Help with scanning your rare collections!

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Posted By: Dan Collins

As everyone on here knows it is dificult to view these rare collections when most people have them put away in secure places. I have developed a pretty great system that helps me see what I have and view them without having them out.

I purchased a great Epson scanner it was about $300 and it has a great cropping tool. I scan the front and back of the card and then use Macromedia Fireworks to combine the two images together. I also went to Office Max and purchased some thick black paper and taped in the scanner bed so the colors of teh cards stand out in the scan. This is especially good for PSA graded cards because their holders are clear. Once I have the scan I put it int the correct set folder and then I set that folder to all of computer's screen savers so I am constantly seeing my collection on the screen.

This is also a great thing to do when you are constantly on the BST and everyone wants to see a scan of what your are selling or trading.

I would be happy to assist anyone in setting this up for their collections.

To get an idea of my scans please look at my T206 set on the registry the link is below.

http://www.psacard.com/setregistry/publishedset.aspx?s=2289


Thanks,
Dan Collins

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Posted By: leon

Dan- that's a nice T206 collection....Congrats....and thanks for offering to help folks with scanning. best regards and happy holidays

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Posted By: Anthony N.

Alternately you can scan with the lid open- this will give you a purer black background, since no light is hitting it.
If you gang scan multiple cards (4 graded ones fit on most scan beds) and have photoshop you can run the "crop and straighten photos" action to automatically separate them into 4 individual scans, all perfectly aligned.
Note that due to the holder, the above methods unfortunately do not work for SGC slabs. Those are a bit more labor intensive
If you select the entire bed of the scanner as your scan area you can do away with the prescan, saving an enormous amount of time. The excess will be cropped away in the above mentioned action.
I've had really good results with the Canon 4400f scanner- it's about $90 and does a good job with transparencies (slides) as well. Its the first scanner I've had since a Linotype $5k one about 9 years ago, and does a much better job faster.

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Posted By: Mike

Dan: Cards look great. Looks like a great idea with the black sheet background. I also hope to scan my collection and have it as a slide show on my computer someday.
Presently I take one item a week and place it against my monitor screen and enjoy that one card etc. for a week and then pick another card for the next week. It's been fun to enjoy the cards this way rather than in a safety deposit box or downstairs in a drawer. Mike

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Posted By: Scott Levy

Dan,

What a wonderful collection especially considering so many nice rarebacks.

-SGL