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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 20458984, member: 105571&quot;]Your list is well thought out.&nbsp; But it&#039;s perhaps too inclusive.&nbsp; I prepare for a show by taking the following:</p><p><br /></p><p>Messenger bag.&nbsp; In my case it&#039;s a laptop bag minus the laptop.&nbsp; Holds everything I need comfortably.&nbsp; Better for security than a backpack (hate &#039;em anyway).</p><p>Cash is king but every dealer I know that I&#039;ve done business with before will take my check.&nbsp; I always ask first if I want to pay by check.&nbsp; Anecdote:&nbsp; At the last FUN Show I was negotiating a price on a high-end half dime with a dealer new to me and when we&#039;d agreed, I mentioned I was paying cash.&nbsp; The dealer asked if that was the only means I had of paying (of course not) but he wound up taking my cash.&nbsp; Never had that happen before.</p><p>Two or three checks or more depending on the show.</p><p>Certain and sure knowledge of how much money you have in your checking account and/or the ability to transfer between accounts on-line.&nbsp; You don&#039;t want to pass up a buy because of uncertainty and you surely don&#039;t want to pass a bad check - that gets around the dealer network FAST!</p><p>Wallet has credit and debit and ATM cards so don&#039;t even have to think about those.</p><p>Greysheet, CDN CAC Price Guide, CDN Retail Price Guide.</p><p>Whatever book/attribution guide is appropriate for what I&#039;m collecting and/or looking for.&nbsp; Seldom more than one.&nbsp; But I do always carry two very small spiral attribution guides for half cents and capped bust dimes.&nbsp; If I could find small ones for other series, I&#039;d carry them also.</p><p>I carry several loupes ranging from 3X to 10X.&nbsp; </p><p>Notepad and pen. </p><p>Cellphone.&nbsp; Never needed to recharge my phone at a show but I am perhaps not as reliant on the phone as some.</p><p>My Excel collection lists.&nbsp; These are categorized by series and each series list every coin in the series.&nbsp; If it&#039;s a hole to fill, that line is color-coded yellow.&nbsp; It it&#039;s a candidate for upgrade, that line is colored blue.&nbsp; If I have a duplicate, the less-desireable coin of the pair is colored green.&nbsp; (You&#039;ll think that&#039;s odd, maybe but I sometimes collect by die state and for that you need multiples of the same die marriage.&nbsp; Color-coding, however it&#039;s done and with whatever logic should support your quick and sure reference to what you need and why.</p><p>I have not had any problems with dealers objecting to me attributing coins at their table so long as I&#039;m not interfering with other customers.&nbsp; Some will even ask me what the attribution is and make a note of it and the rarity.</p><p>I have not had a dealer openly object to me openly referencing a price guide but some have applied the side-eye and some have said Greysheet doesn&#039;t mean anything.&nbsp; Whatever, that&#039;s just their own take on setting things up to their own advantage.&nbsp; You should feel free to use whatever you want.&nbsp; If they don&#039;t like it, tough.&nbsp; That said, these price guides only have limited utility.&nbsp; I really only use them when I am not at all familiar with the coin values for what I&#039;m considering.&nbsp; And when I&#039;m that ignorant, I usually make a note of coin and dealer (pen and notepad) and go away to do some research (Guides and Internet) and then come back if I still have an interest.</p><p><br /></p><p>Smaller shows don&#039;t normally have a food venue but there are exceptions.&nbsp; Big shows usually do but it&#039;s expensive and usually mediocre.&nbsp; Shows with free admission you can come and go as you please but parking fees may be another matter.&nbsp; Shows with admission fees you should ask about readmission.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Selling coins?&nbsp; Never done it but in the last year I often have to fend off dealers who want me to sell them something.&nbsp; In the current environment I can&#039;t imagine a dealer being put off by you offering to sell.&nbsp; That doesn&#039;t mean you&#039;ll make a deal but you shouldn&#039;t be shy.&nbsp; Just ask if they&#039;re interested in looking at material you have for offer.&nbsp; See it all the time at shows:&nbsp; Guy walks up with a blue PCGS box and ask if the dealer&#039;s interested.&nbsp; Answer:&nbsp; Yes, No or maybe - show me what you&#039;ve got.</p><p><br /></p><p>Make a point of getting acquainted with the dealers.&nbsp; You don&#039;t need to become best buds but it&#039;s helpful to leave a good impression and you&#039;d be amazed how many dealers will remember you in the future for both good and ill.&nbsp; Leave a good impression and it can pay dividends in the future.&nbsp; It has for me.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Along the same line, always say hi to dealers you know even if it&#039;s only in passing by and you&#039;re not buying what they&#039;re selling but be polite-don&#039;t interrupt a sale to shoot the breeze.&nbsp; These dealers are a resource for you at shows.&nbsp; You can ask them if they&#039;ve seen such-and-such a coin and chances are they will point you to another dealer in the show that has that or something similar. </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, maybe remember that your entire coin collecting satisfaction is not riding on beating the dealer out of every possible penny of his profit.&nbsp; Deal firm and fair but if you want to do business with him again, it may be to your benefit to leave a bit on the table.&nbsp; I&#039;ve had dealers (rarely) voluntarily give me more off than I&#039;d asked for the same purpose but from the opposite angle.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sorry for the length of the response, got carried away.&nbsp; Shows are great, the people are great and while exhausting are a lot of fun.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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