What is your favorite 20X loupe ( used to confirm a variety)
krueger
Posts: 867 ✭✭✭
Bausch &lomb, eschenbach, belomo, etc.
I See more folks using such power to confirm a variety. Sometimes 10x the old standard is not enough to Settle a disagreement.
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A 10x works just fine here for what i need it for. If I had to do a 20x it be a bausch and lomb
Any variety that needs more than 10X to see is not significant enough to interest most collectors.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I don't use a loupe for that.
I use:
This is best if I am documenting it to share with others.
or
This is best for investigating and enjoyment.
[edit to add:]
But I was thinking of the context of confirming the variety with friends.
Probably your context is to confirm an attribution when buying?
Eschenbach 3/6/9 all the way.
Having fun while switching things up and focusing on a next level PCGS slabbed 1950+ type set, while still looking for great examples for the 7070.
10x is mostly fine, but I will use a 20x for certain varieties in the IHC series.
“The thrill of the hunt never gets old”
PCGS Registry: Screaming Eagles
Copperindian
Retired sets: Soaring Eagles
Copperindian
I've been a fanboy of my Eschenbach 3/6/9 since I got into this hobby. It was recommended to me by one of the forum founding fathers over 20 years ago now. I'm using the exact same one I bought back in 2001 to this day and have never wanted for another. I collect CBH10¢'s by die marriage and re-marriage and have never found it to be lacking for attribution. It's one of the few things in numismatics I can recommend wholeheartedly without ever thinking twice about it.
I have the same loupe and I also have a Zeiss 3/6/9 which is similar. Both are fairly expensive but you can sometimes find them lightly used on eBay at a discount.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
If you actually need to use 20x then a Bausch & Lomb Hastings Triplet works well.
I have a Bausch & Lomb Hasting 20x Triplet, but I seldom use it. My choice is either a Bausch & Lomb 3x for general inspection and B & L 10x for closer work. The 20x is really for added mintmarks and counterfeit detection.
I have Belomo 10x and 20x, and Eschenbach 10x and 4x. The Belomo's have excellent optical quality, but I seldom use the 20x and it is difficult with slabs because the focal length puts it nearly on the slab. The best all-around is the Eschenbach 10x with a relatively wide field of view.
I use a 30mm mainly because it was free with my membership.
I do need to watch the screws because they loosen up from time to time.
It works very well.
I'm sure a 20mm would be just fine.
My wife has a nice Carron 20.3 mm around here somewhere she uses for her jewelry collection.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
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Thanks for your perspectives!
B&L 5X is my go to loupe, no need for any more magnification.
I have a Bausch & Lomb triplet but never seem to use the highest magnification. James
I collect magnifying devices. I use B&L 3X4X7 (discontinued) most of the time and a set (7X,10X,14X, 20X) of B&L triplets I've owned for decades (when they were low priced) the rest of the time. I rarely use the 14X or 20X but they are nice to have when away form home. Based on what I'm reading here, it looks like I will need to find an Eisenbach 4X,5X,9X to replace the small B&L I have with those powers.
What I have learned over the years by reading and by watching professionals is that the lighting and experience of the user are more important that the type or power of the hand lens.
OP,
Please make sure to let us know what the disagreement was.
The Eschenbach achromat loupe is a beautiful instrument for varieties. Spend the money once, and you'll be happy you did.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Bausch & Lomb
All B&L triplets are very good loupes. I collect loupes too. The B&L 3x 4x 7x is a nice loupe because of the lens size.
I see professionals using this loupe. Years ago as a teenager my first loupe was a Japanese 4x4x8x still have it a very comparable lens in lens size also.
The arguments are amongst variety collectors /hunters, and the PCGS Expert reviewing our finds or returned submittals. He is using an Eschenbach 20x coddington lens effective dia. 12mm. Sometime the variety comes weakly struck, though it is rejected because it is not strong enough. I have yet to have one accepted that is that way. Unless I get it with multiple submittals. Years can be spent in the hunt only to get rejected. Large photos can show one thing but under the loupe another. Seems blown up photos can deceive very very easily. Beware buying varieties via a photo!!
Microscopes at home or macro lens setups are great at home but don't help buying on the Bourse floor.
I recently bought a special jewelers made 20x from Fortrove.com . 14 mm lens nice very adequate lens . This will work fo me. Less costly than a B&L or Eschenbach.
The B& L 20x triplet lens/ 7-8mm has a very small lens and is hard to use on the bourse. Need lots of light.
THE ANCO 16x is OK but lots of distortion around the edges of the 23mm lens. Hard to focus. I like clarity!
Before I got my B&L StereoZoom, I used the range of B&L Triplets and Coddingtons similar to the above.
I remember when I purchased my B&L 20x Hastings Triplet, the seller sent a note prior to shipment warning me about its size so I would not be shocked/disappointed. It is really tiny, and you have to get really close to the coin to use it.
These days I use the StereoZoom for variety searching at 10x, which just fills the eyepiece view with a Cent, and if I find something interesting I put it aside for photographing.
http://macrocoins.com
Bausch & Lomb 10X Coddington works well for me.