VKurtB

There is a type of lens that can handle this issue, but talk about EXPENSIVE! Several companies make lenses that can shift the optical axis off center. That way any reflection is off to the side while the planes of the film or sensor, lens, and subject are all parallel. I was very good at avoiding that expense by holding a black card over the end of the lens with a retaining ring, everything very deep deep black, to quash any reflections, and lighting around the edges with a translucent vellum tube surrounding the entire subject to diffuse the light. That gave me deep dark fields on the coins and brilliantly lit devices, with emphasis on the edges of the devices. 
 
The point of all this is that all these problems do have solutions, but none are easy, quick, or obvious. Good coin photography is hard, and it takes time, money, and experience. Anybody who thinks they have an easy solution is selling snake oil. Add to that my disdain for “it’s good enough”, and you see why I seldom take or show coin photos. 

No one, least of all I, will give you a hard time about the photography. Coins are a nightmare of non-obvious problems of macrophotography and lighting, both of which can get expensive to do well. Some here love the advice “crop in close”. I do not ascribe to that school of thought. In digital photography, cropping throws away pixels. Blowing up a cropped photo just ruins whatever resolution was there. Sorry guys, it just does. Getting in close must be done with optics, not cropping digital pictures. Some people are sanguine about “Meh, it’s good enough.” That’s never been my thing. 

They do indeed. I am aware of the apparent irony of “going off” on people using the Internet to become (mis)educated about coins on an Internet message board, but there you have it. There are really very very few sources that any beginner will encounter online that are worth a darn. This is one. The ANA site is even better, if somewhat messy to navigate. But, except for some very non-obvious sites, trying to learn about coins online is a baaaaad choice. Books, clubs, shows - all beat the Internet by a country mile. Heck, even Roger’s books.  Of course, I kid. 

Keep in mind that (financially) this can do you as much harm as good.  Let's say grading and shipping/insurance costs you ~$100 per coin. You have upside if they grade MS70, but if they grade MS66 you will be underwater, and the bullion will be hard to sell in a holder in that grade.  If what I am saying sounds like a foreign language, it's better to hold off and learn a little before you spend the money on grading.

We serve together (Fuljenz and I) on the ANA Membership and Outreach Committee. 

Newer news! From the PAN website:

Our May 16-18, 2024 Spring Coin Show is on Schedule at the Monroeville Convention Center as are all future PAN Shows!
Breaking News!!!  The Monroeville Convention Center will not be closing its doors through the tireless efforts of the Municipality of Monroeville, Pennsylvania State government, Oxford Development, and Hobby Lobby.  Our coin shows will continue uninterrupted as scheduled!  This is wonderful news for PAN and the Monroeville area.  There are now aggressive efforts in place to reopen the DoubleTree Hotel.  A new room block at the nearby Hampton Inn by Hilton is now available.  Please scroll down for the details and the room reservation link.

I need to thank @GoldFinger1969 for reminding me of something with this thread. I have a presentation on the Bretton Woods system already “in the can” that I have not used at an ANA show. Maybe Atlanta next winter?

Be EXTREMELY watchful of that vinyl page stuff. I once bought a bulk lot at auction with about 20 or so similar pages filled with foreign coins of many different metals. Suffice it to say that I spent several weeks with “acetone remediation”. Most were salvaged well, but a few were goners. 

Check the edge of the “dateless” coin. There you will find the date. Also, gee, I guess they ARE being used in commerce somewhere. For those near LA, does CalTrans still use them? They did the last time I was out there in 2016. But fares may have passed that era by.

Nice interesting eclectic mix. A good mix of stuff, of modest value.

The best part of the BBC article is this headline:
“Digital technology is de-skilling us”
Amen.

My Speed Graphic is in my sister’s home in Pennsylvania. My view camera is a Cambo, and is about 15 feet away as I type this. 

ANA HQ book sale  Cool book. Even cooler previous owner.

I have seen individual countries or even regions on the Numismatic News (duh, Krause, in the past) site, but honestly, I haven’t looked lately. Trying to use a pdf of an entire Krause volume strikes me as masochistic. A book the thickness of the last Philadelphia phone book is not “pdf friendly”. Some things NEED to be printed on cheap newsprint stock. 

The software is so lacking in its own emojis that I’ve been reduced to using the “regular” ones. 

Or even with those writers who seem not to be able to tolerate a flexible gold to silver price ratio, preferring a fixed ratio of the distant past? Makes it awfully difficult to have a standard based on bimetalism, doesn’t it? Imagine trying to insist that both metals “are money” when their relative values jump all over the place. No fixed exchange rates between ANY two monetary instruments has ever long endured. Bretton Woods actually disintegrated mere months after its full implementation. Because it HAD TO. 

Bravos to you, Sandon, but I’d bet very few new collectors ever look at that work flow diagram (it does reproduce kind of small). It is no accident that the FIRST COURSE in the ANA’s Numismatic Diploma program is NOT grading, and NOT errors and varieties, but IS Understanding the Minting Process. Why? Understanding that FIRST AND FOREMOST will relieve the student of repeating the grievous mistakes of hundreds of thousands that have come before him. The ANA is a benevolent source for education. I dare say it is the ONLY benevolent one any new collector might encounter. Everyone else is running a click bait scam or commercial venture benefiting themselves. 

The software is so lacking in its own emojis that I’ve been reduced to using the “regular” ones. 

I don’t know about Coney Island rides. I’m pretty limited to Disney theme parks, BOTH U.S. ones, plus a one time visit to Universal Orlando. I even saw, from a distance, the French Disney.
 
Don’t be bored. Boredom is a prelude to death. Visit someplace neat. Monroeville, PA in mid-May, Colorado in June, Orlando maybe in July, or even Rosemont, IL in August. I’ll be at the first three, but so far (things change) not the fourth. When is the summer Baltimore show this year? If I lived in NYC, you couldn’t KEEP me off Amtrak. Alabama is a passenger rail wasteland. For now. 

ANA HQ book sale  Cool book. Even cooler previous owner.

ANA HQ book sale  Cool book. Even cooler previous owner.

ANA HQ book sale  Cool book. Even cooler previous owner.

ANA HQ book sale  Cool book. Even cooler previous owner.

First Person Singular Theater?

What is the year edition of the Krause pdf? I have two hard copy, five years apart.