i have a load of old coins...

[ukcoins]

Hi with regards to your pennies there are quite a few variations to most years and depending on which variation you have will determine the price, pennies are a mine field if you don't know what your looking for, any you have from 1868 to 1894 might be worth money will just depend on the condition and which variation it is, you can check if you have a 1869 & 1871 there is no variation on these 2 years and they are both well sought after they can both be worth quite a bit of money depending on how good the condition is, all the pennies after 1894 are not going to be worth much unless they are in a very high grade condition if they are not in a good condition you would be better off to just sell them as a job lot, the ones you have from 1868 to 1894 are the ones that might be worth good money check to see what years you have from 68-94 and you can PM me if you want some help i will then give you my email address and you can send me some pictures and i will let you know if you have any of value and what you can expect to get for them,

[Anniemcc2]

I haven't really sorted them yet, but will be in touch as soon as I can photograph them.

[Anniemcc2]

What is the best way to get a good clear image of a coin - scan or photograph??

[JohnPGalt]

What is the best way to get a good clear image of a coin - scan or photograph??

Yes.

Sorry, don't mean to be a smarty pants.

If you have a camera with a macro zoom, setting it on macro (sometimes called closeup or "extreme closeup" mode) can take decent pictures.

Scanners vary, but some can take fairly good scans of coins. Experiment a bit with yours. My HP Scanners get (slightly) more depth when the coins are over to the sides of the scanner bed than when the coins are in the center of the scanner bed.

Initially, I just used scans on all my coins. Now I do both scans and photos. Check my two recent "World Coin Whatizit" threads here for examples of both scans and photos of the same coins.

World Coin Whatizit -- George V?, 1916
World Coin "Whatizit" -- 1952 Laos

The flat on images with the white background are from the scanner. The more angled images are with a camera (a Kodak C613 6.1MP camera on Macro/extreme close up). I use a table with a piece of glass as a background for the coin. I also use an ordinary drinking cup on the table to rest the camera on, although a tripod would be better if you have one.

Coins have 3 sides. Try to get good pictures or scans of both flat sides, but it also helps to get some offset shots so you can see the edges, the "third side" of every coin. Pictures are free here (within reason). There's no excuse for showing only one side of any coin that you are selling.

[Anniemcc2]

Thankyou - should keep me out of mischief for a while !

[ukcoins]

Hi if your going to be taking the pictures just for me to look at and let you know there value, use a camera and i only need to see both sides of the coin, don't waste your time taking pictures of the edge i don't need to see this, there is no inscription on the edge of your pennies you will just be wasting your time,

[JohnPGalt]

Hi if your going to be taking the pictures just for me to look at and let you know there value, use a camera and i only need to see both sides of the coin, don't waste your time taking pictures of the edge i don't need to see this, there is no inscription on the edge of your pennies you will just be wasting your time,

Maybe some clarification is in order. I don't necessarily think that edge on pictures are necessary for any except the most valuable coins.

However, when taking photos with a camera, getting an oblique angle on the coin does two positive things. It can show at least part of the edges (half of the edge is generally visible, and the front quarter is usually very well displayed). It also brings out the depth of the features on the coin, showing how worn the coin is. For making evaluations based on photos, a picture taken from 30-45 degrees offset from straight up will give much more and much better visual information than one taken looking straight down on the coin laying flat on a surface.

[ukcoins]

Hi i totally agree about the angle of the coin i only told them this as i offered to look at the coins and value them for this person, as you know with pennies theres so many variations to the obv & rev side that there not going to have a clue even with books its very difficult to work out which variations is on the coin , if there lucky they might have a rare one which could be worth a good amount of money, if they have no idea they could up selling a rare coin very cheap

Regards