Recommendations, please. 0

[DonaldM]

Recommendation for a good scale, and also anyone use a digital microscope? 

Seen digital microscopes on Amazon that piqued my interest but don't want cheap junk. What is a good brand? 

Thank you. 🙂

[VKurtB]

I hate digital microscopes for coins. They add more digital artifacts than they reveal. 

[DonaldM]

Thanks VKurtB. What do you mean by "digital artifacts"? I been using my 16x loupe but eyes are going (30 years as a pipewelder). You think I would be better off using zoom on my phone versus a digital microscope? 

[VKurtB]

59 minutes ago, DonaldM said:

Thanks VKurtB. What do you mean by "digital artifacts"? I been using my 16x loupe but eyes are going (30 years as a pipewelder). You think I would be better off using zoom on my phone versus a digital microscope? 

I use a stereo optical microscope for those cases, VERY RARE, when I need over 7x magnification. Most digital scopes have an optical and a digital magnification. Digital is useless to you. It provides interpolation, also known as “filling in the actual information with guesses” when you go higher than the optical magnification. Also, jpeg files themselves also include “guesses” for what goes in between actual pixels. Both are the natural enemy of useful coin information. 
 

My optical scope has a third viewing tube, where I can insert my Sony a6000 camera. I never use either a phone camera nor a digital microscope for coin use.

[DonaldM]

VKurtB, Thanks. Good information. I didn't think about interpolation. Appreciate you bringing that to my attention. Do you belong to ANA, or taken any of their webinars? My friend at my local coin shop recommended them to me. 

[VKurtB]

1 hour ago, DonaldM said:

VKurtB, Thanks. Good information. I didn't think about interpolation. Appreciate you bringing that to my attention. Do you belong to ANA, or taken any of their webinars? My friend at my local coin shop recommended them to me. 

I am both an ANA member, and one of their National Volunteers, who work for the ANA at all of their conventions, both the early Spring and the Summer ones, when we’re not hunkering down. I have looked at, but not gone through all of, their webinars. I did take a live one prior to a past March convention at Orlando. And I have taken several of their “correspondence courses” in the past. I am also a competitive exhibitor, and a certified exhibit judge. Never both in the same classes and years.

I highly recommend each and every ANA sponsored educational experience, whether online or live. You will get mainstream information at the current state of the hobby, not the paleo-beliefs so often on display here. 

[DonaldM]

Awesome! I have been looking into it and will join up. I seen on the website they have a live class on grading coming up next month in Orlando that I'd like to attend. Thanks again! 👍

[VKurtB]

53 minutes ago, DonaldM said:

Awesome! I have been looking into it and will join up. I seen on the website they have a live class on grading coming up next month in Orlando that I'd like to attend. Thanks again! 👍

That class will either blow, or expand, your mind. It will give you the opportunity to see more coins, with more possible issues, than in any week any other way, and a lifetime, for some.

[DonaldM]

VKurtB, sounds like it will be right up my alley! I love coins. I have been collecting a long time. Started off just buying loose coins that interested me by the date. I am a history buff so I tie the date with a historical event , like Cival War, etc. I like to imagine where the coin has been like did my 1858 Seated Liberty quarter once been in the pocket of a soldier at Gettysburg? Or maybe it was in the poker stakes pile when Wild Bill was shot in Deadwood? It's fun to me. Last few years I focus on graded and slabbed coins and building full sets. Also started acquiring paper currency. I know the history of minting, the engavers, dates minted, etc. But still lack in identifying fakes visually and visual inspection for doctored coins. I look through my loose coins and want to be able to better assess them before I submit them.