How Smart Phones Affect Coin Values

I was listening to a radio interview with the New York Times' food critic last week. He was describing how the recent practiceof diners taking pictures of their food with smart phones has drastically affected the restaurant business. Those photos are uploaded to social mediasites where millions of people view them and comment on them.

I thought it was an odd connection for him to make. But he went on to explain that food presentation has become significantly more important to the success of a restaurant in recent years. Chefs now spend a lot more time on how the dish will photograph and less time on how it actually tastes. The dish might be cold by the time it gets to you because they spent so much time arranging it, or it might not taste as good as it looks. But if it takes a good photo, often the restaurant will gain customers as a result.

As it is my custom to relate everything I see and hear to numismatics, here is how it looks to me through the prism of coin collecting. Turns out, we can clearly see ourselves in his comments.

Beautiful coins have always been popular. They have always sold for more than their ordinary looking brethren. However, these days that the really pretty coins - especially those that photograph well - are now by far the most desirable coins, and bring outsize prices at auction, via private treaty and on web sites such as my own.

In my own business, coins that may be solid and what I would consider to be desirable for what they represent often take an inordinately long the time to sell if they are not photogenic as well. Also, when I search for coins to buy at shows and at auction, I am now keenly aware of the way a coin will photographs before I buy, especially with pricier coins. I have passed on many coins that I thought were good values because I wasn't sure they would image well.

For me it has been trial and error over the years. For example a coin that has a light planchet streak almost invisible to the naked eye will often show up as a dark streak to the unblinking eye of the camera. Also, dark toning areas and spots normally look much worse in photos compared to the way they look in hand.

This influences my purchase decisions, and I have talked to many other dealers (especially those with web sites) that think the same way I do. There is no question this has affected the type of coins that people pay premiums for, and also the type of coins that end up selling for a discount.

This trend is neither good nor bad -- it just IS. But I don't recall anybody mentioning this factor in the past, so I thought I would do so (for the benefit of the for the four or so people who have read this far).

To read the complete newsletter, see:
Making The Grade #25: A Coin Mystery Worthy of Scully and Mulder; How Smart Phones Affect Coin Values

To visit Dave Wnuck's web site, see:
www.davewcoins.com