I don't know a lot about loupes, but my girlfriend just got me one for Christmas. There are two magnifications on it. I currently have two, one is 10x and the other is 16x magnification. The one she got me is really nice and the magnifications are great, I just don't know what they are. It says 30X22MM and 60X12MM
Very useful magnifications , but don't try grading with them . Grading is done with the human eye and at the most 3-5 X mag . Yours are great for varieties and surface id .
Your girlfriend is a keeper for the thoughtful gift; however, a hand lens of 30X and 60X is too much power to be useful for virtually anything. Those powers are only suitable in a stereo microscope used for authentication or "micro" varieties.
Your girlfriend is sneakily trying to get you to find a rare and valuable variety so you can get her a phat ring. Just joking, that's a great gift from her. Congrats and Merry Christmas.
By surface ID i was talking about looking for any tell tail signs of cleaning or alteration of the coins surfaces . People are always trying to "improve" the look of their coins whether for money or that they themselves don't like it . Small hairlines that can only be seen at a certain angle and magnification , tool marks to make a coin look like a higher grade even artificial toning a coin will lower the value and result in a ungradeable coin .
You'll see more "surface ID" with a 7-10X hand lens, proper lighting, a dark room, and the one-and-only correct method of examining a coin: tip it back and forth while rotating it at the same time. I can personally guarantee that a skilled numismatist can tell more about the originality of a coin than 90% of the collectors/dealers in this country by just looking at its color w/o any magnification at all! The people who sell optics of every kind push high power. Just as a 400X telescope can be virtually useless, so is a 30X hand lens.
In my younger days I could look at a coin and see all the details. Now I need a 8x - 10x to do the same thing.
