To me it looks like a scan.. because of what I see as slight distortion…. but I am no expert…. as far as how to photograph a coin I have only ever been give one piece of advise for any subject….
1. Practice
2. Practice
3. Practice…..
Hope it helps… 😀
david
That doesn’t look like a scan at all, the angle is just not right. Note that you can see the rim of the coin only at the top, not at the bottom.
Furthermore scanning silver and gold is quite tricky, because it reflects the scanner’s light. At least my scanner won’t do it with coins at all 🙁
Alexander.
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Canon Ixus 430 (aka S410) | x86 with XP Pro | PSE v3.0.1 with 3k images | 12" Powerbook soon 🙂
Looks like a photo to me. It’s really very easy (but often time consuming) to get this level of results for a flat object such as a coin.
To learn how, look for some of the tutorials "on the web" on Macro Photography or Jewelry Photography.
wrote in message
This came from an eBay listing, and it’s extremely sharp and clear. I
can’t figure out if someone used a Macro setting on a digital camera or scanned it. Thoughts?
< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1Ei0enRhd4O9o8ePNLT6ja 0XNYPa>
If it looks like it was scanned, that’s pretty simple. If it looks like
it’s a photo, is anyone willing to give me pointers on how to set up a coin for this kind of clarity? I’m talking background, lighting, etc.
Thank you! 🙂
Edit: I hope I got that bad link off fast enough!
I would be happy to conduct a test as to whether such a coin looks like that when scanned…
….if someone would kindly send me one of those coins to scan!!
What on earth are you talking about? When you say "such a coin looks like that" one would think you were in a discussion about a specific coin – but, overlooking the fact that this forum has nothing to do with coin collection, I don’t think we can help you!
Dick Smith
On Mon, 16 May 2005 13:58:45 -0700, Byron Gale wrote:
I would be happy to conduct a test as to whether such a coin looks like that when scanned…
…if someone would kindly send me one of those coins to scan!!
What a guy, Byron; it’s a beauty, isn’t it? Maybe I should just swipe his photo and not worry about trying to make my own. 🙂
Thank you for the link, Barbara. I read through a number of posts, and I got some ideas that I think will be useful. Judging from the sample narya posted, scanning seems out of the question, so I guess it’s time to brush up on my photography skills. This is when I’ll be super glad it’s digital and can easily redone.
wrote
What on earth are you talking about?
I was making a joke about somebody sending me a gold coin to scan. Sorry if it came across otherwise.
Of all the things I Google, you would have thought I would have tried that one. Duh. Thanks, Patti.
I knew you were kidding, Byron, and I was kinda wondering about that response, too.
To me this looks like a photograph. The angle of the light suggests so.
Ray
Well, that turned out good. I haven’t had time to experiment yet, but I’m definitely going to try both methods. I’m expecting to find that one way works better on some coins than the other. One place I was reading said that pennies, for example, are extremely hard to scan, but I suppose that also depends on the scanner, the software, and the person using it.
I really do have a 2 1/2D gold piece identical to the sample image, and it’s in near perfect condition. My guess is that one will have to be photographed – very carefully – in order to avoid any shadows that might imply discoloration like I see in the sample. The circulated silver coins will do fine in a scanner, I bet.
When I said I wanted to find something to occupy my time now that my husband is dead, starting a career in eBaying wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. 🙁
Beth, i don’t want to highjack your thread but I was hoping I could get an answer that has puzzled me for a while….Perhaps someone here knows something about this;
I found this coin a few years ago;
<
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1QiZoQyfqVLUX0zDhSFtSe deC9P4wV>
it has the intials W.H.C stamped into it. It also has two holes in it like button holes…which you cannot tell from the scan. The coin is quite worn.
It is a 1838 penny (larger than a quarter)…Does anyone know anything about something like this ? Did people have their initials stamped into coins for any particular ‘special ‘ reason ? And the holes ?? Were they perhaps used for something ? I can’t help but wonder who W.H.C. was. I’d love to get this coin back to it’s rightful family tree.
I was just reading something a day or two ago about coins that had stamps. Apparently there was a point in time when personalizing coins was very fashionable, and most of them were then given as gifts. The piece I was reading was about silver dollars, though. Of course, it did destroy the value of the coin.
As to getting it back to its rightful line – Willard Hoover Crum’s family could claim it, but it probably didn’t even belong to him! 🙂
When you say you "found it", was there a specific context that might give clues?
Actually it was about 3 years ago. There used to be an old 60’s housetrailer on this property…rotting away. We finally decided to tear down the eye sore and I found it lodged between the wall and floorboards. I’m not even sure this trailer was ever lived in while it was on this property as it was only being used for storage from the previous packrat that lived here…it was just a rotting shell…no living quarters. So the fact that you just read about this is very strange isn’t it ? 😉 I guess whoever had it could not afford the ‘silver’ embellishments.
I’d guess back in the days of engraving on a silver dollar that the value of that dollar was actually pretty high compared to what it would be worth today.
It doesn’t sound like the odds of tracking down the descendants of Willard Hoover Crum are very good. Although, console yourself with this: Even if they had the coin, it wouldn’t be as "valuable" to them as a keepsake without knowing who he had gotten it from or for what occasion. It’s probably better they don’t know about it, because the unanswered questions would be very frustrating. Trust me; I have all kinds of things around here that I wish I could teach to talk! 🙂
Jodi, I got curious about that stamped coin of yours. After doing a little googling, I found that they are called "counterstamped coins." Sometimes merchants would stamp their initials or advertisements on the coins and sometimes even the government did it to promote something (propaganda?). There are collectors out there who particularly search for these coins. And of course…there’s even a book: <
http://www.exonumia.com/fs/cm.htm>
This guy specializes in collecting countermarked one cent pieces: <
http://www.pcgs.com/coinguidetext_static/recommend102.chtml>
Do a seach on eBay for counterstamped cent, you’ll see a lot of them…but none with buttonholes. 🙂
My dad has a few counterstamped coins, I think I’ll take a closer look next time I’m over there.
Patti
Thanks for the info Patti ! I admit when i first found the coin I was stumped….especially with the button type holes. The initials i just assumed was from someone who loved himself 😉 I did some googling as well and wasn’t able to find any with the holes. Oh well, it remains in my collection of coins. I’m not giving it up….Well, unless i was offered a ridiculous amount of cash then perhaps I’d consider lettin’ it go 😉 Thanks again
There’s a few different ways to get this shot. One would be with a ring light on a macro lens. To cut down on the flare back off the metallic surface a dulling spray would be used. Another option is a soft box with reflector panels. These are pricey options.
On the cheap , you can make a cone out of frosted plastic sheeting. You place the large end of the cone over the coin and shoot through the other. Shine lights in from one or both sides. Yet another option is a lightbox or light table shot. Place the coin on a sheet of opal glass. backlight the coin. A reflector card around/either side of the lens kicks back enough light for a fill in.
There’s quite a few ways to get this kind of shot with a camera.
With a scanner (I’m guessing now) probably a slide attachment to get a dead white background and a lot of fiddling to get the face of the coin just right would do it. I don’t think it would look as good as a photographed image…
