What equipment do you use?

I recently got my first piece of gear for collecting, a 16x loupe. I'm wondering what you guys all use? I'm a newer collector and am way into this! Coin roll hunting and everything else.

What do you have for your collecting addiction?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

That loupe will be fine for variety and error attribution but it will be next to useless for grading most coins. I would recommend a 3X or 5X for grading. Plus a good light.

 

Books, go to your local library to start and see what they have. Read them all and then go from there.

 

I agree, I bought a redbook when I first starting and must have read it front to back 3 or 4 times. Very informative.

 

How about a digital scale for detecting counterfeits. And a magnet. And a digital caliper.

 

I use a 5x and 10x with LED. I also use a digital scale, and made myself a examing board with some felt, a cabinet shelf, and aluminum. My advice is to pick a area of coins you want. IE> errors, cents, quarters, barbers, whatever it may be; research it to death. History has alot to do with coins, so go to your local library and just sit there and read and read. Even go to your local college campuses, most don't ask for ID or require you to be a student (except for bigger universities).


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

I have bought the red book. Why will the 16x not work for grading? I don't understand why a lower power would be better for grading?

What kind of digital scale would you suggest? I can only find crappy made in china ones that I will not buy.

Thanks for the suggestions so far

 

Just go to a local office supply store, everythings made in china to be honest. 5x-7x is reccomended for grading, anything past that and you're seeing stuff you dont want to + it can mess up the details and misrepresent the actual coin.

 

The higher loupes don't work for grading, because they give too much detail and imperfections that will interfere with giving a proper grade. Strange but true. Many people use either a 5 or 10 for grading. Also the field of vision diminishes when the power goes up, so you can't see as much area. For grading you want to be able to see the entire coin.

As far as a digital scale, I bought one, but returned it because when I went to weigh the coins, it's variations of weight were not accurate enough. I now won't use one because I would want one accurate to .001 - if you get .01, that may not be enough. Many scales are not accurate. In other words a dime might weigh in at 3.5 or 3.4, or 3.1 and all be the same dime. To me that's not accurate to .01, it's accurate to .3. And the more accurate ones are ultra expensive. So if I have to discern only by weight, I would have to find one that someone would let me use that was more accurate.

Also, be careful of the loupes/magnifiers that are cheap. They are really not as good. Invest in a good optics, like Bausch and Lomb.

 

Kasia did a good job of answering your question:

To summarize, if you try to grade a coin with too much magnification:

1- You will be unable to see the entire coin.
2- Minor imperfections will appear to be worse than they really are.

With too much magnification you may not be able to see the forest for the trees.

 

Great advice from the gang here Steve. Welcome to the forum......

 

Thanks, Hobo! I almost used that phrase....can't see the forest for the trees. But for some reason the way it was coming out from me, it seemed silly, so I cut it out. You did it perfectly!