Old PCGS holders did not hold the coins firmly within the holder and create a rattling sound by slight movement of the coin inside.
LOL watch your forked tongue!! Just wondering if moving around in loose holders 'of those types' could scratch coins.
Don't have much time today because I have to leave at 9:30 so here goes: This is in fairly nice condition for the 1855 knob ear large cent. It is worth over $120 dollars. I don't believe that it has been cleaned, even though that's what a dealer said when I took it into him. (He probably just didn't want to go through the effort of sending it in. Do you guys think it is cleaned? P.S.- I had my rattler in my pocket and it jumped out and bit me. My finger is still bleeding as I type
Very pretty coin! I'm not really able to tell but I would lean to the "not cleaned" direction (perhaps not improperly cleaned), except to question some spots, like in the word "cent" that looks like some heavy gunk may have been removed and left a bare spot to tone differently over the years. With better pictures or in -hand inspection there may be other spots like this as well that one would suspect are left from a past cleaning, such as at 11 o'clok on the wreath (spots) and just under "ST" of STATES there is a redder area in the field. Then again at 6'clock in the wreath there is such an area. Are you sure that was a rattler in your pocket!
The first thing I thought of the reverse was FIRE! and life arising, a little corny but its there. I would call this the most beautiful coin I've seen in a long time...
From now on there may be multiple coins posted on one day. Because there could also be one of the following: Coin of the week: which celebrates all coins. With the same denomination and with the same date and Mintmarks. Coin of the month: celebrates all coins with the same denomination with the same date. Coin of the year: celebrates all coins of the same type- ex. Mercury dimes or buffalo nickels. Your coin of the week and coin of the day which celebrates just my specific coin will be posted within an hour.
Here is the coin of the day. It is a 1943 S mercury dime. This coin is graded MS-66 by NGC, which means it is worth about $43 according to NGC's certification verification tool. The mercury dime was designed by Adolph Weinman, who also designed the Walking Liberty Half Dollar.
The coin of the week is a 1958 wheat penny. "A 1958 wheat penny?" You may ask. Who ever said the regular wheat penny shouldn't have its week of celebration? This one is graded MS-65 RD, however. I also have four coins identical to this in other slabs. This is worth about $17 according to NGC, and as you probably already know, the wheat penny was designed by Victor David Brenner. That's all for today!
You have some nice coins, which really deserve to be shown in their best light, and which will make the best impact on your audience here and wherever else you may show your coin images. However, until you master (or simply improve) your coin photography, I would stick to the initial idea of this thread, with one coin a day. I would spend more time on each coin, and try to perfect the image of just one coin rather than rushing to post quantity for other themes that may occur to you over quality. That's my coin photo tip of the day.
Well I'm taking pictures on my iPad until I get a new camera (my old one broke). So that can't help much.
You can probably even improve your abilities with the iPad, so I would work on that until you get another camera, at which time you'll have to re-shoot your coin images, learning your way around the new camera, and in the meantime, continue to work on editing capabilities, cropping the coins, putting the coin in a template and so on. I have seen plenty of people on these forums post exceptional coin photography results using smart phones and tablet type devices with the built in cameras. You can do it, too! Work on your lighting, use more than one light source, do not use any built in flash and avoid reflections on the coins' surfaces and shadows you or your camera create from falling on the coin when shooting pictures. Use a tripod instead of hand holding the camera or iPad/smart phone, etc. If incandescent light is too warm, and not bright enough as seems to be but one of your coin photo issues, try day light, try fluorescent light, and try using more than one lamp as I have suggested before, just be careful the lights are the same type bulb for a balance of color/tone in light temperature. When you set up a lamp for a coin shoot, turn off all the other lights in the room, close the curtains or shoot at night and really get into controlling your light source. A fantastic old photo book/manual was called, The Keepers of the Light, as light control is very much the job and realm of the photographer's mastery. Try to think of the light not just the coin you want to make a photo of and you will start to see more of the factors that will help you improve your image making.