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V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 31, July 27, 2014, Article 14

In his July 21, 2014 Coin eNewsletter, dealer Dave Wnuck discussed his recent experience with graphics for his new web site. -Editor

When I first started up my own coin firm once again, lo those many weeks ago, one of my goals was to keep overhead to an absolute bare minimum. I wanted to do everything myself. My focus was (and still is) on the coins and the coins alone.

That’s all well and good, but like most people, I am better at some tasks than others. One of the things I am not good at is anything at all artistic.. I have no talent for it; I greatly admire those who do have it.

Nevertheless – in the first few days after my website was up and running I realized I needed some sort of graphic to insert in place of a photo of a newly purchased coin that I did not yet have. Sounds simple enough. “I’ll do it myself!” Well, here is the result:

I want you to know that I did not purposely try to make it crappy. It just came out this way.

So – did I realize that it was so bad that it looked like a chimp drew it? No. I told myself that it was quaint. Charming even. Perhaps akin to folk art.

And I began to use it. Really. And since I had very few photos of my new purchases in the beginning, that graphic showed up on my site a lot.

Luckily a guardian angel was looking out for me. A guardian angel in the form of Matt Powell, a coin dealer/website builder/graphic artist extraordinaire. Here is a link to Matt’s website: http://www.digitalstudionw.com

He sent me an email saying that he took the liberty of designing some graphics for me that I might want to use on my website instead of what I was using. I was surprised & delighted, and I gladly accepted his charity. Here is the one I chose:

Also luckily, not many of you saw the old graphic, as I was probably averaging about 3 views per day on my website at the time. [Not to brag or anything, but these days I’m getting almost triple that].

My takeaway from all this: Do such a lousy job that you get unsolicited charity from someone more talented.

Or maybe -- just maybe -- there are genuinely nice people out there who enjoy helping others. Thus with the help of others my website continues to evolve.

I'm willing to side with Dave on the original version. It's a quaint, charming piece of numismatic folk art. Nothing wrong with knowing you're buying coins from a regular guy, and not some big corporation with a fancy I.T. department.

Below are a couple of the coins that caught my eye in Dave's newsletter. He's got a great taste for interesting and important numismatic items. -Editor

1944 Lincoln Cent. Error: Struck on a Silver Netherlands 25c Planchet. PCGS graded MS63.

This is a coin that will stop you in your tracks. It has the look of a choice uncirculated 1943 steel cent. But wait! It is dated 1944! As comedian Steve Martin would say, “What the dang deal is goin' on here?” This certainly qualifies as a coin which I term a “One coin collection”.

1843-D $5 Gold Contemporary Counterfeit. Struck in Copper. Fine [uncertified].

Hand cut dies, some wear, with none of the original gold wash remaining. This coin could tell some tales, I am sure.