Let's See Your Copper Coins, Tokens, Or Medals!

[damian1986]

Absolute beauty

Thought you'd like that one Peckris as a precursor to the cartwheel tuppence

[Peckris]

Absolute beauty

Thought you'd like that one Peckris as a precursor to the cartwheel tuppence

Indeed. Admiration has turned to jealousy! May I ask where you got that from?

[sound]

Damian,

Absolute beauties.

I have been working to hard at photography, what phone do you use?

Wow.

Mark

[damian1986]

Hey Peckris just PM'd you.

Hey Mark well, the phone is an LG G3. Everything set to 'auto' as it's limited in settings. I think there are better phone cameras out there but what it does do well is take pictures when close up. The main thing, especially with this phone and its non-existent white balance adjustment, is having a desk lamp with a white bulb.

Being close up comes with its disadvantages though. The light glare on coins for example and not being able to light the coin in full. The way to get around this seems to be having the camera and light sources way above the coins (10"+), directly pointing down, and potentially even put some paper in front of the lamps to diffuse the light a bit. But I've not had any success here as being so far away both the smartphone camera and my cheaper point and click don't capture the detail of the coin.

A few have mentioned axial lighting and I can see how that would make sense, especially for reflective and proofs but again would need a camera that's capable of shooting at distance and that's where I think the phone cameras fall on their arses.

Would love a camera with a nice macro lens and a fairly low minimum focusing distance but not cheap.

[damian1986]

Hey Peckris just PM'd you.

Hey Mark well, the phone is an LG G3. Everything set to 'auto' as it's limited in settings. I think there are better phone cameras out there but what it does do well is take pictures when close up. The main thing, especially with this phone and its non-existent white balance adjustment, is having a desk lamp with a white bulb.

Being close up comes with its disadvantages though. The light glare on coins for example and not being able to light the coin in full. The way to get around this seems to be having the camera and light sources way above the coins (10"+), directly pointing down, and potentially even put some paper in front of the lamps to diffuse the light a bit. But I've not had any success here as being so far away both the smartphone camera and my cheaper point and click don't capture the detail of the coin.

A few have mentioned axial lighting and I can see how that would make sense, especially for reflective and proofs but again would need a camera that's capable of shooting at distance and that's where I think the phone cameras fall on their arses.

Would love a camera with a nice macro lens and a fairly low minimum focusing distance but not cheap.

Meant to say was Brandon who told me about the high light sources and Jansjo lamps. He shared this link with me which is very interesting:

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=6588288

[Peckris]

Would love a camera with a nice macro lens and a fairly low minimum focusing distance but not cheap.

You don't need a specialised macro lens - those are way too expensive for what you need. There are some superb compact cameras with macro modes : my Lumix FZ38 goes to 1cm, while my Lumix LX100 (a far better camera) goes to 3cm.

You could pick up an FZ38 on eBay for under £100. Here's one for £70:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Panasonic-DMC-FZ38-12-1MP-Digital-Camera-Black-/131388348951?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_DigitalCameras_DigitalCameras_JN&hash=item1e975b1a17

Obviously, to focus at 1cm, or even a bit further away, you need your light source close to the coin. You could instead use 'Macro zoom' mode, which allows you to focus close while the camera is further away, e.g. 1 foot or even 1 metre.

[Charlie]

My latest aqusition, 1881 Jersey 1/12 of a shilling. Only 75,000 minted that year.

[Charlie]

Reverse.

[DaveG38]

Back in the pre-decimal days, I got a 1866 Jersey 1/13 shilling in EF condition in change. Jet black but little wear. Still got it in the collection.

[brg5658]

Of the four purchases I made at the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) show in Orlando, three of them were copper. For the one token (in the 2nd post below) I have provided two different types of pictures to show the color.

Edited January 22, 2015 by brg5658

[brg5658]

...continued...

[Peter]

Nice tokens Brandon.

Heads up for you.

John Newman coins has a large selection of tokens in his ebay shop.

[Coinery]

I'm amazed that there are so many lovely tokens out there! What I mean by that is somebody has loved them from the very beginning, or they'd never have survived like that otherwise. Pretty, pretty!

[Prax]

The Watchmaker's Arms token. Essex DH35, Maldon. Edge: Payable at W. Drapers Watchmaker Maldon Essex. Really a beaut this one.

Just using the phone on my camera and getting decent photos, probably need a second lamp to light from the left but pretty good considering it's a phone camera.

wow

[brg5658]

This one arrived today. It is a Notgeld type piece from 1923, commemorating the 700th Anniversary of the city of Peine. It's one of the nicer pieces of blue toned copper in my collection, with booming luster and a lovely design.

Cheers, Brandon

[Paulus]

It's not brown, it's blue! As usual, absolutely stunning Brandon!

[scott]

bought this monster

[Peckris]

Nice.

[PWA 1967]

Some of theses tokens are awesome.Would not no were to start though and the detail is amazing.I have a large medal from manchester town hall 1877 and although appears mint and about 45mm i dont have a clue what it is .Can anyone give me an idea how i can look it up

[scott]

similar to this? 1877 was the opening of the town hall

[PWA 1967]

Thanks scott yes although the one i have is pretty much FDC and copper do you no anything about them.I dont assume its worth anything but did not have a clue.

Thanks again .

Pete

[Peter]

I must clean the floor as my tounge keeps hitting it.

[brg5658]

A new little farthing token I recently acquired. I liked the pigs on the reverse...

The date is VERY small in exergue on the reverse -- seems to have been an afterthought.

I found this little story/link to be interesting regarding the topic of the token.

Best, Brandon

Edited January 29, 2015 by brg5658

[hazelman]

Lovely examples of copper so far all. Just to clarify, I'd also love to see coins in copper in addition to medals and tokens! All copper welcome.

Here's a little coin from my collection.

What amazing images - are you using a scanner and if so which one - and what other software?

[brg5658]

Lovely examples of copper so far all. Just to clarify, I'd also love to see coins in copper in addition to medals and tokens! All copper welcome.

Here's a little coin from my collection.

What amazing images - are you using a scanner and if so which one - and what other software?

Hi thanks for the compliment. It took me a few years to get my coin photography to what I considered decent.

I use a camera with a bellows set-up. You can see more about my equipment at this link.