Tools of the Modern Numismatic Trade

I use a 12X

 

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I honestly don't use my magnifyer. I use a camera.

 

Trading for JP Morgan.

 

I mostly use a X5 glass. I have two X7 triplet
loupes but I usually prefer a wide glass. If I
have to squint I start thinking I'm buying hype.

 

I have a small loupe with three lenses but I'll be darned if I've ever been able to use it efficiently. I would go with a wider lense for those more visually challenged such as myself.

 

Hello Ruben

That is an incredibly clear glass. How did you find that?

Mandy-may

 

Which books would you recommend for World Coins?

Mandy

 

The two most important tools... Your eyes and a fat wallet.

A nice numismatic library, 5x mag, digital scale, and a knowledgeable and honest local dealer can be helpful too.

 

I like calipers and a quality scale... maybe I'm just being cynical though.

 

I’m surprised no one has taken issue with the OP’s comment, “You should never examine a coin just with the unaided eye”, which I believe is the initial and one of the most important examinations of the coin. This initil eye examination is what drew you to the coin, it’s called “eye appeal”. After the coin is purchased, eye appeal is the most important factor for me, as I’ll probably never or rarely inspect the coin again with a loop. Aside from eye appeal, I find a 5x B&L meets 75% of my needs – I only uses higher magnification for viewing small details. If one were to use only higher magnificant to view coins, it might be likened to missing the forest for the trees.

 

The one you mention above doesn't indicate it can do oz or troy ounces. True that you can convert grams into both with a calculator or your brain, but often a time saver. I have one similar to this, but different manufacturer name. It also indicates that it has a resolution of .01gram rather than .1 gram ( that is the 300 x.1gram of the one you indicated). That is useful in the tolerances are generally in the ,01gram range. For example most people just say that a common wheat cent ( not steel) weighs 3.11 grams, but it has a tolerance of +/- 0.13grams, so they can be real and weigh from 2.98 grams to 3.24 grams, but generally very close to 3.11 grams unc.


http://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/professional-digital-table-top-scale-500-x-.01-g.html

If you are near a harbor freight store or catalog, I would also recommend a digital caliper. This model is almost a "lend to your bad neighbor" tool as it is cheap and made of composite material and is more accurate than you measuring with a metric ruler and your eye. I do wrap a layer of plastic electrician's tape around the jaws where they might touch the coin, as they will scratch if you drag it across. yes HF tools lack a lot, but I have 3 various measuring devices from them and they are surprisingly accurate. Also very good for measuring suspected coins.

http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-t...s/6-inch-composite-digital-caliper-93293.html

a

 

Although many do not know, nor want to know what specific gravity is, and the determination can be mathematically challenging, but here is a Sp.Gr. apparatus that is simple and easy to use. It has a sliding scale , so you need not do math. Accuracy to 3 digits. Limit is 30 gram size as is, but with an extra small counter weight ( it is a balance), I am sure you could go to a troy ounce.

http://www.mineralab.com/Hanneman.html

Hey, the OP did say Modern!

 

I've heard of collectors using beam scales that are used to
do bullet re-loads.

 

That is like recommending the Enclycodepia Bittanica for a learnign reference/

 

There are two things with scales.

One is the minimum weight it can measure and the other is how much mass it can measure once your over the minimum weight.

A .1 sensive scale can not measre, for example, 50mg, which is much smaller than any coin.

A Pharmacy scale is by USP standards sensitive to 5mg and 50mg the lowest mesarable mass.


I don't recommend anything less sensitive than 0.01g which is 10mg. That would mean the scale would be acurate +- 10mg in three out of 5 messurments.

Ruben

 

http://pharmlabs.unc.edu/labs/measurements/balanceA.htm

eh - I'm almost right.

 

http://www.scalesgalore.com/product/?product_id=15523

 

My Mettler analytic has a resolution of 0.1 mg.

 

BTW - I've done a lot of work with scales in Chemistry and Pharmacuetic and there is no way I would trust a $75 scale to measure gold or even dimes.

Look at these and give it some thought

http://www.scalesgalore.com/pohaus.htm#lab