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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;SuperDave, post: 2425832, member: 1892&quot;]Here&#039;s the step order in which I evaluate an online coin image:</p><p><br /></p><p>1) White Balance. Don&#039;t look at the coin first, look at the <b>background</b>. Is it the correct color for what it is? Predominantly, White Balance Fail on the photographer&#039;s part is either too yellow (dangerous for copper) or too blue (irritating for <b>everything</b>). This is an NGC slab, and the slab color is pretty darn close so I&#039;m happy that the coin&#039;s color is also.</p><p><br /></p><p>2) Is the coin round? The slightest tilt between coin/camera introduces distortions at these magnification levels, which screws up apparent feature sizes and spatial relationships, and makes attribution much more difficult because you can&#039;t trust your eyes.</p><p><br /></p><p>3) Lighting. What angle is the light coming from, and how many were used? This hints at what may or may not be obscured by inappropriate lighting, especially hairlines. This one, I think, used one light at about 11:00 to the coin and as close to vertical as possible because the areas facing away from the light aren&#039;t deeply shadowed. The plastic of the slab has to be considered also because it&#039;ll diffuse the light in odd ways by comparison to a raw coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>4) Sharpness. Look for smaller features - the bell bands, in this case - to figure how truly sharp the image is by comparison to &quot;sharpening in postprocessing&quot; sharp where there should be pixel evidence. This image is pretty sharp.</p><p><br /></p><p>The seller has done this coin-imaging thing before. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> All in all, it&#039;s a good effort for a Proof, which are difficult to depict. Knowing the shooter did well, you can be more liberal in your interpretation of the image, more believing that what you see is actually on the coin (although with the coin in a slab you also have to factor what may be on the slab instead of the coin, in this case - I think - the &quot;haze&quot; above DOL).</p><p><br /></p><p>After that, you fall back on your experience - nothing beats experience; it can&#039;t be &quot;described&quot; in a forum post - with that specific issue to understand the importance of what you&#039;re looking at. Me, I have too little experience with Franklin Proofs to offer competence, but I&#039;d see this one as a somewhat skritchy lower-grade (PF63? 64?) example.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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