coinsandmedals

Nice coin Tom! This one just came back in a fresh NGC MS-63 holder. I was really hoping for a star, but I will take what I can get. I will update the picture with the label when I get a spare minute. 

Please see my previous comment about color in 1811 Bank of England 18p post.

The pictures are old and out of focus but this is the only coin from the era I have photos of. 

The results are in (kind of)! Two of my coins were flagged as NCS candidates and I believe that may have made the process a little wonky. As of current, my status is marked as “Quality/quality control” but has a shipped date of 4/26/19. I had to run a certification verification for each coin to check the grades.  Overall I am pretty happy but I feel as though my William III halfpennies were battered pretty bad. Here are the grades the coins received.

1.       This coin has a very pronounced die crack on the reverse which I think is pretty cool. I had expected this come back as AU-58 because of a very light rub. Overall I am happy with this one.

2.       This coin has some killer color to it and I had originally thought it might warrant the start designation. I feel as though the grade is fair but I would have loved the star. Overall I am happy with this one.

3.       The obverse of this coin had a mark I was a little on edge about and the color did look odd, but I convinced myself that it was okay before I sent it in. I should have listened to my gut instinct on this one. I still like the coin though.

4.       I am super happy with the grade on this one. This is the first coin I submitted that came back with a “+” designation.

5.       This coin is currently with NCS. Fingers crossed on this one. I will update the thread when I figure out the end result.

6.       I am very happy with this grade as well. The coin has more detail than my pictures would suggest.

7.       I did not catch any environmental damage on this coin. I am somewhat upset by the designation but I will look at it closely when it gets back.

8.       This coin came back exactly as expected and I am pretty happy with it.

9.       I did not catch any environmental damage on this coin either. I am somewhat upset by the designation but I will look at it closely when it gets back as well.

10.   I am very happy with the grade for this one. The obverse has a nice blue tone but the reverse is nearly white. I am glad to have this coin in my collection.

11.   The rim damage is noticeable and I had really hoped that would detract from the grade but I had the expectation that it probably would. I remained hopeful but at least the coin was in XF and not VF like I had thought it would be.

12.   Wow, this one caught me off guard! I suppose what I thought was light rub may have just been strike weakness. This coin made up for the other 3 that I am not so happy about.

13.   I had over graded this one by a few points. This is the unbarred As variety is fairly scarce and it is a nice chocolate brown example. I also believe it may be the only example graded by either NGC or PCGS. Overall I am happy with this one.

14.   I really enjoy the look of this coin even though it has environmental damage. I submitted it because I wanted it in a slab. I figured it had been through enough in its roughly 325 years.

15.   This one came back a notch higher than I expected. I am pretty happy with this one.

16.   This one also came back a notch higher than I expected. This coin has a nice overall color and I am very pleased to have another graded example in my collection.

17.   As expected, this one came back in a details holder. I figured it would cost no more than the grading fee to have it graded and would allow me to take full advantage of the shipping charge.

18.   I really like the look of this coin and I justified the grading fee with the same logic as number 17. I am happy to have this coin safely resting in a slab.

On 3/12/2019 at 4:49 AM, Mk123 said:

coinsandmedals, can't wait to see what the grades come back as, seems like yours will be graded fairly soon! As for the newp, its beautiful!

Thank Mk123! I was/am really excited to have in the collection. 

12 hours ago, Star City Homer said:

How is it I'm the last one posting on this thread...

Here is another huge want coin now purchased.  I got lucky on this one a bit as it was in the Stack's HK auction.  An uncommon variety in a better than normal condition.  Now I can finish a graphic showing the differences in the type I, II, and III 1870 yen coin without using 'artist renditions'.  

 

Pretty cool stuff! I bet it feels good to have the trio. The world coin posts, in general, are pretty slow so I can not say it is surprising that you were the last post twice in a row. I have a bunch of new additions but I have not had the time to take decent pictures. Here are some of the recent additions that I did manage to photograph. 

