I have been looking for some kinda display to show off my coins and I found these little led light display ring boxes on AliExpress. I know they are for rings but I wonder how it would look with a coin instead?
You need a bright point source to make a diamond really scintillate. Now that we're Living In The Future, that's easy and cheap to do in a small box. Point sources are good for bringing out luster in coins, too, but I'm not sure how well this arrangement would work. It wouldn't be super-great for showing off toning, I think.
From my experience LED and halogen and flourescent just doesn't cut it on coins. The white light is fine for gemstones but a coin loses something with a "cold" light. Just my opinion. Maybe if they make it at 2700 kelvin it would be warm enough but I doubt they will list the kelvin on Ali E. Hahaha.
And how would you place the coin in the case, considering the light appears that it would come from above and behind?
Halogen bulbs do have filaments. They just run hotter than old-style incandescent bulbs, so they produce cooler/bluer light. It's still a smooth blackbody spectrum, though, without flicker or weird color artifacts. I'll see if I can pull up some of the old posts where this was discussed. Edit: well, that was easy. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ho...n-dim-light-like-at-a-coin-show.180280/page-2 Bottom line: the ANA has for some time recommended incandescent (old-school) bulbs. They do, indeed, say halogen lighting is too bright. I stand by my assertion that they're off-base, but I don't expect my opinion to influence anyone against theirs.
I am familiar with the differences between incandescent and halogen. Halogen uses halogen gas in a contained space inside the bulb with the tungsten filament, the halogen causes the tungsten soot that is produced when the filament is electrically heated to redeposit back onto the filament instead of on the inside glass, like the incandescent bulb does which uses argon gas or a couple other gasses inside the bulb depending on manufacture. So the halogen bulb stays brighter longer, and lasts longer because the tungsten soot keeps getting deposited on the filament also why halogen burns hotter, because it needs to to keep recycling the tungsten soot. there's a couple factors here though, the incandescent bulb does generate soot on the inside of the glass, this soot softens the light further towards natural light as the bulb is used and "broken in". this doesn't happen on a halogen lightbulb, so even a 2700K Incandescent or "warm white" bulb will not have the same color output or color renditioning as a halogen 2700K "warm white" bulb although they both should have the same exact light color. then there's CRI, the ability of a light source to accurately reproduce colors and is measured on a scale from 0 to 100 with natural light being 100. CRI should be as high as you can get it to as close to natural light, but in either case most bulbs, incandescent or halogen top out in the 80s to low 90s, BUT generally incandescent bulbs have a higher CRI than halogen once they are "broken in", rising up from a CRI of 93 and nearing 100 before it burns out, while with a halogen the CRI is what you get the entire time, 80-83-85, hard to find one over 90 or a 93, but it is what it is, it doesn't get "sweeter" as it's used. fluorescent, led are the worst, xenon, MH, HPS, LPS,all have poor color rendition or CRI, but I really do like the newer narrow band amber LEDs they are using for outdoor lighting nowadays, these have potential to replace incandescent I think. You can get close with Halogen, but it's not the same CRI and never will be compared to incandescent bulbs that have an hour or more burn on them. A halogen 2700K with a 60 watt equivalent SHOULD be comparable, but the color rendition of the light isn't. f the CRI or color accuracy is lets say 83, well a fluorescent light has a CRI of 80. As an aside, my neighbor has two different kelvin LED porch lights, it is annoying as all get out to see it every day, one is blue the other is yellow! I haven't seen anything on lighting comparisons here, the pros/cons of halogen or LED, CFLs so maybe it's an older topic but I'd be interested to read the opinion so I may just go looking for them! Thanks. Oh and one more thing, I had read that the GE "reveal" line of halogen lightbulbs had a CRI of 100..... don't know if that's true, I don't find it on GE documents, just reseller websites, but the kelvin is a little high for the 60 watt equivalent at 3000K, but otherwise this should have "natural light" color rendition. Wondering if anyone is using these bulbs for coin grading or viewing in a desk lamp?
Okay, here's one question I've had for a while: outside of checking toning (including copper color), why does CRI matter for inspecting coins? You're looking for topographic detail on the coin's surface. Contact marks, wear, scratches, flow lines -- those all look the same independent of color, so it seems like your source's CRI shouldn't be important. Maybe for spotting certain stains...? What does seem like it should be important: Intensity -- if your light is too dim, it's hard to make out small features, including scratches and dings. As your pupils dilate, your vision's focus becomes less sharp (although that's a bit of an oversimplification). But if the light's too bright, it can dazzle and wash out details. Angular extent (point-source vs. large-area source) -- a point source should be best for picking out scratches and other texture features (including luster). A wide, diffuse source reduces the highlights and shadows those features cast, and so reduces their contrast. Absence of flicker -- because flicker will drive you crazy, and give you headaches. Heat -- because who wants to roast while examining coins? The thing that most gave me pause in the ANA recommendations was the bit about "avoiding halogen because it's too bright and washes out detail". Like I said before, intensity is a separate variable. If your light's just too bright, move it further away, or put a neutral-density filter in front of it.
Thanks for the link I would have never found it from 2011. It's not a comparison like I was hoping or very in depth discussion, but end result was GDJMSP recommending the GE Reveal halogens as a suitable bulb, although it doesn't match up completely, it has high CRI and close Kelvin to incandescent. kind of wish they could get it down to 2700K but it is what it is. It's not that halogen is "too bright" lumens are lumens. A incandescent bulb at 60 watts is about 800 lumens. A GE Reveal 75W halogen equivalent is 790 lumens. Although the 60 watt equivalent is too low at 565 lumens. and I think a 100W incandescent is too bright at 1600 Lumens much less the halogen equivalent. it's the CRI and the Kelvin that A) doesn't render the colors right and causes eye strain, or B) Kelvin is too hot or cold and causes eye strain and in general poor view condition due to the differences in reflected wavelengths of light. I think the 800-1100 lumen range of halogen (60W-75W incandescent) with high CRI in the 90s+ and a Kelvin of 3000 (or less down to 2600) is likely the long term solution to the discontinuation of the incandescent bulbs, Possibly even LED can work if they can get into this neighborhood. Anyways, Apologies to OP about going way off on a tangent here on lighting. I really think a little LED ringbox will not get you the kind of lighting you desire for your coin display to show off the coin in the best light.
color rendering index (CRI) is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colors of various objects faithfully in comparison with an ideal or natural light source. CRI is important because all things have color, even metals, and reflections of the metal have color, if the CRI is low, like in the case of fluorescent lighting, you don't get a true visual concept of the surface, it's distorted and "off" to the eye, luster is off, color is off, reflection colors are off. similar reason parking lot lights at night wash everything out to a funky color and are a strain to the eye to view thing under, it's not natural. Some better than others of course but you know the really bad ones when you see it, nothing looks right as far as color even though everything is well illuminated still.
I think Abafil Coin Cases are the top of the line way to display coins. Note that I collect ancient coins and do not have mine in slabs. You can find some here: Abafil Coin Cases | Edward J. Waddell, Ltd. or you can find similar ones on line at ebay or amazon. Be careful that you get liners that do not change coins over time.
