Coin in hand

A follow-up regarding the 1936D AU53 quarter I won at a Heritage auction. I wrote that I will never know if I got this coin at 30-40% off the previous auction prices because the market felt it was that bad, because it was Super Bowl Sunday and fewer people were bidding, or that since there was no live bidding afterwards no dealer could scoop it up cheap to resell. I came up with another option- the photos did not completely show the true coin as it looks in hand.

I have now received the coin and I am happy with the purchase. The coin has better luster and more detail in the breast feathers that what showed in the auction photos. It does have some small dark spots as I expected, but they are not as distracting as the auction photos would suggest. This has happened to me several times now, especially with AU graded silver quarters. I am guessing the partial luster on silver AU coins is harder to capture with standard photographic methods. In general when I get the coin in hand they are better than pictured. This has happened not just on silver coins also on other purchases from EBay, Great Collections, Teletrade, and now Heritage. One example, I bought a 1931 S PCGS Lincoln cent, MS64RB and was concerned whether it was truly RB. When I received the coin it had a great strike and had more red than brown. I can't find fault with any of these companies because I know I can't get a better picture myself. I have included a picture from my digital camera that captures some of the luster but doesn't clearly capture the breast feathers. I do know now that if I ever sell my coins I will need to get a very good cameral to make sure that I can get the most dollars for my coins.

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