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V23 2020 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 2, January 12, 2020, Article 19

SELECTIONS FROM ROBINSON SALE 111

Here are a few items that caught my eye in Frank Robinson's Auction 111 closing February 11, 2020. First some new years commentary from Frank about coin photography. -Editor

Frank Robinson early xerox coin imaging IN THE BEGINNING . . . of my auctions, in 1985, I made coin pictures on a xerox machine. How bad were they? Have a laugh! — www.fsrcoin.com/xerox.jpg

Then I got a state-of-the-art “Lepcyzk box.” Named for auctioneer Joe Lepcyzk, it had a built-in Polaroid camera and lighting, to photograph several coins at a time. Initially, I used it to provide photos on request, charging $1 per shot, the cost of film. Then around 1995 I started sending out, with auctions, a printed sheet of about 100 coin pics. Making the layout was very time-consuming (and the film and printing were expensive).

Then new technology: a scanner, with photos produced on my printer. Picture quality was better, but there was still the tedious cut-and-paste.

Eventually I progressed to a digital camera, making my own set-up stage, and now, instead of printing, putting pictures online, of every lot: in layouts of twenty or so coins together in each image.

As other online auctions proliferated, I had to raise my game again, to now show individually each coin's obverse together with the reverse. I never did figure out an efficient way to get them side-by-side. Still, it took around 30 hours of work, with individual coin photoshopping of brightness/contrast, color, etc.

Ever trying for improvement, I did some research and got a better digital camera. A problem is lower resolution and increasing distortion outside the center of an image, limiting the number of coins in each shot.

When I mentioned to my wife starting on the pictures for this latest sale, she remarked, “My new phone has a really good camera.” It’s not an iPhone or other top-of-the-line model. But I tried it — with definitely better results. I could do more coins in each shot, with better image quality, needing less photoshop adjustments.

Ever upward. One day we’ll be uploading the pictures directly into bidders’ brains.

Happy New Year

Lot 31: "Make Dioskourias Great Again"

DIOSKOURIAS Caps of the Dioscuri coin obverse DIOSKOURIAS Caps of the Dioscuri coin reverse

DIOSKOURIAS, Æ16, 1st-2nd cent BC, Caps of the Dioscuri inscribed "Make Dioskourias Great Again" (in Greek of course; stars above/Thyrsos & lgnd; S3629; Choice VF-EF, unusually good centering for this with obv design virtually complete, rare thus; smooth olive-brown patina.

Nice coin. -Editor

Lot 38: Kamnaskires V

Kamnaskires V coin obverse Kamnaskires V coin reverse

38 Kamnaskires V, 54-33 BC, Ar Tet, Bearded bust l., anchor at rt, star above/ lgnd & bearded bust left, GIC 5884 (£250); VF, obv perfectly centered & well struck, unusually good; rev typically very crude & weak. Silver with lt grey-brown tone.

Gotta love the big pointy beard. -Editor

Lot 51: Istros Stater

Istros Stater obverse Istros Stater reverse

ISTROS, Stater or Drachm, 400-350 BC, Two facg hds, left inverted/Eagle atop dolphin, A below, as S1669 (£225); Nice EF, good centering & strike with heads complete & well detailed; decent bright silver. Much above average. Some scholars suggest the heads represent the Dioskuroi. Others say Bert & Ernie.

Very unusual design! -Editor

Lot 72: Antigonos Gonatas

Antigonos Gonatas coin obverse Antigonos Gonatas coin reverse

Antigonos Gonatas, 277-239 BC, Tet., Pan head in shield/ Athena Alkidemos stg l, helmet in field, TI at rt; Choice EF, well centered amp;& struck, good metal with lt tone, unusually nice example with strong detail. Scarcer variety.

Lot 358: Majorian

Majorian coin obverse Majorian coin reverse

MAJORIAN, Æ4, VICTORIA AVGGG, Victory stg l, MD, LRBC 582, RIC 2645; F-VF or better for this, obv sl off-ctr, lgnd off at rt but MAIORIAN present, rev sl crude with lgnd partly off at rt, mintmk quite clear. Lt brown with traces of pale green. Portrait fully clear. Really a good example, which most anyone else would grade VF (as did I, on my original envelope). Very rare -- more so than his gold. I got this, unidentified, out of a bagful of small late bronzes. Oddly enough, years later, I found an even nicer one for my collection, in the same way — from the same dealer! (A "VF" [but rough, off-ctr & weak] brought $1700, Artemide 4/07.)

For more information, or to bid, see:
http://fsrcoin.com/j.html

THE BOOK BAZARRE

CURIOUS CURRENCY— The new 2nd edition of Robert D. Leonard Jr.’s Curious Currency: The Story of Money From the Stone Age to the Internet Age is now available, with updated information on e-gold and PayPal, proximity payments, cryptocurrencies, and more. Winner of the Numismatic Literary Guild’s “Best Specialized Book, World Coins” award. Order your copy for $16.95 at Whitman.com , or call 1-800-546-2995.



Wayne Homren, Editor

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