Bringing a loupe to the card show...

digicat

Would it be "rude" of me to bring a loupe with me to a card show to closely inspect cards I might be interested in?

XanaduNow

I would think not. All you're doing is getting a very close look at a possible purchase. I don't see anything wrong with that.

And if a dealer DOES make a big stink about it, the loupe is unneccessary. Walk away from the table fast.

Arthur

VintageJeff

You will most definitely get a few rude comments and depending on the dealer a lecture on why you and grading is what is wrong with the hobby.

lawnmowerman

Not rude at all. Its your money and if they dont like it tell him how you feel and go spend your money elsewhere

storm888

Being from the stamp and coin side, I never leave home
without a 16X in my pocket.

Thus far, nobody has complained about me looking at
their stuff.

BUT, if you are trying to get something away from a
novice, you should keep the loupe in your pocket.

DeutscherGeist

yes some dealers would get annoyed, but it is your right to use a loupe. I would not let anyone intimidate me on that notion. I have been there and even made fun of at the dealer table just because I was looking at the card closely (I did not need a loupe). Screw them, do what you need to do to before a purchase and if the dealer has a problem excuse yourself and say there is always someone else that will take your money.

Some dealers have loupes themselves and will let a customer use it too.
I have met more bad dealers than good, but its those few good ones that make the hobby fun.

goose3

are you guys serious that a dealer or dealers would disapprove of someone using a loupe?

wow! that is the NORM at a coin show. Everyone has a loupe and hell, the dealers will even at times offer theirs to look at their stuff if you've forgotten yours!

I'd like to attend a card show sometime if one ever comes to Ohio near me.

Griffins

Goose, there will be a big card show in Cleveland next August. Take pops, he'll get a kick out of it.

I did hear about one guy with a loupe at a dealers table recently. He pulled out a stack of cards after a few hours of searching carefully and the dealer told him they weren't for sale, but thanks for telling him which ones to submit.

bri2327

For real. If a dealer has anything to say about wanting to use a loupe, move right on. They dont deserve the business for getting their panties in a bunch over it.

goose3

hahahah!!!

I'll try and make that. I've never been to a card show.......I frequently go to the big coin shows so I suspect it'd be entertaining too.



I'll let you guys in on a secret.....not once did I use a loupe when I submitted all that stuff this year.

envoy98

<< <i>Goose, there will be a big card show in Cleveland next August. Take pops, he'll get a kick out of it.

I did hear about one guy with a loupe at a dealers table recently. He pulled out a stack of cards after a few hours of searching carefully and the dealer told him they weren't for sale, but thanks for telling him which ones to submit. >>



LOL. that is pretty funny.

schr1st

I'd ask first, but agree that any dealer putting up a stink is probably not worth buying from.

Stone193

If a dealer has a problem with a loupe - just bring one of these with ya!!!



Nothing like a scanning electron microscope to see all those pesky imperfections.

Not only did I not carry a loupe back around 1989, but I didn't realize my eyesight was getting weak - and I have a lot of crappy cards because of it!

Bring a loupe, a magnifying glass, a microscope, a night vision bat, an American Bald Eagle and 5 friends with ya...

If ya piss off a dealer - get a T-shirt made - that says:

I've pissed off more dealers here, than you'll every know!

NewJerseyMeatHook

Hubble telescope?

Offensive?

Boopotts

I used to religously bring a loupe to the shows I attended, and while I still do it I've discovered that I rarely need it. If I'm poking around for vintage stuff then I'm probably going to buy it if it will grade an 8, and that's usually something you can determine with the naked eye. The times when a loupe does come in handy is when I'm screwing around in the $.25 boxes looking for HOFers from 1992 and up that I can grade, since I don't want any wear whatsoever on those.

FWIW I've never had a problem with a dealer, although I tend to be polite almost to a fault.

fiveniner

I have never used a loop at a card show however after purchasing many cards I wish I had on several occaisions.I do not attend any shows these days unless its a National or a large established regional show like Philly or Rosemont type.

GlynRParson

If you are embarrased to use the loupe just tell them you have poor eye sight and need it to see the corners .

fdnyladder7

If using Glyn's advice above... It would be helpful to bring a golden retriever wearing an orange sweater.

Carew29

When i was at the National a couple of years ago, i had one guy using a large magnifier on my PSA 8's and 9's that i was selling. C'mon, the dam thing is already graded!! So you bet your bottom dollar i'm using my loupe!!

SoonerCowboy

But of course the dealer doesn't mind charging high book or near high book price for a NM to NmMnt card.

WinPitcher

When at the FW show I remember seeing a few signs at dealer tables saying that if a loupe was used cards would be sold at 20% more or some nonsense. The sign also made a reference if one was buying the cards for grading too.

Now IMO I see nothing wrong with it, however many dealers will feel like you are cherrypicking the best stuff they have and will act accordingly. That is charge you for them.