Mohawk (Tom?), I will do my best to lend a helping hand so you do not have to go at this one alone. It appears he believes he also has a branch mint proof Morgan. 

Mason254, although your coins appear to be uncirculated they are not SMS coins. The Morgan dollar is not a branch mint proof. This set is not unique nor is it rare. It was likely a marketing ploy to trick uneducated people into paying exorbitant prices for average coins. Sets like these are common and beyond the Morgan dollar would most likely be sold for the silver content. As proof, here is an example just like yours with a different date/mintmark Morgan dollar in it. 

56 minutes ago, Just Bob said:

And now, with years more experience under your belt, you probably would not have to give it, or one like it, a second glance to know it was fake. I hope that lesson was not a costly one.

If I had to guess I likely picked this thing up when I was maybe 15? Now with over a decade of additional experience, I would not take a second glance at it. I did not have a code on the flip so I can’t say for sure, but given my age, I doubt I paid much of anything for it. I am sure I had other more deserving coins that needed to be graded at the time. A lesson well learned. 

Here is a coin I submitted a long time ago when I was substantially more naive about the intricacies of counterfeit coins. I do not recall where I got it from or I would list the source. The coin by all appearances seems to be silver, but I never had it tested. The first indications that it is counterfeit are the weight (30.55 grams) and diameter (40.43 mm). The weight should be 26.8 grams and it should have a diameter of 39 millimeters. The second indication is the lack of detail. According to NGC, this is the 7th most counterfeited Chinese coin (https://www.ngccoin.com/resources/counterfeit-detection/top/chinese/7/).  

Some of my more recent additions. 

1806 Bahamas halfpenny (plain edge proof restrike). 

Here is a picture of my most recent purchase. I have done my best to obscure the certification number to avoid the obvious, but please take a shot at guessing the grade! 

The submission status has been marked as “scheduled for grading”. Seems like they moved through the first stage pretty quickly. 

Somewhat unusual for my collection, but it was relatively inexpensive, and I liked the design. The images on the bottom corners are of the original wrapper that came with it. 

23 hours ago, Just Bob said:

Here goes nothing:

1. AU58

2.MS66

3. MS63

4. AU58

5. VF

6. F

7. F DETAILS

8. VF DETAILS

9. VF

10. MS63

11. VF

12, AU53

13. G

14. VG DETAILS

15. F

16.VF

17. F DETAILS

18. F DETAILS

 

Thank you for participating! We are pretty close on a few. Some you graded more leniently and others more conservatively than I do, but overall we are not too far apart! I will post my guesstimates closer to the time they are finalized (the shipment has not even made it to Sarasota yet). Maybe we can get a few more people to tag along between then and now.

15 hours ago, thebeav said:

What Bob said.......

Seriously though.....Those are some great looking coins. You did a nice job with your photos too !

 

Fun stuff !

I am glad you enjoyed the thread. Thank you for the compliments! 

9 hours ago, Mk123 said:

Not gonna try guessing but gonna follow and see what your results are!! 

No harm in that, the more the merrier! 

28 minutes ago, Coinbuf said:

Took a look at the VSCO app, looks to be somewhat different for android and it costs $20 a month so I'll keep it in mind if it ever changes to a free app.

Oh wow that is very different than the IOS version. I have the option to pay $20 a month but the version I have been using is free. 

Well please keep this thread updated with what you find works the best. If you have not already tried using the app “VSCO” it may be somewhat helpful. It allows you to manually set your focus which could prove useful for slab shots. Thank you for the compliment and the suggestion. I played around with light grey but I did not try a light blue. My image quality is still all over the place. Once I hone that down a little more I need to just find a nice background that I like and stick to it.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a coin show for the first time in at least 4 years. I forgot how much I enjoyed interacting with fellow collectors and seeing so many beautiful coins in one day. I ended up spending most of my time talking to a world coin dealer who was super knowledgeable and had some very impressive pieces. I was able to add a few decent examples to my William III halfpenny collection (numbers 7, 8, & 17 on the list below). Of course, with every coin show, you are bound to encounter those select dealers who completely lack social skills. Overall, I walked away very happy with a few new additions and a contact source for nicer world coins.

