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 Replies: 8 / Views: 8,102 |
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New Member
United States
12 Posts |
I spent about $135 (USD) for a Tomlov D9 and at first, it seemed very good. Then as my knowledge about it and coins got better, I have now come to the conclusion that I should ask opinions here, as what I got wasn't very good. First of all, it defaults to what I'll call is a Movie mode. If I want to take a movie of the coin, I can do so. If I want to just get an image, I click a button and get to Image mode. The problem is that the Movie mode is very close to what I see when I look at it with my eyes. The Image mode is VERY different that what I see. In fact I can't move any of the lights to any position (include turning them off) to get a very good picture. I want to be able to get close up and also see the full coin. But I want the image that I save to look good so that I don't have to do all kinds of manipulation to get the color and brightness correct. All that to say this -- What coin microscope do you consider to be the best? *** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. *** |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21645 Posts |
I have a friend who offered to put a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), to work on an ancient gold coin.
I was looking for inconsistences in the alloy mix on the surface of the coin. Tiny surface areas were then analyzed with an Energy Dispersive Detector (EDS), which is normally used in association with SEM
I found what I was looking for.
Although several shots were taken at different locations on the coin, and the alloy mix was found to be around 99% gold, one small area was found to be nearly a 50-50 mix of gold and silver. The area in question appeared to be pale gold, but was impossible to find (too microscopic), by examination with a 10x loupe.
Electron micrograph images were taken for all tiny areas that were analyzed.
Nevertheless, for almost all numismatic purposes,
a digital microscope mounted in place of a digital camera will suffice.
Another nevertheless:
TPGraders using a 10x loupe and experience is more than sufficient in most cases.
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
 AmScope brand. Get one that goes as low as possible, and you do not need more than 200x for coins,between 5x to 150x. John1 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9800 Posts |
I have one from Pluggable. It was inexpensive and I like it. Just beware if you are new to coins b/c if you do not first find out what actual coin errors are, you will have a lot of "false starts" that can get very frustrating.  To find ACTUAL collectable errors, a good way to start is to get a box of penny rolls form the bank. Sort them by date and mint mark. Go to varietyvista.com and use the pictures there to find EXACT matches. Partial matches mean you have something like Die Deterioration Doubling or Machine Doubling (look those up at error-ref.com). |
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Moderator
United States
54171 Posts |
 @Earle
Show your financial support of the Coin Community Family (click here)See my topic on Mexican Numismatic Medals (click here) |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
18612 Posts |
Earle is an absolute GEM!
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Moderator
United States
71828 Posts |
Nice Earl, very nice |
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New Member
United States
2 Posts |
Really anything that can do a 5x zoom since that's what most grading companies use.
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Moderator
United States
164048 Posts |
to the Community, AugustWind and Aigs!
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Replies: 8 / Views: 8,102 |
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Posted 07/23/2023 06:32 am