Steve

XanaduNow

<< <i>Now IMO I see nothing wrong with it, however many dealers will feel like you are cherrypicking the best stuff they have and will act accordingly. That is charge you for them.


Steve >>



LOL. Isn't that what everyone who goes to those shows and shops/buys from dealer's tables does? Are there people out there who actually search out the worst condition cards or look for the worst "buys?" I love people, they never cease to amaze me.

Arthur

alnavman

I don't see any problem with someone using a loupe but one thing I noticed is that sometimes a stack of 500 cards is sitting in front of someone and if you even look sideways at the stack they want to gungfu you out of the show.....look at one card, if there are others in the stack then share them, especially if you are standing in front of the dealers table......if you want to look at the entire stack before letting one of your fellow collectors take a look then see if the dealer will let you sit BEHIND the table or off to the side with the stack of cards so that they are not out for everyone to look at........just one of my pet peeves......

al.

DeutscherGeist

Its not the loupe that is the problem for those bad dealers, they get on my case for looking at the cards carefully--my eyes are good at seeing tiny imperfections without having to need a loupe yet. They get in a really bad mood after I look through a lot of cards and only purchase one. Hey, its not my fault, MINT is MINT and nothing less. However, its the same dealers that will nit pick whatever you try to sell them. LOL. Its all a game.

DeutscherGeist

what does FWIW mean?

earlycalguy

<< <i>what does FWIW mean? >>



for what it's worth

WinPitcher

LOL. Isn't that what everyone who goes to those shows and shops/buys from dealer's tables does?

Actually Art your reply amazes me as well. First off I was simply reporting what i saw at the FW show. Secondly, and more importantly I think you missed my point. To answer your question I could say NO, not everyone 'cherrypicks' from dealer's tables. They of course want the best specimen, (that they can afford) however what i was trying to convey was that some dealers do not appreciate when people cherrypick their best items and will charge them more for those items especially when they see the buyer using a loupe.

I could go on and give some extreme examples of when a person does not look for the best but simply looks for one that would fit their budget but I'm sure that you already know that.

The bottom line is simply that some dealers will charge more if they think that you are cherrypicking their stuff for grading/resale. I prolly should have made that my main point earlier.


Steve

earlycalguy

[
The bottom line is simply that some dealers will charge more if they think that you are cherrypicking their stuff for grading/resale. I prolly should have made that my main point earlier.


Steve >>



I haven't been to a card show since 82' when Brooks Robby sat there for hours and signed for free but don't cards have prices on them already? seems like they'd be marked. so if you use a loupe they are one price and your naked eye gets a discount?

WinPitcher

Cal

I am only reporting what i saw at a FW show. Some dealers had a sign above them that stated that they would charge more if you used a loupe. The sign also mentioned for grading. Also, not every card has a price on it, especially those in common boxes, it is in that way a dealer could charge more then he originally intended.


Steve


edit. to answer your question, NO from the sign and the way i read it I would think that you would pay more for the already marked card if you used a loupe and the marked price if you used your naked eye. Remm, this is not what i am advocating i am simply telling what I saw.

XanaduNow

<< <i>LOL. Isn't that what everyone who goes to those shows and shops/buys from dealer's tables does?

To answer your question I could say NO, not everyone 'cherrypicks' from dealer's tables. They of course want the best specimen, (that they can afford) >>



Exactly. No one goes to a show/shop/ebay and finds two copies of a card they're looking for for the same price and then decides to spend their money on the one that's got a large surface wrinkle in it as opposed to the better-conditioned one. I've never heard or seen of someone choosing a worse-conditioned card over a better one with all things being equal. The level of examination shouldn't affect the price of the card. If someone has a card in a case behind the booth do they charge you more for asking to look at it in-hand? Seems rediculous.



<< <i>however what i was trying to convey was that some dealers do not appreciate when people cherrypick their best items and will charge them more for those items especially when they see the buyer using a loupe. >>



What is the rationale behind this?



<< <i>I could go on and give some extreme examples of when a person does not look for the best but simply looks for one that would fit their budget but I'm sure that you already know that. >>



Steve, I wasn't making a comment about the amount of money someone pays for an item but the condition that they seek that item in. Obviously, budget and the amount of disposable income play a role in every collector's purchases but with all things being equal no one will opt for the banged up card over the mint one of the price is the same.



<< <i>The bottom line is simply that some dealers will charge more if they think that you are cherrypicking their stuff for grading/resale. I prolly should have made that my main point earlier.

Steve >>



So they opt to not submit or grade cards that they own but have the audacity to harrass those that wish to? Makes no sense to me and I certainly wouldn't give anyone like this my money.

Arthur

stevek

OF COURSE you bring your loupe with you to the card show! What are you going to do, not use it and then get home and look at a card you bought through the loupe and find the flaws that makes it worth less than what you paid for it, or perhaps you wouldn't have wanted the card at all? F* the weasel dealer who gives you the "look" for using the loupe and move on to another dealer.