Anyways, the main point of this post was to make a second attempt at a guess the grade post (GTG). I really enjoyed the comments and guesses from my last GTG and I figured it could be fun to do so again. I just mailed out the box with 18 coins on the invoice this morning. The package should be there by Friday! As always, I fully understand that it can be nearly impossible to accurately grade from a picture and this thread is solely for fun. The pictures are of differing quality/background because I did not have time to re-image the coins with very poor pictures before I submitted them. Feel free to pass any judgment you see fit no feelings will be hurt on my part. Please post the number and corresponding guess below. I look forward to seeing what you all think!

1. 1797 Great Britain Penny 

2. 1806 Great Britain Penny

3. 1791 Sierra Leone Penny 

4. 1799 Great Britain Halfpenny

5. 1793 Bermuda Penny

6. 1788 Great Britain Pattern Penny 

7. 1695 England Halfpenny 

8. 1696 England Halfpenny

9. 1697 England Halfpenny Peck-650 Variety 

10. 1811 Bank of England 18 Pence 

11. 1829 (ND) Jamaica Penny

12. 1717 England Halfpenny 

13. 1692 Ireland Halfpenny

14. 1694 Ireland Halfpenny 

15. 1736 England Farthing 

16. 1682 Ireland Halfpenny 

17. 1699 England Halfpenny

18. 1604 Ireland 6 Pence

20 hours ago, Coinbuf said:

Here is my most recent attempt at some photos with my cell phone.  This coin is in an NGC holder and coins in holders are still a struggle for me, these are ok but still not great.

That is a pretty good shot and a nice coin! I think you face a whole different slew of challenges than I do because you are taking pictures of lustrous silver-colored coins as compared to my usually well circulated brown copper coins. I tried my luck photographing these coins in NCG holders. I think I have plenty of room for improvement, but I am not sure what my next step should be to do so. I also may need to change my background color. Any suggestions?

I did my best to incorporate as many of the suggestions both in this thread and the one coinbuf posted ATS. I also played around with PowerPoint a bit to get the background and circular cropping.The colors are way more accurate but it seems as though I lost some of the sharpness. Let me know what you all think!

On 2/6/2019 at 11:17 PM, coinman1794 said:

Make sure to set the white balance on your camera if possible. Some of your backgrounds have a noticeable, reddish tinge.

Thank you for letting me know coinman1794! I adjusted my white balance as best as I could. Please let me know if new pictures how the same reddish tinge. 

On 2/8/2019 at 11:57 AM, Coinbuf said:

So far this is the best raw coin photo that I've taken, lighting still needs work but it is close to the in hand look.  I'm using a Samsung phone and the camera doesn't seem as good as the iPhone judging from some pics I've seen put up ats.  I have not had any time at all the past two weekends but may set aside a few hours this weekend for photos.

 

 

That is a petty sharp looking image. Copper seems to be the hardest to capture the true look/color. Keep us updated please!

6 hours ago, BLive1972 said:

These look great!  

Thank you!

21 hours ago, Coinbuf said:

No I'm still a work in progress myself and your last photo looked great.  I have had much better luck shooting raw coins vs slabbed so far, I have a couple different thickness of cardboard and I'm going to experiment with putting those under the slab to raise it up slightly to get a better focus/sharpness.  Also trying some Jansjo lights from Ikea (fairly cheap with good brightness), and different diffuser materials.

Thank you! I am particularly proud of that one. I have not even started to think about photographing slabs. I have a few slabs from my last submission that I will eventually try out. Please update this thread with your images and what you discover. I started the thread to share my new purchases, but I had really hoped this conversation would take the direction it would.

10 hours ago, Just Bob said:

Has anyone ever tried the milk jug light diffuser set-up with a phone camera?

Hmmmm that is interesting. Do you think a single light source would be sufficient? I may try this out next time. 

1 hour ago, bottlebum said:

Looks awesome. 

Thank you!