Sovereign Photo Thread...

[Charliemouse]

12 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

So, here's the 1877 shield again, now taken with software that supports focus stacking (Open Camera and Photoshop CS6).  I got an adjustable gantry for macro photography at the suggeston of @Charliemouse and it's doing a spiffing job.  Not super dear, either.  Between this low-profile tripod, the gantry and a bracket for holding a smart phone it's about £100 worth of kit.  I also got a bigger tripod that cost another £50 or so, but I haven't needed that yet.  This was also taken in @DrDave's light box gizmo, which has a pane of glass tilted at 45° angle to reflect light coming in from the side straight down on the coin.  I can just manoeuvre the macro lens on the phone into position on the coin and shoot through it. The furthest-away photo (basically the outside of the coin) wasn't quite perfectly focused but it's much better than before.  The inner one has captured the detail on the shield very nicely.  Contrast diddled a bit in photoshop after merging the layers for focus stacking, and definitely better than the focus I was getting earlier.  Shout out to @Charliemouse for the tips and to @DrDave for the dohickey. Next step: improve the colour saturation - although we've captured the detail (you can zoom in quite a long way) the coin looks a bit washed out and is definitely more yellow in person.

Excellent job!  Glad I could help.

If you are having trouble with colour, use a 'grey card'.  You can get a proper one on amazon for as little as a fiver, or you could literally find some grey card - but it needs to be properly neutral grey (a piece of paper probably will do at a pinch, but it's not ideal).  Take a test photo with the card under the dohickey (no coin).  Then carry on as normal.  Use the card photo as the white balance reference - your software will tell you how.

[SheepStacker]

A nice (imho) 1880 Melbourne

[SheepStacker]

1860 Shieldback. Nice details on the Lions.

[Silverlocks]

Photo Essay: Gillicks I've not got a huge collection of sovs, a dozen or so at the moment, but after some faffing about I've finally got to the point where I can get pics that are reasonably good - good enough at least.  We've got decent focus across the whole surface through focus stacking and a lighting setup that shows the coins lustre.  Lighting is from below, reflected on some white cardboard over the camera mount, and from the side pointing down from the top of the coin.   1958 Gillick

1963 Gillick

1966 Gillick

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by Silverlocks

[Silverlocks]

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Edited December 15, 2022 by Silverlocks

[SheepStacker]

1914 George V Sovereign. Very good condition.

[SheepStacker]

1998 "Proof-ish" Sovereign

[SheepStacker]

I don't know why Machin Sovs don't get more love? Now that the copper has had time to tone, they look almost the same colour as Gillicks, and the portrait of QE2 is much better than Gillick's.

 

[Silverlocks]

Photo Essay: George & Ed This is a 1909 Edward VII and two George V sovereigns from 1913 and 1930.  The 1930 sovereign is a bit on the rough side, a solid VF but nothing better than that.  The other two have their finish in much better condition with the original satin lustre still visible. 1909 Edward VII

A little red spotting visible on the reverse.

1913 George V

1930 George V

 

[Silverlocks]

Photo Essay: Victoria This has some young head Victoria coins from various sources.  The 1877 is a shield and is in quite good condition - maybe aboutEF on the obverse and reverse.  The 1883 appears to have been polished and put in a ring or pendant at some point - although there is wear from after it was mounted, traces of the original polished finish can be seen around the edges of Victoria's effigy and around the edge of the coin where it was covered by the bezel.  Fortunately no soldering or drilling. 1876 Young head Victoria

1877 Young head Victoria (shield reverse)

1883 Young head Victoria

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Silverlocks

[Silverlocks]

Photo Essay: Decimal Sovs These are my decimal era sovs: a 1980 Machin, a 2015 Ian Rank-Broadley portrait and a 2021 Jody Clark portrait.  The Machin still has the same satin finish as older sovs, although it is in very good condition so the finish is very shiny.  The two 21st century sovereigns both have the shiny finish, which is dominated by specular reflection. From the Machin, these also use alloys with no silver so they have the rose gold tint of modern sovereigns. 1980 Machin

2015 Ian Rank-Broadley portrait

2021 Jody Clark portrait

 

[Roy]

On 16/12/2022 at 15:23, SheepStacker said:

and the portrait of QE2 is much better than Gillick's.

Reported.

