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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,313 |
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Valued Member
United States
142 Posts |
Hi gentlemen, I'm sure I have what is likely a common problem around here -- my father passed away last year and I have boxes of his coin and stamp collections that he left me. Most of the world and US coins were easy enough to identify and look up online, but there's a box of ancient coins that has me (and Google) completely stumped. Since there are only 2 PNG dealers in my state, neither of whom specialize in ancient coins, I've come to you. I'm hoping you guys can help me out in identifying them -- at least until you get sick of me. :) Here's the first one:  Please let me know if my phone just isn't cutting it in terms of picture quality and I can go dig up the digital camera for higher resolution stuff if necessary. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
HI unfamiliar- welcome to the forum! We love to see ancients, so post as many questions as necessary.
I am sorry to say, but we may need clearer and larger pictures in order to properly identify as well as verify the authenticity of your coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
 Looking forward to seeing more pictures! |
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Valued Member
 United States
142 Posts |
Thank you both for the very warm welcome. Any suggestions on how to best take the pictures? When attempting at higher resolutions, the pictures are actually coming out worse:  Either I'm doing something wrong, or my 3.2MP camera just isn't up to snuff? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1045 Posts |
There may be a "macro" setting on your camera. If there is, try that as it will help give much better resolution. Regards, -Kurt |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1549 Posts |
Perhaps: http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=215224but still seek out that little flower on your camera that turns on macro mode and use phones for talking. They really do poor pictures. Failing that, try scanning the coin on a flatbed scanner but crop just to the coin and don't post a huge blank white sheet with a dot in the middle. I'm sure of the Beirut ID but the Commodus is a guess based on the fuzzy photo. It could be Septimius or another from that era. |
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Valued Member
United States
142 Posts |
Spot on, Mr. Doug. That's the exact coin. Any idea on its value? I tried searching vcoins but came up empty to an exact match. As for the picture issues, since I have so many more to post, I'll be figuring out the macro issue on the camera (versus trying to take the pictures with the phone) tomorrow and will post many more for you guys to look at. If nothing else, I have a scanner I can use. And just for a little history on these coins -- they were all purchased between Lebanon, Turkey, and Greece prior to 1977 and my father immigrating to the US. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2596 Posts |
what size would you say it is compared to a us coin?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2254 Posts |
Quote:
As for the picture issues, since I have so many more to post, I'll be figuring out the macro issue on the camera (versus trying to take the pictures with the phone) tomorrow A 3.2 MP camera will be enough for coin identification. The only problem with a camera that old is that it probably doesn't have image stabilization. So, find yourself a tripod and use the timer for taking shots instead of your finger. You also may not need macro, but you will need to make sure that your distance is as close as it will allow you to focus regularly. Probably 8-10 inches away. If you don't have a tripod, prop up some reading books on both sides of the coin and use your camera as a "bridge" on top. Set the timer, focus as good as you can, and then crop to just around the coin and enlarge it. |
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Valued Member
United States
422 Posts |
unfamiliar. You came to the right place! These guys are very helpful, insightful and usually spot on with their ID's. You might even find you like collecting ancients! |
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Valued Member
United States
142 Posts |
Quote:
what size would you say it is compared to a us coin?
Here it is in relation to a quarter and a nickel. It's thicker than both.  Quote:
A 3.2 MP camera will be enough for coin identification. The only problem with a camera that old is that it probably doesn't have image stabilization. So, find yourself a tripod and use the timer for taking shots instead of your finger. You also may not need macro, but you will need to make sure that your distance is as close as it will allow you to focus regularly. Probably 8-10 inches away. If you don't have a tripod, prop up some reading books on both sides of the coin and use your camera as a "bridge" on top. Set the timer, focus as good as you can, and then crop to just around the coin and enlarge it.
Thank you for all that. I have some errands to run this morning, but I'll try all your advice when I get back and post more coins in the afternoon. Edited by unfamiliar
03/04/2012 12:47 pm
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Valued Member
United States
142 Posts |
Hi Gentlemen, Here are new photographs based on all the advice I got in this thread.   As you can probably tell, I'm not the greatest photographer in the world -- but after following a lot of the advice here, I can definitely see the improvement in image quality. They still don't look as good/clear as the actual coins, but are they good enough for me to continue posting new coins now? Also, still curious on the value of this coin. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1315 Posts |
I think Dougsmit got this one right on. Here's what I got from Wildwinds with the rev. inscription. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/bigp...modus/i.htmlI think the portrait is very close......(nose and forehead). unfamiliar, your pictures are much better. It's a nice coin....congrats Edited by Doucet
03/04/2012 5:44 pm
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Valued Member
United States
142 Posts |
Thank you -- you guys are beyond helpful.
According to Wild Winds it said an estimate of $150 and sold for $143 and it was VF in condition.
How would you grade my coin in quality? To my untrained eye, it looks like a better quality than both the Wildwinds and acsearch pictures, but obviously I'm completely new to this so perhaps I'm wrong.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2254 Posts |
Unfamiliar,
I can't help with the ID of the coin but the pictures are much better. I don't want to turn this into a photography thread either, so I will just ask you approximately how far away from the coin are you? If you're using the timer, it still seems a bit blurry which leads me to believe you still may be a touch too close believe it or not. I would try backing up a bit, to maybe 10-12 inches, timer it, and then crop and resize like you've done.
Regardless, I think you're definitely good enough right now to be able to ID your coins. The folks here are pretty darn good at helping in a reasonable amount of time too.
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,313 |
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Posted 03/04/2012 01:34 am
