JEFF GARRETT ON TECHNOLOGY AND NUMISMATICS

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V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 40, September 28, 2014, Article 23

Jeff Garrett recently wrote about Technology and Numismatics on the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation Weekly Market Report. The article is also available on the CoinWeek site. Here's an excerpt. -Editor

Expedited delivery is one immediate result of improved technology. Many years ago, I employed one individual whose primary job was to ship packages each day. This person would have to carefully wrap 10-15 boxes for Registered Mail, fill out the forms by hand, and then go stand in line at the post office to ship them. Today, my office assistant can rapidly fill FedEx boxes with coins, go online to fill out the air bills, and around 4 pm a FedEx driver picks them up. This one advance in technology saved me one extra employee, and I am able to track the packages online. I also have the added peace of mind knowing the coins will arrive securely the next day.

The same productivity savings have occurred in other parts of the rare coin business, as well. At one time, producing rare coin photographs was quite the undertaking. Your company either operated a dark room or paid considerable money to have images developed off-site. Many years ago, my rare coin auction company had an in-house dark room. That room is now used for storage. Digital photography has been a huge plus for the rare coin business, and its importance cannot be overstated. Digital photography of rare coins is why the Internet is so vital to the hobby. You can now view images of thousands of rare coins for sale at any given time. The quality of good digital images has given buyers the confidence to bid online for hundreds of millions of dollars of rare coins each year. NGC makes wonderful use of digital photography. Every graded and encapsulated coin is imaged and can be viewed online. This is a great tool for anyone wanting to verify the legitimacy of an NGC-certified coin.

Nearly every successful rare coin company is now a technology company. Most have at least one or more individuals on staff at all times to solve tech issues, post coins online, create digital images, and tackle other computer-related tasks. Many successful collectors have also become more tech savvy in recent years. Quite a few can perform detailed online research, including locating coins and establishing values. A few years ago, I taught a class at the ANA Summer Seminar on rare coin pricing. Much of the class involved how to properly use online tools available to collectors.

Technology is an inexorable force that ultimately affects every human endeavor. Some of these changes have snuck up on people and companies. I was a quick convert to digital photography. With high resolution photos I was able to notice great details that I'd long overlooked on my own coins and paper money. The ability to transmit, copy and edit photos has been a boon to The E-Sylum; we just wouldn't be able to produce it at such a high level of quality (in such short timeframes) without it. -Editor

To read the complete article, see:
Technology and Numismatics (www.coinweek.com/education/numismatic-tech/technology-numismatics/)