First, the simplest way to photograph reverse and obverse of the tickets is together with reverse and obverse of each coin. That has dual benefits - it reduces the number of pics by 50% and it permanently associates the tickets with the coin pictures, solving another dilemma. If one puts the tickets below the coin, one can join obv and rev coin images as usual and the tickets will appear below the image.
Hi Andrew,
I was planning on doing something like that anyway. Or taking 4 photos of each coin/tags and stitching them together into one photo (if someone teaches me how to do that 
).
Your method may be a bit problematic though. I can think of one problem immediately. While I am willing to take the coins out of their Mylar flips to take the photos, I don't want to take the tags out too. The overwhelming majority of my tags are paper (not cardboard), and it is a hassle trying to get them back in the flips again. It is even more of a struggle than trying to re-insert the coins back into the flips. I prefer 2 pieces of paper to cardboard tags so that I can insert the original cardboard/paper dealer's tag (usually not written in English) between the 2 pieces of paper. I basically make a "sandwich". That way, I preserve a bit of a pedigree. In the future, if my heirs decide to consign my coins to an auction house, the original dealer's tags are with the coins.
But, if I include the tags and coin in the same photo, how do I flatten the flip (which is already bent)?
Meepzorp
I think you've really no option except to remove the tickets from the flips for photography. Even if somehow you manage to flatten the flips, I very much doubt that you'll be able to photograph through the mylar. The camera will just reflect of the flips and your photos will just appear to include plastic flips with some indistinct ticket behind them. It'll probably be of so little use to photograph tickets in the flip that I'd likely not bother.
Hi Andrew,
There is no way in hell that I am taking those paper tags out of the Mylar
flips. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to remove and re-insert them back into the
flips? You want to just bang your
head against the wall. And to think of doing that 2,000 times!!! I'll be jumping off the bridge.
And that's not even getting into the problem of the
flips breaking. Many of my Mylar
flips are now 10-15 years old or older. Some have turned brown. And many of them have become very brittle from age. Trying to remove and re-insert the tags may cause many of the
flips to break. I may need to replace literally hundreds of them. I recently found this out the hard way because I've been attempting to update many of my tags in anticipation of my impending photos. Some of my dealer tags were sloppy and/or incomplete. About 1-2 weeks ago, I began the process of re-writing many of the tags so that they will look nice and neat for my photos. I'm doing a little at a time. This process will probably take me several weeks. But the problem I'm having is that, when I attempt to remove and re-insert the (now updated and
corrected) tags, many of my Mylar
flips are breaking because they are so brittle from age. And I've
had to replace them. A few dozen
flips broke on me already, and I'm nowhere near done re-writing my improper tags. It has gotten so bad that I now need to order more
flips because I'm running out. Imagine if I
had to do that for all 2,000 of my coins!!!
You can forget about the thought of me taking the tags out of the
flips for the photos. That is a non-starter. That thought is dead in the water.
Removing the coins from the
flips (for the photos) and then re-inserting them is much less invasive, mainly because I don't have to stick my finger in the
flip pocket in order to do that, which is something I must do in order to remove and re-insert the tags. And I have very fat (but short)
Italian fingers. You may refer to them as "sausage fingers". That's why so many of my old and brittle Mylar
flips are now splitting open and breaking.
Besides, using my niece's iPhone, I've taken photos of my tags through their Mylar
flips in the past, and I've posted them in
Forum. Just refer to page 1 of my "Can BD penetrate plastic?"
thread for examples. Those photos came out
fine. The tags are clear and very readable. In fact, the tag photos (through the Mylar) look better than many of the coin photos. So, your "doomsday scenario" (with regard to not seeing the tags through the Mylar
flips) probably isn't true.
Meepzorp