[modofantasma]

A visit to the deposit box yesterday 

[Silverlocks]

Photo Essay: Elizabeth II redux These are some of the nicer condition sovs taken using different lighting through Dr. Dave's Dohickey.  This doesn't show the lustre up quite as well but captures the detail on the coins. 1958 Gillick

1980 Machin

2015 Rank-Broadley

 

 

[Silverlocks]

Photo Essay: Pre-Elizabeth redux These are photos of the better condition George V, Edward VII and Victoria sovereigns taken with Dr. Dave's Dohickey. 1877 Victoria (Sydney mint, shield reverse)

1909 Edward VII

1913 George V

[Charliemouse]

1860 Victoria Young Head Sovereign

Very pleased with how this turned out.  Used an extra macro add-on lens to get about 3:2 magnification.  Also used a colour cube to get a very accurate reference for the white balance.  With the higher magnification, the height of the frame was effectively only about 20mm, so even a sovereign wouldn't fit.  I needed to stack the images, both panning and focusing.  The images are 7000x6000 pixels.

[DrDave]

16 minutes ago, Charliemouse said:

1860 Victoria Young Head Sovereign

Very pleased with how this turned out.  Used an extra macro add-on lens to get about 3:2 magnification.  Also used a colour cube to get a very accurate reference for the white balance.  With the higher magnification, the height of the frame was effectively only about 20mm, so even a sovereign wouldn't fit.  I needed to stack the images, both panning and focusing.  The images are 7000x6000 pixels.

They look great. Colour balance is excellent too. Difficult to get a decent gold shade. Well done

[Britannia47]

These are my early Sovereigns…..The best of these is actually the WIV 1932 first bust - Marsh 17A (R3) where the nose points at the 2nd N 😋

 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by Britannia47

[SheepStacker]

They just don't make them like they used to...

[CoinStruck]

On 18/12/2022 at 18:30, modofantasma said:

A visit to the deposit box yesterday 

WOW, coin porn!!

[Charliemouse]

[modofantasma]

[Silverlocks]

 

Photo Essay: Gorgeous Georges and a Forged George I've gotten a few nice George V sovereigns recently, so I set up the rig and took some pics.  Bonus pics of one I got a month or so ago that might be plated over tungsten.   1912 George V

 

1918 George V

 

1925 George V I'm not 100% sure whether this is actually a 1925 or one of the ca. 1950 restrikes.  Most likely a restrike, I guess, but I've not seen any documented way to tell the difference reliably.  Still, it's in good nick.

 

And now the bonus - maybe a forged George? This is a 1913 London George V, a common year with a mintage of around 24 million.  This coin looked odd from the start with some copper coloured toning on the fields.  After asking around I've not gotten a really satisfactory explanation.  However, some closer examination in high res photos shows odd grey colouration around the rim and on the reverse - perhaps plating wearing off a base metal.  The weight and dimensions are correct, but it could still be Tungsten, which has almost exactly the same specific gravity as gold. I'm not sure whether it's a fake or not, but when I find a spare moment I'll take it to somebody in Hatton Garden and get it zapped with an XRF machine to confirm.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Silverlocks

[SheepStacker]

8 minutes ago, Silverlocks said:

 

Photo Essay: Gorgeous Georges and a Forged George I've gotten a few nice George V sovereigns recently, so I set up the rig and took some pics.  Bonus pics of one I got a month or so ago that might be plated over tungsten.   1912 George V

 

1918 George V

 

1925 George V I'm not 100% sure whether this is actually a 1925 or one of the ca. 1950 restrikes.  Most likely a restrike, I guess, but I've not seen any documented way to tell the difference reliably.  Still, it's in good nick.

 

And now the bonus - maybe a forged George? This is a 1913 London George V, a common year with a mintage of around 24 million.  This coin looked odd from the start with some copper coloured toning on the fields.  After asking around I've not gotten a really satisfactory explanation.  However, some closer examination in high res photos shows odd grey colouration around the rim and on the reverse - perhaps plating wearing off a base metal.  The weight and dimensions are correct, but it could still be Tungsten, which has almost exactly the same specific gravity as gold. I'm not sure whether it's a fake or not, but when I find a spare moment I'll take it to somebody in Hatton Garden and get it zapped with an XRF machine to confirm.

You change your exposure settings? Too much light. Nice coins though.

[Silverlocks]

3 minutes ago, SheepStacker said:

You change your exposure settings? Too much light. Nice coins though.

The 1918 was a bit over exposed I think.  I wound the exposure down for the others.  May re-do that one later.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Silverlocks