And yet ANOTHER GTG thread

This one will have to be revealed after I get this graded. Some wonder why some of us play roulette with eBay. This is why. Seller claimed coin was part of his father in laws collection. Coin got delivered in a box that would sadly come in a shoddy box with ties or socks. I put a cushy towel down to open all internet purchases. Good thing, it was wrapped in Christmas tissue and that was that. I bought the coin on a whim, photos it looked like it got hit with silver polish, and I bought it around the price you would pay for that. Less than $40 bucks INCLUDING shipping. When I opened it, my hands started shaking. OMG. Even though I've got hundreds of Morgans, I've only got one MS 65 graded coin, this one kind of puts it to shame. So GTG before I send it off. If this one doesn't come back 65 + from ANACS, I'm sending to PCGS and paying the full fees. Relatively common date, exceptional condition rarity. I immediately put into a protective flip and not taking it out until it's slabbed. Photo in plastic. This isn't a rare key date or mint mark, but conditional scarcity. And yes, I still can't take good photos. Please post comments. I'm tough, I can take it. lol

 

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Okay, smarty fancy pants!
Lousy, crummy darn Pics. What? Are we in the Eclipse again? Oh boy, hard to see the "trueness" of the coin too. True disappointment....
( Just joking. Need better Pics though for real).

 

Not that I always take the best pictures, but I have found that natural light or a well-lit room greatly improves my chances of a good picture.

 

Impossible to guess with the pics

 

She is not a singer or actress; you don't have to highlight her. Makes for distortion. Can't blame you for trying something new, thanks.

 

Yeah, try some better photos Barney, Those are very deceptive. I am in at AU details with the photos provided.

 

Sigh....

 

Trying again.

Eagle's breast has full chest feathers. Would have to turn the coin at an angle with the lighting. Not taking it out of the flip again though.

 

lol.......It's all I had last night. Lighting is terrible at my table. So I grabbed a lamp and brought it in. The lampshade gave it a golden hue. Maybe if I start selling, I'll use that technique.

 

Sigh...with a Yikes added.

 

It looks cleaned or polished to me. If you use two lights you can achieve a nice cartwheel luster shot, if the coin hasn't been cleaned. With your single light picture, the surfaces look too uniform or flat, which tells me it has been cleaned.

Here is one of my examples with axial lighting and a point and shoot camera:



These aren't even that great since they were done with a cheap camera. Notice how the bright spots along the rim create an "X" pattern, that's cartwheel luster. When a coin like a Morgan Dollar gets cleaned or polished this affect disappears as cleaning and polishing alters the surfaces of the coin where light doesn't reflect the same.

I have zero photography experience and I was frustrated with how my photos turned out, so I bought a Sony A700 and a Minolta 100mm macro lens and now I can get pictures like this that I took of this 1880 S:



Still not professional by any means but the detail is better (a little out of focus on the obverse). This one sucks to shoot due to purple and tan toning (depending on lighting angles) and the obverse is DMPL while the reverse is more PL. The reverse shows that "X" or cartwheel luster very well.

If I were you I would get a second light, especially for taking pictures.

 

Thanks. I don't have a setup for that currently. I've looked at this coin at every angle possible. There are no tiny hairlines at 30X magnification or visible wear. It has the same luster as the higher end slabs I have from PCGS and NGC, with considerably less flaws or bag marks. I suppose I'll find out sometime in the near future.

 

Surfaces look really off. From condition standpoint I'd say 64. But really looks cleaned or dipped out or something

 

It's entirely possible it's over dipped but it's not wiped or dremelled. (sp?)

 

Nahhh

 

Just kidding. But seriously, you haven't seen the crappy photos sellers post online. It's gambling. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes it gets you.

 

Kinda dull. I want shiny. Looks funny

 

You need better lighting. Take your best picture. Then turn the lights out

 

I've seen some "rotten eggs" in highly toned graded PCGS holders. Now don't start giving me ideas. I hate harshly toned coins, that was pure and utter sarcasm.

 

I'm working on that. Just bought a LED light halo that clamps to a desk. I would have taken the photo in full sunlight but the glare was horrendous. It would have turned out worse than the first pair of photos. Cloudy days outside do make for decent photos. Today was not one of them.