Let me apologize for the not-so-great photos. Some are better than others. Obviously I'm not using a rig where the pictures are taken at the identical distance. Hence, the Shield Nickel appears smaller than the Three Cent Nickel. This set took quite awhile to assemble and finally photograph. I'd appreciate any comments you might have. Quite a bit of sweat went into this collection. The much larger montage can be seen here.

That's a spectacular set. One of Bowers & Merena's auctions last year had a similar set and the final bid price floored me. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Very Cool! A beautiful set, it must have been fun completing it.

That's quite an accomplishment! The surfaces on some of those coins is amazing, especially the half dime.

What kind of rig do you use to take your photos? You can reduce some of the glare by simply taking 2 sheets of printer paper and wrapping them around your light source. (Don't make it tight, as it can get hot enough to cause a fire) I use this method to take photos of my coins, and it essentially makes a nice soft, but overall light source, much like an expensive reflection umbrella.

It's harder to get cameo shots with this method, but it can capture loads of detail without a bad reflection even when the coin is slabbed.

Not a bad idea, Vfox...thanks.

Great set!!

I experimented with taking out the glare by putting a piece of paper over the light source. Unfortunately the mirrors are pretty much gone, but how does the rest look? I really like the quarter.





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Ah so the USA did have interesting coins at one stage, shame they didn't keep along these lines in later years

funnnny.. yep. these designs and the ones of following decades are my favorites.

So you don't think the designs need a change at all then? They have been unchanged, in some cases for 50-60 years.

Yes I know certain UK coins have been the same since 1971 but they have change over the last 40 years. The 5p, 10p & 50p have all shrunk, there have been Three types of head on the current circulating coins, the £1 has a different design every year with no design (except for the coat of arms) being used more than twice. Add to that that they are changing the designs to the 1p-50p coins as well, perhaps a change is needed for the US coins?

I think you misunderstood me, my friend. I think the designs of the coins posted in this thread are gorgeous and the ones in the decades following those designs (barber coinage, morgan dollars, etc).

The current designs... well thats a whole 'nother story.

I apologise, I did indeed misunderstand you, the following ones after these (Barber Coinage, Morgan Dollars) are excellent coins. The current ones however aren't, I like the idea of Presidents being on banknotes but not on the coins, I've always felt that Liberty should be on the obverse of the coins instead. Plus the reverses are getting dull now, how about some eagles,etc. on the reverse instead?

I have felt the same about UK coinage as well, if we do eventually get rid of the Royal Family (which I personally hope we don't) I would like to see Britannia on the Obverse of the coins. That's my only fear with the upcoming coins, I just hope that someone included Britannia in the new designs.

The set posted at the top of this page is, of course, excellent

Those are BEAUTIFUL!!!
I agree, all modern coinage is bleh...someone PLEASE! enlighten me if you think I'm wrong
Then again maybe people back in 1870 people felt the same way about their coins

Did the Dime have a different value back then? Surely Half a dime is 5c yet there is a 5c coin???

I played with your photos a lil.

Spectacular set.

Not bad, Vfox! I'll try playing with my original to see how you got to the end result. I think someone else on another board did basically the same thing with similar results. I guess I'll have to learn how to do the same.

All you have to do is adjust the contrast, brightness, color balance, sharpness, and saturation of color and you can really make a photo pop. Looking at the when it's not 3 am helps though, I could go back and redo the dime and cent, they still seems a little blurry and contrasty. I guess having a background in computer art helps when messing with photos, lol. Seriously though, this is easy stuff, if you have photoshop, it's all in the adjustments tab.

Btw, try tilting the coin when photographing it to give some of the mirror some depth. It works well with anything with a even PL surfaces. Just tilt it until you see darkness around the coins devices, and snap a pic.

Is it me or has this been posted on coin community too?

I still think the 3-cents is marvellous..

Yep, I put this up on the Coin Community site too. I agree, I think both the 3¢ are very nice. Thanks for the compliment.

Was this purchased as an entire set or pieced together?

If it was pieced together, which coin was the most difficult to aquire?

It's a marvelous set.

Thanks. I pieced the whole thing together over the past few years. The most difficult coin to acquire in terms of quality and, of course price, was the Seated Dollar.