what I've heard on the subject). Not to necessarily mean it's scanner technology vs. camera technology. I just heard that it's an automated process where no special attention is paid to making sure the photos look nice as the intention of the photo is for security and coin identification purposes.

 

I agree, I wouldn't rely on the NGC images, but at the same to you really can't rely on the Heritage pics either. My guess is the coin in hand probably is somewhere in between those two images. Also it's possible it is a smudge on the slab, and not a fingerprint, hopefully it's not on the coin.

As for the NGC images, imo they look like pics, but Illini could be right too. I just checked with NGC, according to them the images are from "digital photography" NGC Photo Proof®

 

The NGC Photo Proof is a separate service that you need to pay for.

The automatic images after encapsulation are included in the grading fees are apparently are digital photos, not scans (sorry for any confusion). Here's the info on them:

http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=1158&

 

thanks..

For Specimen #1, how can you get a coin that bright? The right lighting? Could this be a very big cover up? If I get the coin and it looks like the NGC photo, will I be let down? I probably will be.. but I never would have thought Heritage would disenfranchise their customers with hyped up pics at least to THIS extent.. this would be a very hyped up photo(spec.#1).. i just can't imagine it getting that way if it was a dark dull coin..

hope that makes sense!!

 

I just think Specimen #1's Photos from Heritage all the way to NGC are very stark in contrast. Like night and day really.

 

I wouldn't call it a cover up, or over-hyping the coins. The fact is coins are hard to photograph, but Heritage, imo takes pretty good pics, but that doesn't mean every coin on Heritage looks exactly like the pics.

Lighting is a very crucial factor in coin photography, so yes, the right lighting can make a coin lighter then it appears in hand. I've purchased a few Morgans from HA that looked white, and I mean white, but when the coins arrived they weren't as white as the pics, but I knew even before they arrived that they probably weren't going to be as white as the HA images.

After looking at the pics of your coin (# 1), my guess is it's going to have some strong luster, but in hand, it's probably going to look slightly darker then the HA pics. Just my guess though.

 

This thread is making me feel ignorant. (But then, that is situationally appropriate).

What am I missing or miscounting to make me like #3?

The head of the buffalo on #1 looks indistinct to me. Am I plain wrong there, or does that simply matter less than other things such as luster?

How do you tell luster from a photograph? I'd read about it is something you judge by holding the coin to the light at different angles?

#3 looks the crispest to me. Is that just a difference in the way they're photographed that everyone but me understands and takes into account, or am I hallucinating?

Is this a good educational example of how different coins of the same grade can be?

Thanks in advance for your patience.

 

BNB, settle down a bit

You're working yourself up comparing photos. Remember, we don't collect photos, we collect COINS!!!

As you can see from the NGC vs. Heritage photos you can't rely solely on photos in your purchase of coins. Sure, you can get a good idea of what a coin looks like based on photos, especially when you buy enough coins and learn what a coin will look like in hand compared to each auction house photo, but a photo alone will NEVER tell the full story of the coin.

That's why Heritage has lot viewing and if you're not able to attend the lot viewing that is why there are many dealers who will act as your agent to view the coin on your behalf and describe it to you. Once you find a dealer that you can trust and that you believe knows what you are looking for, the 5% or so fee you pay them to check a coin out for your is nothing vs. getting a coin you don't like or missing out on a great coin because an auction photo was bad.

I do hope that the coin you purchased, Coin #1 here, is as good as the photos look and as good as you hope it to be. But you did take a risk in falling in love with a single photo. If the photo used by Heritage was the NGC photo, would you have bid on it??? probably not. But it's impossible for any of us here to tell you which one is a better coin based on the photos alone, we're just effectively telling you what photos are better.

 

I'm just confused as usual right now..

Can't figure out what the photos mean due to the stark contrast of the nature..

Ugh...

 

Now to confuse you more. You are not missing a thing - each of us sees something different in the first three coins in the original post. To me the pictures in the very first post(and this is what I am going buy) - makes the first coin look like the best strike. As speedy mentioned it could just be the pictures and the second coin is really the nicest(personally I believe the toning brought the extra money). Then the third coin does not show the type luster I associate with a high AU buffalo nickel - it does not mean it is missing, just not what I expect. The luster looks flat to me. I am by no means an expert, but there is a very certain color I look for in buffalo nickels when I go to the local shop - coin one emulates that color.

And no sometimes using pictures are not a good educational example. To me it just shows the flaws of using pictures to purchase coins. Read some of lehigh posts on toned coins from heritage. This poll is solely a matter of opinion and no opinion can be wrong in these regards. Personally I believe if you look at enough coins in person(in person is the key) it will help you identify what you want when looking at pictures - it will not be perfect, but it will help. One of my rules on ebay - any auction with bad pictures just skip, even if slabbed by one of the top 3 tpgs. Even they have some ugly and improperly graded slabbed coins. These are only my opinions.

 

This is the coin I got.. Pic #1 from NGC Verification Page Pic #2 from Heritage
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Night and day.. But the gold one looks like this too under NGC's Verification page.. So what's going on here?

 

We also need to consider that Heritage uses and assembly line photography set up as well. In general, they do take very good photos, but due to the sheer volume of coins that must be imaged, quality will suffer occasionally. Many times the white balance is a little off which causes the color of the coin to be off in the photo and to my knowledge is not corrected by photo processing software.

In essence, you can have a coin that appears very gold in the photo which is not gold at all in hand. Here is an example from my collection. The coin is a 1923 NGC MS65 Peace Dollar. The first photo shows the un-edited Heritage photo cropped. The second photo shows the Heritage photo after you hit auto contrast. The third photo is my photo.





In addition, plain golden toning is very common and almost never drives a premium.

I favor coin #1 because it seems to have the best luster and surfaces of the three coins.

 

Number 1 may have the sharper strike, but for astethics I prefer number 2, it just looks nicer to me

 

Definitely!! It's hard to pull the trigger on buying a coin based on a single photo, unless you're willing to take some risk. Here's one that I won awhile ago off Heritage. I think I got a good deal on it because the Heritage photos didn't show the color well. I saw it in hand before bidding, but otherwise would have never bid on it from the Heritage photos alone. It was a PCGS MS64 but I cracked it out for my type set album.

My Photos:




Cropped photos from Heritage:

 

Here is one I got from Heritage. The coin I got cheaper than I figured. I still don't know why. The color was just a bonus. I suspected there was some colr, but I was not expecting as much as I got.

 

Heritage photos, Jan 09 FUN Auction:



Todd Pollock photos (as it appears in-hand):



I'd have never bought this coin via Heritage's pictures. Lot viewing is the absolute best way to go if you can do it yourself or through a trusted dealer.

 

Hey Lehigh,

You posted a photo from heritage and a photo of the same coin hitting auto-contrast... But when you posted your photos it is a completely different coin. So what did that 1923 with golden toning really look like, with your photos?