LIGHT of Choice when Viewing Coins
ambro51
Posts: 13,949 ✭✭✭✭✭
The human eye and brain are very adaptive given the range of lighting conditions they must work under Indoor, outdoor....warm reddish light from a tungsten bulb to fluorescents and now LED. When we cast an appreciative eye to one of our Numismatic Treasures in hand, whether with a loupe or just good eyes (or those dandy 2.75X cheapo reading glasses), our view is created by the light. ~~~~~~I've finally decided MY personal optimum light is seated beside an open window with bright open daylight, favoring a somewhat over the shoulder position. Viewing is strongly reflective. I've found this lighting excellent especially for very worn copper. ~~~~~~just my thoughts:::yours??
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But I think it's important to view coins under a variety of lighting conditions.
It's also important to buy from sellers who have strong return policies in case you find something you initially missed.
Do I remember correctly that PCGS graders use halogen?
Lance.
If by that you mean the GE Reveal bulbs, then I heartily agree with you. I bought my first GE Reveal bulb a few years ago just to try them. I had heard that they were excellent for viewing, studying, and grading coins so I wanted to see for myself. I was so impressed with them that I use them all over the house, for reading and all purposes. Our Congress, in their infinite wisdom, decided that we should not be allowed to purchase the bulbs we want, so they made them illegal and are forcing us to use the CFL bulbs. In my own little protest, I purchased a significant hoard of GE Reveal bulbs, in a variety of sizes, just before the last incandescent bulb plant in the US closed, so I should be set for a while. The Kelvin temperature of these bulbs gives the most natural color to coins that I have seen than with any other lamp.
<< <i>" I have found the boom light with a 60 watt revel bulb to work best here at the computer for year round"
If by that you mean the GE Reveal bulbs, then I heartily agree with you. I bought my first GE Reveal bulb a few years ago just to try them. I had heard that they were excellent for viewing, studying, and grading coins so I wanted to see for myself. I was so impressed with them that I use them all over the house, for reading and all purposes. Our Congress, in their infinite wisdom, decided that we should not be allowed to purchase the bulbs we want, so they made them illegal and are forcing us to use the CFL bulbs. In my own little protest, I purchased a significant hoard of GE Reveal bulbs, in a variety of sizes, just before the last incandescent bulb plant in the US closed, so I should be set for a while. The Kelvin temperature of these bulbs gives the most natural color to coins that I have seen than with any other lamp. >>
The high wattages are still available in quantity if anybody wants them:
Amazon 48 count 100-watt Reveal, $57.99 Here
Amazon 4 count 75-watt Reveal, 7.89 Here
I don't think they are banned yet, it just seems the companies are phasing them out. 60-watts are not banned, and the only change so far is that the new 100-watt is now 72-watts, but supposedly creates the same light. Specialty bulbs are also exempt from the ban, which this seems like it should qualify as if GE wanted to fight it.
<< <i>I too like sunlight but I have a few different lamps/bulbs as well.
Do I remember correctly that PCGS graders use halogen?
Lance. >>
I believe you are correct concerning professional graders using halogen lamps since they give you a pin-point light source that helps to highlight hairline scratches as you tilt and rotate the coin under the light. I've never had any luck under sun light since it's too bright. You could blind yourself looking at a proof silver coin in the sun.
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
MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
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One is a desk lamp with a 40 watt decorative Reveal bulb.
I also use a desk lamp with a 12w halogen.
For me, the halogen is great for hairlines, but the Reveal is better for cameos.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
<< <i>Bud
Too many and you'll start seeing doubled dies on your coins.
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
What are you guys using as a desk light for grading (assume that daylight isn't an option for me, again, at night after work is really the only time I can do coin stuff).
Successful BST (me as buyer) with: Collectorcoins, PipestonePete, JasonRiffeRareCoins
My preference is halogen, but I also like to look in ambient light as it's a little easier to pick up toning scuzz and other funny stuff on the surfaces.
Anything but the lights on the bourse floor.
My preference is halogen, but I also like to look in ambient light as it's a little easier to pick up toning scuzz and other funny stuff on the surfaces.
Exactly. Any flourescent over-head lighting will find a way to interfere with your grading a coin no matter what you're using at ground level. Sunlight isn't any good either to get a true grade. Using halogen or incandescent in a dark room will get you proper results. I like to have the light above my head. Any other interfering light will degrade your results. I've often been tempted to toss a blanket over my head at coin shows though I'd probably be escorted out if I tried that...lol.
bob
Anything but the lights on the bourse floor.
One smallish club show I went to solved that problem by having no lights on the bourse -- not even the 50-year-old flickering fluorescent tubes in cracked plastic fixtures yellowed with age and cigarette smoke, filled with dead flies. Dealers that didn't have their own lights were in the dark, and some of those preferred it that way.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Second - before buying a light, I tried two lights that were in my house already. There are some Xenon lights under the counters in our kitchen, and there is an adjustable floor lamp in our family room that happens to have an old 40W incandescent in it. Looking at the luster of the coins, the luster seems maximized when the light is dead on the coin. But the reflection of the bulb makes it really hard to see details. Is the recommended grading method with these types of lights to look at the details with more indirect light, and then to test the luster get the light more focused on the center of the coin? My concern is that the bulb reflection is so distracting, that it can make it hard to check the luster. How do you guys do it?
Successful BST (me as buyer) with: Collectorcoins, PipestonePete, JasonRiffeRareCoins
Travers covers this well in his "Coin Collector's Survival Manual," you might want to get a copy. Newly revised, too, I think.