Does anyone bring a portable light to conventions to help grade?

[fantastic_four]

I am just repeating this again because the comments about someone not knowing how to grade really pissedmeoff. Shows total ignorance of the process. (apologies but am tired and hungry and worst of all - sober)

 

I wouldn't get pissed off...I interpreted it not so much as "you don't know how to grade" but as "grading isn't THAT important." That's why I asked them how much they had spent on raw comics at a convention...it wasn't to make them feel like a "small-time" buyer but more to make them think about what steps you have to go through to make sure you don't lose money on higher-dollar deals. I had no idea whether they had plunked down a wad of cash on comics or not when I asked the question, but based upon them saying that efforts to protect that cash were going overboard, I assumed they hadn't.

 

Conventions are still a major platform for buying vintage comics and probably will continue to be so for at least the next few decades. The vast majority of choice raw books sure don't come off of E-Bay!

[PovertyRow]

Well, FF, I was responding to the comment "or you can't grade a wink" which I considered and still consider ridiculous (I know they are not saying that *I* cannot grade). What is ridiculous is the idea that someone would prefer more than dim light to assess a book implies they may not be able to grade a wink!

[MrNice-migration]

Here's something else that can be brought to the shows for "field inspection". With this baby, you can check every book in the room at at the same time for color touch!!

 

 

web page

[shadroch]

While not a bad idea,in general, I think if you are that concerned about a sellers ability to grade, then you shouldn't be at the table.I don' mind dickering with buyers about prices but grades are an out of bounds subject. If I conceed a book is overgraded, it just opens a can of worms with everyone in hearing range.Is it possible that the dealer had factored in the two creases into the price of the Spidey 16 and you just thought it was such a good deal that you paid for the book quicker than you should have.

 

[fantastic_four]

Is it possible that the dealer had factored in the two creases into the price of the Spidey 16 and you just thought it was such a good deal that you paid for the book quicker than you should have.

 

It was priced above Overstreet NM and the dealer made no claims about grading other than to say "if you don't buy it, I'm going to send it to CGC soon." That made me wary...if he really intended to send it to CGC, he would've done it already and not pulled it out at the convention. But upon close inspection under dim light, I saw no defects inconsistent with the 9.0 range, so I went for it once he knocked the price down to right at Overstreet NM. I paid quicker than I should have not because I was paying less than I should have for a ~9.0, but because I don't see that book offered often enough to pass it up if it's in high grade.

 

I suspect he did know about the creases and that's the reason he didn't send it in, because I later realized that this dealer does submit his worthy material for slabbing. I overheard him at another convention making a comment similar to the one Steve Fishler made here in the forums a while back, saying that he doesn't like sending VF comics in for grading because some buyers will pass when the label says VF, but if there is no label to bias them, they'll look at it as a really nice book and give more consideration to buying it. That point of view may not be a perfect fit for his selling me the Spidey because I don't know that he knew about the creases, but the cynical side of me--and the opinions I've heard about this guy from other collectors--suggests to me that he probably did know. But he might not have.

 

Just another day in the used car business!

[PovertyRow]

While not a bad idea,in general, I think if you are that concerned about a sellers ability to grade, then you shouldn't be at the table.

 

That isn;t the total pricture, though. Some folks can accept certain garde-allowed defects (just as a name written on the cover) while some folks abhor the same thing. It is not enough to just trust the grading. A good view of the book should be allowed to be sure it is lacking in those defects one really is not fond of but allwable in the grade. AND - eye appeal! No way to really jusdge great eye appeal without some decent lighting. Again, something that transcends simple accuracy of the grade.