WinPitcher

So they opt to not submit or grade cards that they own but have the audacity to harrass those that wish to?


hmmm.....Arthur, all I tried to do here was make a simple statement regarding what I SAW at the Fort Washington show. Not once did I say that I agreed with it. Actually i have stated that I was against it. Why do you continue to ask me questions as to why other people do the things they do?

in closing I'll answer the above question with:

While I think that 'harrass' is a bit more then I think THEY are doing I can see their point. THEY must feel (IMO) that if you want to cherry pick their raw cards you are going to pay a premium. Thus the sign above the table stating such.

Again, I think you have missed my main point.


Steve

dizzyfoxx

<Bringing a loupe to the card show...>

It's the best way to confirm that a card is trimmed. Especially when looking at high grade tobacco and candy cards.

StampAlarm

<< <i>are you guys serious that a dealer or dealers would disapprove of someone using a loupe?

wow! that is the NORM at a coin show. Everyone has a loupe and hell, the dealers will even at times offer theirs to look at their stuff if you've forgotten yours!

I'd like to attend a card show sometime if one ever comes to Ohio near me. >>




That's what I was thinking goose. You'd look like a newby moron for showing up at a coin show without one. I even saw one guy goofing around louping potato chips!



Jerry

DeutscherGeist

I know what to look for in a card to determine condition and I don't need a loupe to do it. But what is one looking for on a coin? Scratches and other etches?

I have heard of people change dates on a Morgan dollar using metal shop tools into one of the dates that reel in more money. I am sure I can spot something like that even without a loupe. Is a loupe more essential in coin collecting because the pieces collectors deal with are smaller?
I admit, a loupe makes things easier, though.

VintageJeff

if you spend any time at all looking at some of your cards with a loupe you will soon realize how bad your sight is. I thought I was pretty good at spotting defects but get them under a 10x and it really shows.

JusttheFacts

Wow....Actually posting a sign stating that you will charge more if a loupe is used or if the buyer intends to get the cards graded. I've seen a dealer give a nasty glance on a couple of occasions, but I've never seen a dealer state such a thing up front. So let me get this straight, the dealer didn't want to go through his own raw cards to separate the wheat from the chaff, but if you put in the work, he wants to charge extra. Further, if the dealer thinks the card is going to be more profitable graded, he wants to charge the graded price without taking the risk of submitting the card himself. He wants to charge the price for a NM-MT card but doesn't want to let you loupe it to find out if it is, in fact, NM-MT.

This is why there is such a discrepancy between raw "NM-MT" prices and graded NM-MT prices. The discount accounts for the fact that most of the raw "NM-MT" is NOT NM-MT. If it was, then the prices would converge. By the way, how would a dealer know you were submitting the cards for grading unless you told him?

I use a loupe on cards priced $10 or more, but I try to limit the onset of blindness by not louping anything less. I guess I'm lucky that there are a few dealers who regularly attend the Chicago shows that carry raw NM-MT cards that are acutally NM-MT from the 60's and early 70's in football and hockey. These dealers don't mind if I use a loupe, and discount off the raw prices.

John

rbdjr1

10x? 16x?

I've been using a 10x. Should I be using a 16x for cards?

rd

edit: I've had this 10x forever!

cardbender

There's nothing wrong with using a loupe at a show. The lighting at most of these venue's is poor at best. Factor in the old cracked, scratched card savers you're looking thru to determine the grades or the dirty plastic sheets that house many of the commons. If you're not occasionaly using a 10x loupe, you're probably making some errors in your purchases.

Any dealer that would charge more after the loupe usage, I would walk away from their table and tell them I will never buy from them again. Of course I would pass this info along to any collecting friends who might be in attendance as well.

I've been setting up at shows for the past 16 years, if someone pulls out a loupe, I welcome it. Since I'm not trying to hose any buyers with hidden creases, or dinged corners, they're welcome to use any visual aids possible to help them decide on their purchases.

The dealers that would frown upon this, are the ones to avoid.

Griffins- if a dealer would not sell me cards I've just spent hours laboring looking thru to pull out the best to buy, I would punch them right in their pie hole.

Regards,

Rich

lostdart58

Did someone mention Pie??

XanaduNow

<< <i>if a dealer would not sell me cards I've just spent hours laboring looking thru to pull out the best to buy, I would punch them right in their pie hole.

Regards,

Rich >>







Arthur

ChrisC

Before searching the commons, ask how much each then break out your loupe and go to work!

stevek

Possibly something tells me that maybe these dealers put up a sign such as that to actually try to attract people to their booth...cleverly hoping the public will believe that the dealer may have some hidden gems at their booth waiting to be found. I would simply avoid dealers posting signs such as this.