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Collectible Stocks and Bonds from
North American Railroads by Terry Cox
A guidebook and catalog of prices (I neither buy nor sell stocks and bonds) |
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Search hundreds of pages on this web site for information about collecting railroad stocks and bonds. |
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Click to search the special Coxrail database. Information for 23,700+ certificates from over 7,400 North American railroad companies. |
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Contributing high-resolution images
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Scanning certificates requires different skills than
scanning photos and ordinary documents. I have much information on this site specifically and entirely dedicated to scanning certificates.
It currently appears that I will include at least one
DVD with the third edition. To accomplish that, I will need to compile
2,000 to 4,000 high-resolution images! Here are the particulars. I will
not use low-resolution images. Nor will I use images captured from the
internet. There is no use including images if they aren't sufficiently high quality.
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Everyone who contributes will get credit -- if
they want credit. In the interest of privacy, I will not
include collectors' names without their permission. Credit lines will
appear like Image Courtesy of John Doe. Credits will
appear with images on the DVD as well as with any images used in the catalog.
For dealers who contribute, credits on the DVD will include links to
web sites. (See Hints for displaying your certificates online for more information about broadcasting your name to the world.) |
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Scan at resolutions of at least 200 pixels per inch
(79 pixels per cm.) I will, of course, make exceptions, particularly
for large bonds. Text on all certificates must be fully readable. (More information at resolution.) |
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Scan in full color. |
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Scan against white backgrounds. (See scanning regular vignetted certificates against colored backgrounds for more information. |
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Scan entire certificates. No cut-off borders. |
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You do NOT need to scan stubs or coupons. Whatever you do, do not fold stubs or coupons under certificates when scanning. (They always show through.) |
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Experiment with different exposure settings. Then
turn off automatic exposure. The tight line work in vignettes confuses
automatic exposure calculations. Whatever you do, avoid over-exposure. Light
images are very hard to fix. |
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Turn off automatic sharpening. If your scanner will
not allow you to turn off automatic sharpening, then scan at higher resolutions. |
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Scan and send large certificates in two or more pieces.
Please, do not agonize over patching them together. But, please make
sure that you scan all the pieces with the top of the certificate
facing the same direction. Otherwise, the colors will not match. Scan with at least 2 " overlap. (See Scanning large certificates for more discussion.) |
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Do not agonize over alignment. I will fix scans
that are not aligned. |
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Do not agonize over file naming or catalog numbering.
I will handle all that. |
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Certificates do NOT need to be perfect. Tears, stains,
cancellations, handwriting, revenue stamps, cut-outs, and other problems
are part of the hobby. |
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Please send handwritten certificates. I receive very, very few. |
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Bonds, I always need bonds. |
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If you are going to send images by e-mail, save them
as JPGs and send one at a time. If sending multiple image, send via WeTransfer.com (completely free). Or send on a a CD. If sending via WeTransfer or CD, you may save images
in almost any format, but JPGs and TIFs are preferred. Mac users, please make images readable
by PCs. I have conversion software, but I sometimes need to send out
to a sub-contractor. |
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When you save images as JPGs, all software I have seen
will allow you to adjust your file sizes. Depending on your software,
select medium quality, medium compression, or medium
file size. (Learn more about file formats.) |
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Some software provided with the current breed of entry-level
scanners does NOT do a good job when saving as JPGs. If your scanner
is giving poor results, try saving as TIFs. Be aware, though, that
even sub-$100 scanners can make truly excellent scans. |
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What if your scanner makes your certificates look non-rectangular?
Don't worry. I can fix that easily. |
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If, no matter what you try, your scans don't look the
way you think they should, explain the problems. I might be able to
fix. |
Send an email message with corrections, questions or comments about this page.
(Last updated July 15, 2011) |
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Help support this free site! Please visit my eBay store called Papermental by Terry Cox. My inventory includes (or will include) railroad ephemera, newspapers, magazines, engravings, and all sorts of paper collectibles. The current inventory is about 1,700 items building toward an estimated 3,000. |
Please contact me if
you have certificates not yet listed. (See How You Can Help)
Try to limit images to 250 Kb each.
Please contact the many fine dealers on my dealers
page to buy certificates.
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