I thought I'd raise a point that might have relevance to other collectors who buy coins via the internet.
After recently closing a deal on a 1909-S VDB and now awaiting its arrival, another collector saw the dealer's photo and suggested it might be graded as an RB vs. RD.

While I'm generally familiar with coin grades, I'm hardly an expert, so I conducted a test to see how well a confirmed "red" penny photographs under different lighting conditions and backgrounds. The first three are of the same 1966 example, which under examination is clearly BU with no toning at all. The fourth is the coin in question.

Doing this test, I found interesting how a very bright "red" penny can almost look dark/toned under some lighting conditions. That's a possible effect to consider, since those who buy online may be forced to choose between an aesthetically pleasing but ungraded coin, or a slabbed coin that was shot under flat lighting. In this scenario, both coins may actually be just as bright, and other features such as strike depth and blemishes will be similarly hard to compare. (A scattered vs direct light source will hide more surface blemishes on a coin, but will give an impression of a shallower strike.)

Lighting conditions do play a factor in pics. But so also can whether a seller photoshopped the pic of the coin.

Definitely true! Which is why I never buy from anyone without a good return policy.

This information is definitely helpful. Thank You.
Corky

I have photoshop on my computer and could make a bad coin look real good. So you have to make sure as you said Kurt make sure they have a return policy if they do they are most likely not to doctor anything.

As do I...I've used PS in a professional way for 15 years, and can spot all but the best doctoring. That said, I'm picking up the coin now, and I'll post my impressions soon.

Update: I have inspected this coin in hand, and I now think the obverse has some RB traits, so I've passed on this coin. The RD grade is just too volatile presently for me to buy a possible borderline coin. I now have an MS62 RB 09-S VDB that's a safer bet.

Thanks everyone for your insight!