magnifier for use at shows

This could be taken as a threat if it was an outside show

 

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Grade has nothing to do with whether I want many coins but the point here is avoiding the surprise when I get home from a show and discover that the common coin I bought because it was a great 'deal' turns out to be a cull. It is information. Many of my favorite coins got on that list without reference to grade or beauty. Here lately, I have been finding relatively few coins I want for my prime collection and have been buying things to fill out the junk box and trading stock. At the last show, a dealer had a bunch of $15 late Romans which yielded some really nice coins and some I wish I had not bought. In hand, most looked pretty nice. As an example, the one below looks OK at 1X but is impossible to photograph in the size I prefer without showing its ragged surfaces from the silvering. A good magnifier would have resulted in it staying at the show. The point is not good or bad but being able to separate coins I will like from the others and avoid surprises. We often hear 'looks better in hand'. I don't like coins like that.

 

Whats wrong with it? The bronze disease?

 

Patchy silvering over rough surfaces where the silver is missing. Too much texture. I see no BD.

 

Ok, I thought you were concerned about the green upper right obverse or red lower left reverse.

I like the coin, especially if you found it in a junk bin for $15.

 

By chance, today's mail brought this Aurelian which is a coin I will keep. The difference is that the metal revealed by the wearing away of the silver is smooth while it is textured on the Probus. Both look similar in hand but the Aurelian stands up better to micro examination and the Probus does not.

 

Oddly I would take the probus over that.

 

Me too actually. I am sure our opinions may change with them being in hand, due to the nature of photography limitations, but short of that I agree Mat.

 

I'll take that Probus off your hands for my horse collection