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What Should I Get?

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ErrorCoins222's Avatar
United States
1699 Posts
 Posted 07/13/2009  6:17 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add ErrorCoins222 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
I have been looking on ebay at microscopes and loupes and a lot of magnifiers but I dont know exactly what I need. I am just getting 'something'to look at my coins closer(I dont know how close I need to get for varieties and other coins). I dont know if 50X or 100X or 140X is good are what. You could say I'm clueless. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Thanks
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vermontensium's Avatar
United States
16677 Posts
 Posted 07/13/2009  6:44 pm  Show Profile   Check vermontensium's eBay Listings Check vermontensium's eCrater Listings Bookmark this reply Add vermontensium to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
On the subject of microscopes, I don't own one. A 10X loupe is generally what I use when looking at coins and should be sufficient for varieties and errors.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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atlas580's Avatar
United States
114 Posts
 Posted 07/13/2009  8:22 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add atlas580 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I just got a 16x magnifier from Hobby Lobby for 14 bucks. It is a whitman and it works great. I had considered getting the digital blue QX5 for looking at varieties but changed my mind when I bought the whittman mag. It all depends on what you want to do, if you want to post pictures I would get a digital microscope, but if you want to get something cheap just to see coins closer I would just get a magnifier at least 10x.
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John1's Avatar
United States
56855 Posts
 Posted 07/14/2009  08:00 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add John1 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I started out with a 10x doublet loupe many,many years ago. Now my eye sight isn't as good anymore so I upgraded to a 14x doublet loupe which is what I recommend for error and variety searching. If you want to photograph your finds for posting here or for inventory purposes then a digital microscope is the way to go,i am looking for one now so I can post my finds here on CCF. If you can afford it I suggest you buy a Hastings Triplet in a 14x but don't go higher then 16x because the image gets blurry. As far as a scope goes a Dino-Lite is the way to go,somewhat pricey but works great, my nephew has one and likes it a lot.
John1
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SeatedNut's Avatar
United States
2797 Posts
 Posted 07/14/2009  08:24 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add SeatedNut to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I picked up a QX5 digital microscope about a year ago to take pictures of Morgan VAMs. It wasn't too expensive ($80 shipped) and offers 10x, 60x and 200x magnification. The 10x will shoot about 1/2 a Morgan and the 60x is what I use to zoom in on the features. The 200x is worthless for coins. It takes decent photos, but the thing I've discovered is that 60x lets me find things I can't spot with the 10x loupe. Doubling jumps off the page as well as die breaks, clashes, etc. Now when I'm trying to identify what VAM I'm holding, I put the coin under 60x and look at the entire obverse and reverse.

Here's an example of the letter P in "PLURIBUS" under 60x


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