Some information about our pictures:

Picture Rating:

You may notice that we always rate how the picture compares to the actual coin. In our experience the actual coin almost always looks better than our picture. The best we have been able to accomplish is to get pictures that accurately show the coin. If we state that the coin is much, much better than the picture, it is because the actual coin when viewed with the naked eye is remarkably better than the picture. If we ever could get a picture better than the coin, we will state that information too.

Large Pictures:

Large pictures are extremely revealing. Sometimes they show information which is not visible to the naked eye. Toning sometimes appears as a raised or lowered area of a coin and sometimes as a line or defect in the coin. Neither of these are generally a problem with the actual coin. When it is obvious to us that the picture inaccurately shows something that is not there, we will mention it.

Small pictures tend to hide problems. We believe that large pictures help you determine the value of a coin. That is why we provide them. However, do not penalize us for doing this. If you think that a coin looks odd or defective, simply capture it in one of your graphics programs and shrink it. You will generally be surprised at how much better the coin appears. Now you may have an idea of why other people who auction coins refuse to provide a large picture.

The reason we provide a large picture is because you can downsize a picture without losing quality, but it is difficult to upsize a picture and maintain quality.

Shiny Coins:

Shiny or lustrous coins are especially difficult to photograph. The light reflects off the edges of the devices and shows up as bright white spots or lines in the picture. As a shiny field starts to tone, the reflection diminishes radically in the toned areas and the field can look like patches of grossly different colors when, in fact, there are only subtle color differences. Again, this difference is amplified by large pictures. So to get a better idea of the actual coin, simply downsize the picture.

Details:

We try to position our lighting to show the details present on the coin. That is why we generally light from both sides of a coin. Especially on high relief coins, lighting from only one side can sometime lose all the detail in the shadow it casts. Detail cannot be created from the lighting if it is not already there. Detail on the bottom area of the coin is sometimes not shown because lighting from the bottom causes an unnatural appearance.

General Appearance:

We try to have the picture be as representative of the coin as we can. Thus, we try to match the color and toning as close as possible. Of course, monitors vary and your monitor may not give the same coloration as ours. Brightness or darkness of a picture can also vary from monitor to monitor. If the coin is too bright, simply adjust your monitor to be darker. If a coin is too dark at your monitor's maximum brightness, please let us know and we may be able to provide you with a brighter picture.