Help! Imaging A Silver Coin, Failing.

An example. The left image is from Wexler's doubled die catalog. The feature I am trying to evaluate is the doubling along the right side of the post. But there is a rounded quality to the surface, and the silver is bright, so I am getting a lot of scattered light.

I've had this exact same problem with Mercury dimes as well.

iPad with a clip-on magnifier, plus a plain white LED bar flashlight with a tissue wrapped around it for filtering.

It works really well for modern coinage with crisp edges. But it really struggles with the luster of silver coinage.

I also have a clip-on macro lens, but I am pessimistic that will capture any tiny doubling details enough to authenticate them.

Hi Brand, normally I first try something easy like there are some clip on macro lens addons on ebay for only around $12-14 'APEXEL 12/24x Macro Phone Camera Lens Kit Clip On for iPhone Android Smartphone' that we have discussed on the forum. https://www.ebay.com/itm/354128665022 This is because the iphone itself can take good photos actually on its own except when you want to zoom in on a part of the coin to take a photo of that part only. Attaching this can then zoom and take photo as normal otherwise. This has a 12x zoon thats plenty for this or 24x but thats not needed for the coins. I bought one from ebay seller "apexel" but I havent played too much with the silver coins yet to see if there is any difference - this coin photo I took attached to my iphone was copper.




After that you get into scopes which are excellent and can be from low cost to costly. You and I are getting to be more in the intermediate level of course now so might consider something better at some point. The lowest models as an example are like the Tomlov DM4 or DM4S with extra lights on the base typically around $50. The only issue is that you can't zoom out enough to snap the entire coin, but can look at errors/varieties like you are mentioning and take photo/video if desired. You can however take full coin photos as well if you add later either Tomlov Digital Microscope Extension Tube ET02 around $18 or replace the base with a taller 10 inch one - Tomlov Digital Microscope Stand Base BS02, Taller 10 inch Adjustable Microscope Base around $39. Of course if your going to do that you can then consider higher cost models, dearborn bought one of the nicer ones I remember and several others have as well, , but was just checking if a low cost one would work for those just getting started and they do but so do those phone attachments. No reason to break the bank if someone doesn't have a huge collection. After that you get into the more costly scopes or cameras set up better for coin photography.

datadragon, may I ask what model iPhone you have? I just have a base model iPad that's a few years old. I don't think it has the advanced cameras found on newer iPhones.

I will definitely get a scope in early 2024. I have it on good authority that Santa is bringing me some Amazon gift cards. Nothing expensive. I had been offered a biology scope, but that seems not well equipped for this task.

datadragon, my iPhone lives in an Otterbox case. Do you know if that macro lens will clip on? The ring LED light I bought which soon died had a clip that was not large enough to grab on.
Forgot to compliment you on those excellent pics! And by the way, what is that coin?

Given that you are also using an inexpensive macro lens, a question occurs to me. What is your lighting setup? Perhaps lighting from the side with the LED bar is no longer a viable solution.

I will definitely look up those lenses, though.

Thanks for the help, guys! I will keep working on my setup, and will definitely look at purchasing some better lighting.



I tried a different setup last night. Just the macro lens, and an incandescent bulb that I moved around. I was able to capture what I believe is notching on the left bar of the T, and then the post doubling in a different image. Generally unable to capture a good resolution image of the subtle doubling on We Trust despite multiple attempts. I always feel like you can see it in the image tiles of the photos app, but once you're zoomed in on the image, it's too fuzzy to see.

Fortunately, there's a strong die scratch marker in the crook of the Y that seems to match the Wexler files entry. So at least I can feel like I probably didn't diagnose the coin wrong, even if I can't photograph the doubling correctly. I have wrapped it in a cloth and tucked it away in my coin box for the future. Will get back to it after Christmas.