I Wanna New Lamp

BNE

No, it's not a Huey Lewis song. I am trying to find a good lamp for looking at my coins that approximates the kind of lighting PCGS graders use when examining submissions -- nothing too flattering, but nothing that makes the coin look like doggie-doo, either. I want to get a sense of how the graders "see" the coin.

Does anyone have info or a link to a not-too-expensive, and preferably fairly portable, lamp that might be appropriate for this purpose? Thanks in advance!

tjkillian

As I understand it, PCGS uses a standard incandescent lamp in a totally dark room, except for the lamp turn on. The part that is important is the totally dark room so there is no other light, except the incandescent light. Those lamps are available anywhere as they are standard lamps with standard light bulbs.

Tom

RLinn

Tom, I think I remember reading in one of the grading threads that a frosted bulb vs. clear was used. Maybe someone out there has a better memeory.