Jewelers Loupe Recommendations

A few helpful hints on things mentioned here you may not 100% understand.




Focal Distance is the distance from your eyeball to the front of the lens you are looking through, the longer that is the more comfortable a magnifying lens is to use over time. 1" is about as close as you will probably be comfortable using.

APO Is shorthand for apochromatic or color free lens design. The best telescopes, microscopes, eyepieces, camera lenses and magnifiers will be constructed using APO lens elements. You should never notice false color of fringing of purple/violet or green/yellow at hard edges of items when using a apochromatic lens design.

Triplet vs. Doublet Color correcting is best with triplet lens designs, one for each color (RGB), but will cost more.

Aspherical Lens that produces or corrects curvature, so to the edge a lens should show a straight line completely straight with no curvature or widening at the edge.

Other things to consider, anti glare and anti scratch coatings, coatings are the single most important development in optics that have evolved a lot over the past decade or two. The optical designs of the glass or lens elements has really not changed all thet much since Sir Issac Newton wrote his famous book "Opticks: or A, Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light" in 1704.

A single loupe is best for various powers rather than a model with a lens that adds power by sliding out and stacking together. There are really nice high quality ones made, but expect to pay close to or over $100 for this style. In lower price (under $40.00 the stacked lenses aren't the best in my opinion).

Look for dichromatic coatings if possible. Your best quality (in my opinion) brands are as follows:

Lecia (Zeiss) lenses
Eisenbach
(The above are both the top end of quality and usually priced to show it).
Bausch & Lomb APO triplet lenses (Best all-around IMO).
Peak Optics.
Bausch & Lomb Coddington lenses (has a much smaller area of useable viewing due to the design).
Lighthouse Brand (mostly found in Europe).
Carson Optical

None on that list makes any real stinkers, though I'd always look to the mid-range or better and glass over plastic lenses if possible. As with anything optics included you really do get what you are paying for.

Don't rule out slide loupes (used by photographers)
There are some really high-end ones but most are reasonable and large, great for medals if you use a medium format or large format magnifier (3-5" across with lots of eye relief), generally very not practical to carry around at a coin show.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explor...iting-loupes

One place I have always had excellent service from is Wizard Coin Supply:
https://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/pr...-magnifiers/
Another shop I use is Brooklyn Gallery of Coins & Stamps:
https://brooklyngallery.com/magnifiers.html


Most of the terms can be looked up on wikipedia where there are many diagrams and long descriptions as to why certain optics are better or worse.

Any other questions feel free to ask, I will try to help as best I can. I used to sell observatory grade telescopes and was a professional photographer for many years, so I have a fair amount of experience in high-end optics and design. I have also worked with optical designers in building telescopes and coatings on filters.

Just enough to enlarge for viewing... For that purpose even a Carson 5X MiniBrite LED Lighted Slide-Out Aspheric Magnifier for $10 was excellent for general use to enlarge/read mint marks or years on currency etc easier than a loupe. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00524H8MC However if your grading led can mislead you so thats where a Bausch & Lomb Hastings Triplet 7x Magnifier - Model 816168 would be my preference. I have tried many others including Eschenbach Mobilux LED Hand-held Magnifier - 5x but it didnt really seem worth the high cost to suggest to others.

Personally, I stay away from plastic lens.
John1