VKurtB

I attended more Board meetings while Laura was on the Board than Laura did. 

Full bird, retired. His personal demeanor fairly screams “I’m used to being heeded.” Right out of Central Casting. William Devane is a poseur. Steve is the genuine article. 

The stock is a restricted gift. There are rules about how often it can be sold and how much. It is “Ben E. Keith” stock. A very huge amount of the ANA’s portfolio is in rare coins themselves. I previously knew they owned one of the 1913 Liberty nickels, but now I understand they own two of them. 2 of 5. They own at least one 1804 dollar, and several more ultra-rarities. Some very rare coins have been stolen by light fingered past museum staffers. Recoveries of some have been made, not all. There is talk that the Langbord Double Eagles may be distributed, and if they are, the ANA might be an obvious home for one. The ANA owns one of the unparalleled collections of the world. Most are also restricted gifts, which must be held for very long times. 

I have completely stopped buying anything from anyone online unless I have a previous "face to face" relationship with them. Too many con-men.

There has been for MANY years now a "death match" struggle between dealer interests and collector interests at the ANA. Dealers have won that death match in recent years. I have now been to well over 20 ANA shows, and if there weren't even a bourse there, it would be fine with me. I realize some like that most of all. It's just not what I go for.
Of the holdings in my collection, after excluding direct purchases from mints, maybe 2% have come from coin shows, while over 90% have come from live in-person auctions. Brick and mortar dealers are way less than 1%.

Let me try to stay out of the worst of the fray by sticking to what I know for certain. The current President, Steve Ellsworth of Butternut Coins, is a very strong Type A personality whose ideas are highly controversial. Some members, including many of the most active members, frankly hate his guts. He has done many highly controversial things, and the Board has shot him down on many more. In all my years as an active member, I've never seen any President on the losing side of so many 7-2 or 8-1 votes.
The ANA does have a MASSIVE endowment, but Steve and some others don't want it used for operations, ever. They want a balanced current year budget every year, allowing the endowment to grow ad infinitum. Educational programs have suffered, and that's supposed to be the ANA's mission, not a coin dealer marketing association. That's about as far as I want to go for now. I am planning to run for the Board of Governors.

I've worn some of each.

No. Stop thinking in terms of wiping or brushing of any kind. All of it creates damage that is easily seen.

Oh boy. I think you're in for a disappointment.

You need to tell them PRECISELY, by number that they support, which is not all, which error you think it is. All they do is confirm what YOU say it is, or not.
 
Orrrrrr, in other words....
 

None whatsoever. Keep copious notes on what you did what you see. They will come in handy later.

My dad was one of the pioneers of both the independent color photo laboratory business, and later what became the One-Hour Photo craze. He and I went all over the country installing the things, made by Gretag AG of Regensdorf, Switzerland, out near Zurich's International Airport. The same company invented Eidophor, the very first stadium-sized TV system. It was rolled out at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. It was those trips to the installation and service schools in Switzerland (where you could get gold when it wasn't yet legal here) that turned me on to the beauty and craftsmanship of Swiss coins, and virtually everything else Swiss. The company next door to Gretag at Regensdorf was a little company known for its stereo gear, especially tape recorders, named Revox. Maybe you heard of them.

Modern cameras make taking bad photos child's play. And most people who own them do exactly that. @brg5658 is the exception. He can rightly be called an artist. But truly, the most critical thing of all is getting the lighting just right, which is THE ENTIRE POINT OF THIS THREAD. Or it was.

So did you ever get satisfactory answers about Skip's fluorescent lights? If nothing else, their adverse effect on color is bad enough for this guy to reject using them.

I do own and use a 4x5 view camera quite regularly. I use both Ilford monochrome and Fujichrome color emulsions regularly. If I ever start using it for coins, it's time to hunt me down and shoot me. I use the principles I have learned from using a view camera, but NOT the camera. 
 
However, I am not quite sure how I feel about "professional coin photography" in the first instance. I see it as potentially a tool to misinform. After all, my first wife went to a chain called Glamor Shots, and she looked amazing. Well...… you can guess the rest.

I am familiar with your (and your father’s) photography skills and backgrounds.  I don’t doubt them for one second: 4x5 images are stunning and something digital cameras as of yet cannot replicate.   thanks Kurt. 

I do own and use a 4x5 view camera quite regularly. I use both Ilford monochrome and Fujichrome color emulsions regularly. If I ever start using it for coins, it's time to hunt me down and shoot me. I use the principles I have learned from using a view camera, but NOT the camera. 
 
However, I am not quite sure how I feel about "professional coin photography" in the first instance. I see it as potentially a tool to misinform. After all, my first wife went to a chain called Glamor Shots, and she looked amazing. Well...… you can guess the rest.

The degree to which a particular camera system can or cannot handle the depth of field implications of a non-parallel coin and sensor (or film) is dependent on the actual diameter of the aperture. Note: this is NOT the f-stop number, which is a ratio of the focal length to that diameter. Very short focal lengths, as used in every phone, or extraordinarily bright light (enabling some truly weird f-stop settings) can help. Tilting in general is a horrible idea. One exception: a true view camera, with the ability to tilt the lens in relation to the focal plane. That can create an object focal plane of any tilt one desires. But no one here is going there.

You're a tough dude, there. Can't say I blame you. I'm considering a similar move. I'm not yet sure I can give up one annual silver proof set, though. The 3rd one from the top on yours.

He just oiled down for some posing.

I'm always sober except for very specific occasions. Thanksgiving, Kentucky Derby Day (bourbon), trips to Scotland (scotch whisky) (note: no 'e'), Napa Valley trips, Bordeaux trips, etc. Pennsylvania makes passable hooch, and my new place is going to be about 40 miles from the Jack Daniels distillery, but in Huntsville, I've seen in-laws polish off full cases of Bud Light during a half of a Crimson Tide game.

The east coast is swimming with shows, absolutely thick with them. 

Does not Washington’s profile, and the drummer boy’s face, and the reverse flame all point to this coin not being ANY SORT of MS coin? It is clearly an AU on its best day.

I often take coin color in photos with a truckload of salt. This background is blue, which can create a yellow color if the camera is on auto white balance. Similarly there is a thread where someone has photographed a coin on a green background. Yup, a magenta coin. No mystery. You have to "pick your poison". Auto white balance will "fix" your light source, but backgrounds will screw you up. Go with a fixed white balance to avoid that and your lamps can screw with your photos. This taking pictures of coins business is very easy to screw up. It requires more attention and precision than most will apply to it. We used to have a medium that ignored all background colors. They were called "color slides". Can you say "color slides"? Nice try. Of course, then you had to match your "color slide film" with your light source. Again, attention and precision, not terribly modern American traits, alas.

You won't, they're "damaged".

No. Stop thinking in terms of wiping or brushing of any kind. All of it creates damage that is easily seen.