Questioning 1911-D rpm#3

[stoneman227]

After finding a 1911-D rpm#6 , I for the first time studied the 1911-d page on VV and found the photo of rpm#3 to look distorted. To me , because of the shape of the 9 in the date of #3 compaired to the 9 in the other rpm example photos, it looked as if the coin were on an angle when the photo was taken.
Trying to best show the bottom serif on my rpm#6 was difficult and only placing the light at just the right angle made it pop. This would have been easier had I tilted the coin.
To make a long story short , the difference between #3 and #6 is only a slight location difference compared to the date. My coin was attributed to be #6 only because of the die crack on the reverse. If all coins are being attributed from the old distorted pic of #3 I thought I should duplicate the best I could the old pic just to see how much the distortion affects MM placement. This I felt was best done with a unc. coin to best match the height of the design elements of the pic of rpm#3

These photos are of the same coin with the right hand pic the one taken to match #3 on VV ( all I had was a 1912-S to use ). The line was first matched up to the date then drug down the pic as each photo was saved . The only adjustment to the pics were lighting and sharpening.
You can draw your own conclusions.

John

[WaterSport]

Excellent point John! In fact even overlays are affected by this type of distotortion. I bet the many excellent photographers could chime in on this subject since they have the skills set to educate as well. As always my coins are always available for photography and educational benefit to those on this site.

WS

[jfines69]

Excellent job... On your examples you can see that due to the angle the top portion of the date is out of focus (Blurry) and the die scratches next to the 9 and 1 in the left photo are nearly invisible in the right photo... The MM on the right photo also appears slightly farther north and east compared to the left... This anomaly can affect the proper attribution of any coin... That is why, IMHO, it is extremely important to have the camera perpendicular to the coin!!!

[Justafarmer]

High resolution quality scans a probably produce a more consistent image of a coin when orientation of the design elements is the purpose of producing the image.

[eaxtellcoin]

I'm a bit on the other side of the playing field. Some coins require you to "tilt" the coin to get a decent RPM photo. Just wait till you try a weak RPM stage. Try 42-D RPM#5 in Stage "B" I bet you will tilt the coin to see the RPM. Otherwise the camera with a mostly flat field will not "pick up" the RPM from the color. Just my 2 cents worth that there is not and easy fix to all coins.

[stoneman227]

I'm a bit on the other side of the playing field. Some coins require you to "tilt" the coin to get a decent RPM photo. Just wait till you try a weak RPM stage. Try 42-D RPM#5 in Stage "B" I bet you will tilt the coin to see the RPM. Otherwise the camera with a mostly flat field will not "pick up" the RPM from the color. Just my 2 cents worth that there is not and easy fix to all coins.

I most definitely agree! I have tilted coins to show rpm's and dd's as well.
I guess this is a special case example where a slight position difference compaired to a questionable (in my mind ) photo of what seems to be a single coin , separates two remarkably similar , remarkable varieties .

John

[Justafarmer]

I'm a bit on the other side of the playing field. Some coins require you to "tilt" the coin to get a decent RPM photo. Just wait till you try a weak RPM stage. Try 42-D RPM#5 in Stage "B" I bet you will tilt the coin to see the RPM. Otherwise the camera with a mostly flat field will not "pick up" the RPM from the color. Just my 2 cents worth that there is not and easy fix to all coins.

I agree that some coins require a unique perspective to capture the details of a variety. But when the purpose of the image is to demonstrate the orientation of the mint mark in relation to other design elements of a coin - scanning probably produces the best results.

[jfines69]

Some times a tilt is in order but there should also be a straight on pic for i.d. purposes... I know that a lot of the coin pics on the different sites have been around since before the digital revolution and as time progresses hopefully the questionable pics will get replaced and that will be a massive under taking!!!