Photographing Ancient Greek And Roman Coins

I am continuing to work with my coin lighting and I am also working with what I think looks best in terms of presentation. I think we all will agree the potential buyer of one of our coins would prefer to see photographs that best represent the coin we have in hand.

The dolphin coin you see above was purchased just as you see it and I made the decision to leave the coin intact. A bit of dirt and all. I like what I see including the small flaws and the dirt. There is something esthetically nice about leaving the coin’s character intact. I am asking for feedback. I think this is a good topic for discussion.

If you have an opinion about the photograph or about the topic, please share. Thank you for looking and I must admit I feel I am making progress with my coin photography. Thanks for reading and if my blog is of any interest please bookmark and look in from time to time.. God Bless.. Jerry..

Ancient Coins: Photographing The "Ugly"

Ugly is actually a very poor word choice. Character is a more applicable word but ugly garners more attention. Those of you who follow my photography and coin cleaning articles know that I do search out what I consider to be beautiful. However, I think there is much to learn when photographing coins with character. Please take a look at the coins above and see if there is anything to be learned.

I chose one highly reflective coin, which is always a problem for the naive or new coin photographer. The other coins were chosen arbitrarily from one of my boxes of less than excellent coins. I did look for imperfections, a variety of textures and color anomalies. Each element possesses a potential learning experience for the coin photographer. Collectively there are many things to be learned from such an exercise.

When I was still in my college classroom it was not unusual for me to assign students the task of developing fifty drawings or a dozen designs of particular subject matter over a weekend.
I have been photographing coins most of the day and I suspect I have shot and looked at 40-50 coins by now. I may continue to explore this exercise for days and ultimately shoot and look at a couple hundred coin shots. I have done 200 drawings during many drawing sessions. Of course I would have to qualify what I was doing and I will not bore you with the details.

I highly recommend you jump aboard and perform such a photography exercise. Be sure to look for lighting adjustments and color balance as you work. You will encounter many elements and principles with which to deal and after shooting and studying one coin you will be a better coin photographer. After you do the same with 200 coins you will begin to master your craft.. thank you and God Bless.. Jerry.. PS: Feedback is nice..

How To Buy Ancient Coins On eBay

Many members write me about buying coins on eBay and I have what I think is a good method for eBay buying. Is is not rocket science but I know my approach to buying does work. I have bought successfully on eBay and I continue to bid on eBay coins. First of all I take a look at the vendors return policy and if he/she does not have a policy stated I then write and ask his/her return policy. I ask if satisfaction is guaranteed and I ask if the vendor will accept returns.

If the vendor's return policy is viable I then bid. I think it is very important to take a look at the dealer's rating. I think anything below 98% should be a red flag.
I hope this helps those who are reluctant to bid. I would also like to see this post stimulate conversation and I would like to see other's opinions. Thank you for reading and God Bless.. Jerry..

Great Hobby: Collecting Ancient Coins

Ancient coin collecting has the potential to be a profoundly fascinating hobby for those who are interested in coins or interested in history. The hobby can be about as expensive and one chooses. The first ancient coin purchase I made cost me $2.50 cents for a Constantius back in the seventies. I have paid as little as $1.00 each for uncleaned ancient coins. I have borrowed a part of the following article from the US Mint. There was no author’s name so I will give credit to the US taxpayers.

“There are many excellent reasons why you might want to collect coins. For starters, they tell unique stories. A coin's design, mintmark, condition and composition can offer a glimpse into history and a better understanding of the past.
Some people collect coins in the hope that they will appreciate in value. Some coins have intrinsic bullion value (such as silver, gold and platinum coins). Others become valuable because they are rare.
Coin collecting, one of the oldest hobbies, was once practiced only by kings and the wealthy. That's why coin collecting often is called the "king of hobbies" and the "hobby of kings."
Coin collecting became increasingly popular in America during the 1930s when United States commemorative coins became widely available. Today, there are millions of coin collectors in the United States alone. The thriving coin-collecting community, which includes clubs throughout the United States, provides numerous opportunities for collectors to meet and trade.
A Brief History of Coins
From ancient Egyptian coins to today's circulating cents, coins have a rich and fascinating history. The first coins date back to 650 B.C. - more than 2,600 years ago - in Lydia, an area that today is part of Turkey.”

Enough from the US Mint. With great bias, I will share the very best source for learning about ancient coins. I have an Ancient Coin Yahoo group, Ancient Peddler, where we have some of the finest ancient coin scholars on the web. I encourage you and your friends to join our group and I encourage you to ask all the questions you care to ask about ancient coins. I will also state that we have been know to drift off topic from time to time since we are a very friendly and caring group. Our Ancient Peddler URL is as follows: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancientpeddler
We have other ancient coins groups but I will share that information at some future time. Thank you for reading and I hope your interest in ancient coin collecting had been stimulated to some degree.. God Bless.. Jerry..

Getting To Know Our Ancient Coin Metals

One of our Ancient Peddler members asked a question about bronze and after doing a bit of research I realized how little many of us know about coin metals. I will share some things I discovered about bronze. If you can add to my list, please do and please let us know what you have learned.

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.

Bronze was developed as an alloy thousands of years ago.

Obviously, the Bronze Age was called that because of development of bronze.

Historians believe bronze was “created” as early as 3000 BC.

Bronze is tougher that its parent metal copper.

Bronze is very resistant to corrosion.

Bronze has a relatively low melting point.

Bronze used to manufacture bells is called “Bell Metal” and is created by adding tin.

Statuary bronze will have as little as 10% tin.

Zinc is added to bronze alloy to add strength for the manufacture of bearings and weapons.

Phosphor is often added to bronze to add more strength.

Manganese is often added to bronze to increase strength and machinability.

I hope you find these facts about bronze interesting and I am wondering if the ancients knew some of these things such as adding zinc. I have always been interested in metals and wood and I hope I have not bored you with my personal interest in bronze.. God Bless.. Jerry..

Extra Zapping Reveals This Beauty

The coin you see to the right was very resistant to cleaning so I placed her in my Super Zapper and gave her an extra kick and the crust eventually fell away. It is difficult to find coins of this quality unless one finds the coin under crust. I still have a bit of touching up to do and will most likely use my graphite pencil scrub to eliminate the darkness around the legend.

After I finish cleaning the coin I plan to allow the coin to patinate naturally with just a little help. I find great joy in extricating these coins from the encrustation. I am the first to see this coin in this condition in about 1700 years. I am sure if it was not for Zapping, I would have little interest in ancient coins. As a retired teacher I would be unable to afford the coins I like. Many of the members of CoinZappers feel the same as I do about Zapping. I must warn you, it is addictive! Thank you for looking and God bless.. Jerry..

Lighting: This Is What I Have Been Looking For

I have been working with my coin photo lighting for months and I am finally satisfied with recent results. Please take a look at the Antonius Pius attached left and see if you agree. If you like what you see, then go back through my blog posts and see if there is a light tent you like.

I have reported more than once that I believe good coin photography is about 98% lighting and the remaining 2% accounts for other factors. I really hope that something I have shared will help you move ahead more rapidly that I have. I built another light tent a few days ago that I like a lot. Perhaps I will share the unit soon.

Let me know what you think of the photo. Perhaps I am being too subjective and perhaps you can share something that will make me a better coin photographer. Thank you for reading and God Bless.. Jerry..