Hadrian Sestertius arrived and looks nothing like the auction photo

[David P7]

I recently bought a nice Hadrian Sestertius for 360 CHF, $375 US before buyers fee and shipping) lot 719 from recent [SELLER NAME AND LINK REMOVED BY ADMIN].
When the coin arrived and i opened up he package i thought they had sent the wrong coin.
On closer examination it is without a doubt the same coin but boy does it ever look different.
Auction photo totally misrepresented the coin and probably garnered a higher bid, i know i wouldn't have gone as high.
Coin is still very nice and i plan to keep it but very annoyed by the misrepresentation.
Auction has it as a nice even toned grey, in hand it looks very dark, border line black to the naked eye, as you tilt it in different light you can see the dark green.
Check out the attached photo, wondering what others think.
Cheers, David

[Joe Sermarini]

Perhaps shop at Forum Ancient Coins or buy from one of our Procurator Monetae members?

With some limited exceptions, we don't talk about other sellers here.  You are welcome to complain and get opinions, but not to name the seller or link to them.

[Jay GT4]

Personally I prefer the look of the coin in the pictures you took.

[Meepzorp]

When the coin arrived and i opened up he package i thought they had sent the wrong coin.
On closer examination it is without a doubt the same coin but boy does it ever look different.
Auction photo totally misrepresented the coin and probably garnered a higher bid, i know i wouldn't have gone as high.

Hi DP,

That has happened to me a few times in my 24 years of collecting ancient coins. Your 3 sentences (above) perfectly sum up how I felt when I received the coin. The last instance for me was a supposedly well respected European dealer. It was also the highest value coin that I ever had to return (much more valuable than your coin). That was the second time and last time I ever did business with him. However, in that case, it wasn't a "coloring issue". The coin was actually damaged. It had a nasty gouge in it. And the dealer either manipulated the lighting/angle when he shot the photo and/or altered the photo (photoshopped?) after shooting it in an effort to conceal the damage. I was furious when I received the coin because I bid so high on it. I returned it with a very nasty email/letter. I rarely have to do that (less than 0.5% of the time). I have well over 2,000 ancient coins in my collection. And I have had to return a coin less than 10 times in 24 years of collecting. As I mentioned above, I just never did business with that dealer again. I think that thinking ties in with what owner Joe mentioned above. The best way to deal with these types of situations is to never do business with that particular dealer again. I have had to do that with several dealers over the decades for different, various reasons. I now have a small circle of dealers that I do business with regularly, and I have great trust in them.

That being stated, I think that you are "making a mountain out of a mole hill" (as the old saying goes). In your case, it is just a coloring issue. Obviously, they did something with the lighting when they shot the photo. That is the reason why most dealers describe the color of the coin in the text description in addition to posting photos of it. Your coin isn't actually "damaged". It is just a different color than they represented it to be in the auction photos. I actually prefer green coins anyway. I think your coin looks better in your photos than the dealer photos. But that is just my personal preference.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Personally I prefer the look of the coin in the pictures you took.

Hi Jay,

I agree.

I prefer glossy green AE coins to dull grey AE coins.

Meepzorp

[okidoki]

you could always write them

best
eric

[David P7]

Thanks for the insight Meepzorp.
I have emailed the auction house for an explanation about the misrepresentation, mostly just to see how they respond.
My son and I have only been collecting for a year or so now, mostly Denarius. We have about 25 or so of those and this was our first sestertius buy.
Its hard enough trying to figure out if a coin is legit or not, i stupidly assumed we could trust the photos to accurately depict the coin. Buyer beware as they say.
Love the size and weight of the coin, it is impressive and definitely a keeper.
Cheers everyone.
David

[mix_val]

I agree with the comments.  It is never a good thing to feel that you are a victim of fraud. 
Is it easier to take the grey pic which clearly reveals all the coin's flaws?  I don't know much about photography

[Kevin D]

I agree with the opinions that the OP's photos show a better looking coin than do the auction images. The darker surfaces with "glossy green" look healthy to me.

[Robert_Brenchley]

It looks like a trick with oblique lighting which I fell for once. I'd be unlikely to buy a coin photographed with that sort of contrasty very oblique lighting again.

[Tom Mullally]

I think the OP, and some of the responses, are over reacting a bit.  Coin photography is one of the most difficult thing I've ever had to learn as a dealer and every dealer I know will tell you that.  Just look through VCoins or Biddr and compare dealer photos, there are long time dealers who still don't do it very well.  The purpose of the photograph is to give you an approximate representation of the coin and you should be able to see obvious flaws with the coin.  I agree that the original photo should be closer to the actual color and they should have taken a bit more time in post processing to make sure it looked closer to the coin in hand, but the photo shows you what you need to see to buy the coin.  Now, if you bought the coin and there was a huge scrape which wasn't shown, that would be cause for alarm and returning the coin.  Also, what makes a good coin photo varies from person to person; you might think color is more important while someone else might think brightness or contrast.  It has taken me years to get to a point where I consider my photos to be of a professional level (and now I don't do it at my current job!).

Tom

[SC]

Indeed.  I altered the brightness and colouration of many images in my book in order to ensure that the details of the legend and design were maximally legible. 

Though the early images of that Hadrian coin don't show true colour, they do give me a better idea of the surface quality than the later true colour photos. 

I guess a best practice would be to note when an image has been manipulated to show the detail better.

SC

[David P7]

For what its worth the auction house admin replied to my email to say the boss would be in touch tomorrow when he is back in the office, a week later still no word from the boss. Guess that about tells me all i need to know...