Your Die Variety Photos

[slikrep]

Firstly, let me wish the staff of Copper Coins and all of the collectors out there, a Merry X-mas. The question I had, was at what magnification level are your variety photos taken at? The reason I am asking, is because time and time again I am told that if you have to magnify the coins very much, they are probably not worth the trouble. But I would have passed over a number of your varieties, had I not magnified a good deal. Thank you and Happy Holidays.

[wavysteps2003]

That is an interesting question. The best way to answer it is to look at what is posted on this site as far as varieties go and that will give you a great guide line what is collectible and what is not.

To add a bit more to this explanation, you must remember that more and more people are switching to a binocular scope or some type of scope for looking at variety coins. Most of these scopes have a magnification of anywhere between 7.5 X and 30 X, with some even higher than that. If you are using a loop, a 15 X is great and will detect all the doubled dies and RPMs that are on this site.

I think that most of us search using about 10 X and if something is detected at that power, then we will go higher for better definition. As far as searching for what is wiorth keeping, that is up to the collector and what he or she feels like collecting and they are the ones who will keep what they think is worth while.

WAVYSTEPS2003 aka BJ Neff

[eagames]

I search with 10X and use 17X to see the detail of what I find at 10X.

For photos (I'm no expert) I try to go higher than 10X so less digital zoom is needed to avoid pixels showing and making distortion. Lighting angle is a key thing to getting the area of interest to show regardless of how much mag is used.

[Bob P]

I guess the easiest way to explain it is that the variety itself should be seen relatively easily at about 10X. If you notice, a lot of the pictures on the site that are highly magnified, are those of the markers. As an attributer, I normally have little trouble finding the variety. However, when it comes to identifying markers, and photographing them, this is where I spend the majority of my time and effort while attributing a coin. Some coins just plain don't have them, so it is up to me to find something that would make it possible for you to identify your coin. This is where the higher magnification comes in.
Thank you very much fro the Christmas wishes, and I certainly echo your thoughts. Merry Christmas, and may 2007 be even better than this year for all of you.