Why? Use of bad photos by good sellers. Quietus

[Arinda D]

Recently bought this antoninianus from Quietus. The asking price was heavily discounted. And now less than half of what is normally asked for.
Well suited for my budget.

Today I have the coin in hand and to my surprise it is much more beautiful.

The photos on the sales site did not do this coin any justice, which is why I suspect it was discounted so far.

Quietus Billon Antoninianus. Samosata? mint. IMP C FVL QVIETVS P F AVG, radiate, draped bust right, seen from behind / INDVLGENTIAE AVG, Indulgentia seated left, holding patera & sceptre, sometimes with star in left field. RIC 5; RSC 6-6b; Sear 10821

size 21 x 22 mm
weight 4.42 g

first photo of how it was for sale.

second photo taken by me today.

[Joe Sermarini]

Sometimes photos just come out bad. Usually we retake, but sometimes we just accept it will sell for a little less. I expect every dealer faces the same choice.

[clueless]

I have found out that coins are quite difficult objects to take pictures of, especially the light can cause gray hairs since every object is different.

I wish I had access to such equipment that Joe apparently is using.

Clueless

[Joe Sermarini]

I do have quickPX, which I think is the best system available, but there are homemade rigs that do just as well. Even with the best system, I actually do a lot of software manipulation of brightness and contrast to try to make the photo look like the coin in hand. Most of the time the coin still looks better than the photo.

[Jay GT4]

Some sellers manipulate the pics to look better than in hand, Joe's are always better in hand!  And that's with really good pics to begin with!

[Curtis JJ]

I do have quickPX,

That's living the dream!! 

[Tom Mullally]

Coin photography is one of the most difficult skills to master, even with a quickpx, and I've been in the business/hobby for 20+ years.