The other day the sun was shining bright directly on to the big magnifier, and I saw the tell tale bright spot on the black mat underneath it. I remembered how these can start a fire and immediately covered it up!
I see.... So that is your "go-to" magnification then. I thought you were saying you hadn't used it in years. So you see the advantage in using these then.
I'm sure a lot of house fires start because someone leaves a magnifying glass or pair of reading glasses set the wrong way and when the sun eventually shines on them during the day.....poof!
If you buy one get a good one. The clarity on these vary. I like the heft and feel of it in my hand. The other thing is you can put it directly to your eye then move the coin into focus.
I used this old Bausch & Lomb jeweler's loupe for fine details, but since I got that big old 4" glass, haven't used it as much. I think it's 3 or 5x.
Me, too. On a bright, green lanyard (from Provident Metals) so I can easily find it. I can see it on my desk right now, actually.
I do have a man cave and can access my 4 hard wired cameras that are outside and one wireless in the kitchen pointed at the entrance. All are accessible in my cave, on my tablet and on a 15" screen in my bedroom. The hard wired camera wiring are also enclosed in electrical steel conduit.
You can go to the 99 cent store and buy a pair of glasses with the highest diopter number and with gentle pressure pop out the side you want normal vision , the other side will give you the magnification without using your 'brow' muscles which can lead to headaches. Jim
Get a proper monocle! Gold rimmed, with a chain attached to your pocket. It will instantly confer upon you an air of class, sophistication, and a touch of eccentricity. More so if you've recently waxed your moustache.
I'd have it in a secret room, where the only way in is by way of trick bookshelves or equivalent. Yeah, I used to watch a lot of Batman when I was a kid. The late 60's television series.
Many years ago, my then girlfriend's dad after getting to like me, showed me his watch and jewelry shop in his basement. I believe this man was some sort of genius, although he literally worked his entire life in a limestone quarry. He built his own house, then later, a detached garage about 50 feet away. One day around Thanksgiving, after I was engaged to his daughter, he showed me a secret door he had built into a wall in the basement, in a bookshelf. He reached into the shelf, turned a handle, and opened the door to a hidden underground tunnel to the garage. The garage had a hidden basement and second story that could only be accessed through the concrete tunnel he built. In that basement was a complete workshop for anything you could imagine at the time. It was pretty amazing!
I have a B&L 2x/3x glass and a B&L 7x Hastings Triplet loupe. I use the loupe for Lincoln Cent BIEs, which is pretty much the only minutea that interests me.Everything else is usually the glass. I bought it in 1981 for $5 at the eye glasses shop where I was getting contact lenses. The contacts sucked but the glass has been wonderful.
I have two, one for work, one for home. They were sold to me as gem and mineral loupes. I've always been a bit of a rock hound. They do the job quite well on coins, too.