Any Loupe Experts

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taxboy

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I'm looking to buy a jewellers type loupe for higher management to use for looking at hallmarks when she goes antique hunting.

I've seen some on eBay at well under a fiver but wondered if these have the optical quality approaching the bottom of a beer bottle.

Any advice appreciated together with what sort of magnification I should be looking for.
 
I have no idea about loupes, sorry, but the term "higher management" made me chuckle, so thanks for that. :D
 
my missus has zeiss ones for her dentistry but they ere £1200.
doesn't help much
 
Maplin suggest a 10x double element loupe for jewellery.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/double-lens-jewellers-loupe-r58tj

I've used lower power loupes (of a different design) from them before and they were well made and did the job well - For snow pack crystal analysis.
Ten quid doesn't get you Zeiss, but you don't really need that quality for looking at jewellery.

They have a reasonable range, but if visiting a store to check the items out, rather than buying online, it's best to check your local store has stock of the ones you are interested in before you go.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/c/diy/hand-tools/magnifiers

Expect no sensible advice from the staff, unlike in the past. You'll be lucky if you get a member of staff that knows what a loupe is ;)
 
Thanks for the advice, as you suggested Maplins have no stock locally. At least I now know that I'm looking for 10x magnification
 
tbh the e/bay ones are usually good enough ,look for the double ended ones so you have medium and high mag .beware of the new type with l.e.d lights as there usually crap .just had a look to see if i still had one you could have had but i must have given it away .
i used them for hallmark i.d on antiquities which i used to deal in ,and to be fair you do not need that high a magnification to read them
in reality you should be looking for something with a brass frame ,two mag levels and glass optics ,stay right away from plastic bodies ,plastic lenses etc
 
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