Why it is so hard to buy coins from pictures.

The clash is real. Really common on these.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

The only images I trust are what my eyes see when the coin is in hand. I have been very fortunate not to have got caught holding the bag or coin so to speak . For this reason, professional graders will almost always refuse to offer an opinion from a photo. But yet, all day long, we buy coins based upon the images we see, when rather we should be more concerned with knowing whom we are buying from and their reputation. Nothing can substitute for knowing who you are doing business with. I have never photoshopped a coin in my life, it's a senseless effort, unless someone is trying to deceive someone. There also is no substitute for professional numismatic photographers or learning how to become one . Properly imaging to balance it's assets as well as defects.

 

Nice clash!

 

I phototshop every picture you have ever seen of mine. They have all bee cropped to size and many have had their white balance adjusted usually to lighten the image. I do not do it to deceive, but to make the coin look more like it really does.

 

Yes, That isn't what I was referring to when I said " Deceptive " . Light balancing is a part of the art, not deception .

 

Here is an 1856 large cent from ebay ...

top photo is the ebay setllers photo ...
bottom photo is what the coin looked like when i got it in the mail

it's the same coin (notice the splotch pattern of red behind the head (under the hair bun))

definitately buyer beware from ebay photos, i have returned over 60% the coins i have bought from there.
actually i dont even bother with raw coins from ebay anymore.

 

Copper is really tough to image and get the color right.

 

Yet, every day hundreds image the m just right to make them look ten times better than they really are. But, fortunately if you look at enough ebay listings, you get good at picking out these deceptive pictures. But, it took me to buy a few ugly ducklings first before I figured out the tricks of the trade.