Gold coins

[Paint Your Wagon]

Not a bad scan considering it was done through the plastic, also like the Gaudi lettering on the one side.

Thank you
I did not realise the quaint lettering was Gaudi style but now that you mention it something clicks and it makes perfect sense
I found the circle with stars a little queer and enchanting because in 1994 the European Union was really no done deal

Now I will have to take out my Canon camera again sometime soon and compare the ease of shooting gold with the ease of scanning gold in a capsule
I think this Canoscan 8800 is going to win for ease of use now that I now the photoshop layers stuff and setting up lighting for a coin in
a capsule probably is going to be dicey too . But I got three full spectrum lights with a known color temperature from Germany and that should
take care of the whitebalance . ( and if everything fails I still can take the gold from the capsule after all my bottle of acetone has been unused for like six months now and I need to keep my agility  ) Oh and I have a pair of cotton gloves I never used .

[Paint Your Wagon]

I think I stopped my collection of Austrian coins because they all have that sameness
Too much detail even when trying to simplify and simply not the proof quality contrast between field and devices the French have

This is Marie Antoinette
Sent to France age 14 to be the empress of the last French emperor before the revolution
The reverse shows her in vain pleading for her life before the citizens jury that sent her to the guillotine
Whilst the French people were starving to death she was building a little palace in the gardens of the big palace
Obtained on ebay austria for 3% below melt

[Paint Your Wagon]

It is obvious my laser scanner has minor problems with light scattering on the capsule of coins
I still have not found a corrective layer one to suite them all
I had the flue all week so my project to start up the Canon 30 D camera has been posponed
I could cut out the coin and put it on a blue background without capsule but that takes a lot of work if the image is not 100% round ( which it should be but hélas theory and practice often disagree ; like most people do not know a copy machine allways changes the dimentions by a minuscule amount )

[scottishmoney]

With gold that has a mirror finish I find it is better to scan using a light background colour.  If it is circulated then you are better off with a blue background.

[Paint Your Wagon]

With gold that has a mirror finish I find it is better to scan using a light background colour.  If it is circulated then you are better off with a blue background.

As long as there is contrast the finish is no problem ( A Maple leaf is a problem because there is no contrast )
Considering that the scan even with capsule is better then 75% of the ebay pics I see ; I will leave the coins in the capsule
Washing away fingerprints with acetone on a proof coin is no fun since the acetone leaves marks if it is not warm enough
All my coins are in the bankvault but with the next coin I can try a white background , I never did that

What do you consider a light background ? Pure white on which you can set the whitebalance ?

[Paint Your Wagon]

These are the pics from the Austrian National shop
I think all things considered my coinpics are better then his

http://www.schoeller-muenzhandel.at/default.asp?Shop=3

mmm The link does not go to the page you have to click Austria and then ATS 2nd Republic

[Paint Your Wagon]

With gold that has a mirror finish I find it is better to scan using a light background colour.  If it is circulated then you are better off with a blue background.

I had years of color study working in coloring plastics for Mercedes cars to match their leather color etc  and I studied Johannes Itten on colors and could read
spectophotometer graphs ( what they now call histograms in photoshop )
The eye is easily deceived . Put a slightly neutralised blue color on a real blue color background and your eyes will tell you it is dirty purplish like .

So I am completely flabbergasted
My canoscan8800F comes with three drivers a standard , a canondriver , and Silverfast a  professional photographers driver
The Canondriver will render the image independant of the background ( scan will look the same with or without background) whilst Silverfast will show you what the deceived eye sees ; that is the image as seen by the eye on that background but totally different from the image without background 

On the left is what the eye would see if poster and background where separated and on the right is what the eye really sees when you put one on top of the other ( now this is the same scanner with standard settings and two different drivers )
( What you really see will depent on your gamma setting etc of your LCD screen unless you have an old Video screen )

[Paint Your Wagon]

I am stopping my austrian series here since all those coins look alike so much and the quality even in handprocessed condition is less then Monnaie de Paris . I mean the coin surface texture is not state of the art like Monnaie de Paris does in my opinion and since it is my money my opinion is were my money goes .
So here goes Book illustration half ounce one percent below melt
1000 ATS 2001 with certificate
One side shows the library of Austria the other side illustrators at work

[Paint Your Wagon]

The reverse

This is the side I like better

[scottishmoney]

Still a pretty coin

[Paint Your Wagon]

Still a pretty coin

Yes I just saw on ebay germany of course several of the 1999 and 2000 Monnaie de Paris coins of the ART series
Butt ugly in my opinion ( that is the design is ugly and even the best coinmaster cannot make an eyepleasing coin out of an ugly design)
The vendor is offering free shipping but those coins had authorised limits of 2000 and some only got 166 buyers
There is Roman art and Greek art and Modern art etc none pleases me 

I am fairly spoiled ; even at or below melt I want my coins to look lovely ( Lovely like in the song from the film My Fair Lady )

[scottishmoney]

Working currently on a test deal to trade AGE's for 1873-1907 Liberties at 1:1, minuscule amt less gold in the Liberties, but lots more history and they were real money.  Will try with a roll over the next couple of weeks and see how it goes, thence perhaps more.

[Paint Your Wagon]

Working currently on a test deal to trade AGE's for 1873-1907 Liberties at 1:1, minuscule amt less gold in the Liberties, but lots more history and they were real money.  Will try with a roll over the next couple of weeks and see how it goes, thence perhaps more.

Anybody accepting that deal probably would be offering fakes with less gold content then the original
Why would they offer that deal if they can get at least 10% better then melt unless it is really VF quality

[scottishmoney]

Anybody accepting that deal probably would be offering fakes with less gold content then the original
Why would they offer that deal if they can get at least 10% better then melt unless it is really VF quality

Usually yes, but this is a collector I have dealt with for quite a long time, I will get over the counter receipts, gold is coming out of the woodwork, if there is high grade Saints etc. I will give the difference in silver bar.

[Paint Your Wagon]

Maybe in the US gold is coming out of the woodworks
Here in Europe it is terrible
Goldfillings or goldteeths half cleaned
Gold nuggets or whatever must pass for a goldnugget and miracalously nature has produced all nuggets at 99% pure
Gold leafs 100 goldleafs still weigh nothing
Smallest coins of the world ( 0.25 to 0.50 grams of gold if you are lucky since several reports give analyses of zero gold in some cases)
and the real coins at 100% or higher over melt
So I am not buying the last three weeks