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 Replies: 27 / Views: 5,949 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5855 Posts |
I posted this in a thread in another forum, but I really wanted to show these puppies off here in the PM forum for those who have never seen these up close and personal before:  The regular ATB Quarter is shown for scale. These are the bullion versions available from dealers as opposed to the collector versions available from the mint. I paid $1100 for the set at Provident Metal, which works out to $44/ounce. I could have gotten the 2011 issues for around $38/ounce, but I really wanted the 2010 issues and figured the premium wasn't too bad considering what silver has been doing lately... I personally think these are the most beautiful items to come out of the mint in a loooong time (second only, perhaps, to the ASE Reverse Proofs). I just wish the obverse didn't look exactly like a regular quarter. I know why they did that (so they didn't need new legislation to authorize making these), but when I look at the obverse I can't help thinking they look like oversize novelty coins. In additional to this set of five, I am ordering the complete 2011 set directly from the mint so I can get the special "vapor blast" finish. Those are currently only $204.99 per coin and I just hope the price doesn't go up for the last one in the series being released next week. [Edited for egregious typos...] Edited by barryg
02/03/2012 10:06 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7193 Posts |
A really nice set you have there. I wanted to start the series last year but my former employer eliminated that option.
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Valued Member
United States
306 Posts |
Great looking pictures, I have been selling off all my 2010 5ozers to pay for 25th anniversary ASEs and the upcoming 2012 ASE sets. The only one I am keeping is a 2010 5oz P Grand Canyon with the light finish. Thanks for posting those pics! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Great set, fantastic pictures!
I am thinking real hard about building my hoard back one of those bad boys at a time. I just about grabbed a Vicksburg, but I wanted to go ahead an get one of those 4 oz. Platinum plated silver rounds, as I have been wanting one for some time, via the Statue of Liberty design....
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1080 Posts |
How did you take those photos? I have such a problem photographing mine because I keep getting my reflection
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
I wanted to collect these but I just can't imagine putting 25 ozt. Ag worth of my collecting budget into one modern series. I settled on getting silver proof sets.
I think I like the brilliant finish better than the vapor-blasted.
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Valued Member
United States
194 Posts |
I also like the PL better than matte on these, from what I can tell on the screen. Does anyone have a pic of both versions, side by side?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
648 Posts |
Nice photo. I liked the ATB series as well and also have a set. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5855 Posts |
Quote:
How did you take those photos? I have such a problem photographing mine because I keep getting my reflection I use half of a milk carton with a hole cut in the top as a diffuser:  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1817 Posts |
The two treatments are different, PL and VB, and impart a completely dissimilar feel to the finished coin. The PL surface looks best with simple designs without a great deal of distracting detail, Mount Hood and Hot Springs come to mind. The brilliance competes with detail, both Olympic and Glacier are way too busy in PL, whereas the VB tones it down considerably and you can now make out the details. On a coin with medium detail like Vicksburg works in either style. Too bad I can't get barryg to photograph the six coins I have in front of me now, so you'll have a clue to what I am saying...  P.S. That is a slick DIY setup, thanks for sharing! Edited by Bizybackson
02/02/2012 10:19 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5855 Posts |
I should be getting my 2011 set from the mint any day now, so I'll photograph those when they arrive.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Wow Barry I am impressed with that contraption as well. That is some real Leonardo Da Vinci type inventing going on there, lol  .... Those pictures looked so good I subconsciously was tryin to click buy it now  .... Edited by Silverhawk74
02/03/2012 12:19 am
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Valued Member
United States
264 Posts |
Beautiful set Barry!
A few photography hardware questions for you:
What type of digital camera did you use?
What type of lens did it take to get that photo?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5855 Posts |
I use a really cheap $90 Nikon CoolPix camera with 8 megapixels. It's really just a snapshot camera, but it does have a nice macro feature that takes some really nice closeup shots as well.
Once I take the pictures, I bring them into PhotoShop where I adjust the color balance and light levels a bit. In the case of highly reflective silver objects like these, I also usually end up desaturating the image completely so you don't see the bright red reflection from the camera.
For a picture like this one, the real "secret" is simply to photograph each coin separately and then crop and combine them together into a single image rather than trying to photograph all five at once. That way I can have a consistent light source for each coin.
It's not particularly high tech, but the results speak for themselves and I didn't have to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment.
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Valued Member
United States
264 Posts |
@BarryG Ah ha! That's it!  Normally, a real image like this of 5 coins would show some "warping" or distortion at the outer corners. Taking a photo of each coin and then stitching them together takes time but provides much better presentation.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5855 Posts |
Yeah, that's the same way I photographed my 7070 album. It works soooo much better than photographing the entire page at once.
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Replies: 27 / Views: 5,949 |
Posted 02/02/2012 5:38 pm
