BILL ECKBERG ON DIGITAL IMAGES

Bill Eckberg has contributed a monograph examining imaging technology, as related to numismatics, and the limitations of digital images such as those found on the Newman Portal. From the NNP perspective, there are several considerations. First, there is always a trade off between quality and cost. Higher-resolution images take longer to create and are more expensive to process and maintain. When operating at large scale, these differences result in significant costs. Most NNP materials are scanned at 300 dpi, although our equipment is capable of scanning at greater resolution when needed. The state of the art is conveyed by our digitization of the Hart (1851) plate of colonial paper money, scanned on a Digital Transitions Titan copy stand. Note, this image file is over 500Mb and may take several minutes to download. Conversely, one will be able to zoom-in to the smallest details.

Second, imaging technology has advanced considerably since we started scanning in 2015 and will continue to do so. Most scans from the early period are via the Internet Archive Table Top Scribe, which we have operated with an ongoing series of more capable cameras. Today our digitization lab at Washington University in St. Louis has additional scanning equipment donated by James and Joan Schiele, longtime supporters of the University.

Third, NNP provides both raw scan files and processed PDF files. The PDFs are compressed to minimize download times and will contain lower quality images. The raw scan files (.jp2 format) will be higher resolution and more appropriate for reproduction in print or for more detailed examination of the images. These files are all open access. For information on how to access them, contact NNPCurator@wustl.edu.

NNP acknowledges Lianna Spurrier for formatting Bill's paper.

Link to Bill Eckberg's Coin Images From Books and Catalogs and the Newman Numismatic Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/643165

Link to the Adolpus Hart plate of colonial paper money:
https://archive.org/download/historyofissueso1851adol/2024numismaticexhibitphoto_1.TIF