Many collectors want to display their certificates for other people to enjoy and appreciate. As requested, I am going to supply a spot for links to albums and blogs where collectors display their certificates.

Personally, I am not terribly enthusiastic about the idea of collectors showing images of their collections unless:

• they realize they are taking certain risks, and
• they are willing to take certain sensible precautions.

I cannot possibly make anyone take precautions. However, I can give some straight talk about the problems I see.

STRAIGHT TALK SECTION

Take precautions such as:

• Protecting collections from theft
• Insuring collections

Avoiding theft. Every town on the planet has crooks and villians. It is a simple fact of life. I don't see any reason to make your collection easy to find. The best ways to avoid theft are probably the simplest.

• Be anonymous. Avoid publishing personal details for the whole world to see. Use a screen name instead of your real name. Avoid giving your address. Avoid even telling the name of your town or city. Avoid offering any details that point toward you.
  
• Store your collection in secure places. Safes. Bank vaults. Secure storage facilities. If possible, store large collections in multiple locations so no single loss will be total.

Insurance. I don't hink I know any collectors who relish the thought of insuring collections. However, the moment you let anyone know you collect something, your risk increases. You should be able to acquire specialized collection insurance through the American Numismatic Association and other sources.

• Talk to your insurance company and discover its specific requirements in case of loss.
  
• Make good photocopies or scans of your certificates. Keep them in a locations separate from your collection. Images do not necessarily need to be secure, but they need to be separate in case of thefts, fires, floods, hurricanes, tornados, and earthquakes.
  
• Ask your insurance company what proof of ownership it requires. Never assume insurers will be as happy about giving you money after a loss as they are in accepting your premium payments before a loss.

For insurance purposes, I suspect that photocopies or scans should show the entire fronts of the certificates. Make sure images are sufficiently good to show serial numbers. Make closeups of important signatures.

Unless your insurer gives you written assurances to the contrary, be sure that your scans, photos or photocopies are good enough to PROVE that YOU definitely owned a certificate. Never assume your insurance company is going to take your word for it.

Consider sending me copies of your scans or photocopies so I can record your serial numbers.

Images of your certificates for the web

If you want people to view your certificates more than once, then your images must be something you can brag about.

Dark, out-of-focus, crooked photographs are NOT good enough. You goal is to give information and enjoyment to your viewers. Having looked at hundreds of thousands of images, I can assure you that good images get results and poor images get disgust.

Make sure your images are bright enough to see details. There are many free programs out there that will help you adjust brightness and contrast.

Straighten your images. Again, numerous free software packages will help you with this.

Make your certificates look rectangular. Only a handful of free programs will remove distortion and NONE will do it at well as Photoshop. If you don't want to take the time, then at least take photographs of your certificates by looking straight down on them. Do NOT just lay certificates on a table and take photographs. They will look awful and people will not come back a second time.

Scans of certificates are dramatically better than photographs. Scanners are so inexpensive these days that most advanced collectors should be able to afford a decent scanner. (Tip, you will get better results with a dedicated scanner than a multi-function scanner-printer-fax device.)

If you don't own a scanner and don't want to buy one, look in your Yellow Pages for scanning services. Find someone who has the capability of scanning 11x17 images in color (so you can scan bonds in one piece.) Better still, ask your friends and co-workers. Chances are, you already know someone who will help.

Please check elsewhere on this web site for numerous hints on scanning.

Here are three ways of presenting images of your certificates on the web.Which appearance will make viewers come back to your album a second time?

	Oblique image of certificate shot with a digital camera. Note: uneven lighting, lack of detail, and non-rectangular appearance.
	Vertical image of a certificate shot with a digital camera. Note: uneven lighting, better detail, but lens distortion.
	Scanned image of certificate. Note: even lighting better detail, and no distortion.

Avoid marking your images with obnoxious "watermarks." I recommend against marking images because it decreases other people's enjoyment. Many collectors are paranoid about people copying their images for use elsewhere on the web.

Speaking as someone who has had images used without permission, music used without permission, and practically all of my catalog text used without permission, Get over it! I don't mean to sound flippant, but at this point in the development of the web, it is a simple truth that people will reuse images without permission and you will probably never even know of it. If your pictures are actually good enough for other people to use, feel flattered and move on.

Here is an example of a certificate "watermarked" with a semi-transparent overlay. It might prevent someone from reusing the image elsewhere on the web, but at what price? Does an image like this really make for enjoyable viewing?

Make your images large enough for people to see details, all the while keeping them small enough so people can see the whole certificate, or at least the full width. I recommend keeping images around 600 to 700 pixels wide in order to fit on virtually all monitors without scrolling left and right. It is infinitely better to make viewers scroll up and down than it is to make them scroll left and right. Do that and I guarantee viewers will give up after looking at only a few images.

For comparison, here is an image of classic Jersey Shore Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway Company bond. This bond was issued to William Henry Vanderbilt and signed by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, William K. Vanderbilt, Frederick W. Vanderbilt, and Chauncey Depew. This particular example is 565 pixels wide. It was saved as a level 3 (of 12) JPG and only 57.7Kb.

(Thanks to Martin Zanke for allowing me to use his certificate for photo examples.)

Tell stories about your certificates

When you tell stories, people simply can't walk away. Even if they've heard the same story countless times. It's kinda wierd. The point is that if you have a blog or some manner of telling stories about specific certificates, do so.

Ideally, of course, you want your stories to be interesting and well-written. However, in all cases, be vague about locations and people that might indicate who you are and where you live.