has the primary source for building a collection changed?

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Originally posted by longnine009

Before the Internet I used to go to the local coin show every month. I got to tell you it got real old looking at the same stuff month after month. The only time stuff moved out was when it went from one dealer to another.

I think brick and morter coin dealers who sell to the average joe are in big trouble. Technology has never been an "everyone wins" situation. When Catman had his ice box replaced with a refrigerator the ice man lost a customer and Thomas Edison gained a customer. Or maybe it was Telsa that hooked Catman first. [:0] It's always been a lie that everyone wins with technology. Some win, some lose and some don't care. Right now the internet just offers too many choices that no brick and morter dealer can compete with. And this may end up be a problem for internet dealers as well. Too many choices also means that everyone is free to pursue the most bizarre topical collections they can think of. Internet dealers may be banging their heads someday trying to anticipate what coin collectors will think up next. Isn't that one of the things dealers do? Try to anticipate what collectors will want and sell it to them. The Wild, wild west just made a U-turn.
I think future internet dealers are going to have to be like the fashion industry and try and invent topicals themes before collectors do.

The brick and morter dealers who sell trophey coins might not be affected as much by the internet. They may not be affected at all. But then trophey coins are a narrowed area. It's easy to figure out where the jillionaires will go. They'll go to wherever the next trophey coin is.

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Originally posted by Metalman
I would say that the brick and mortar dealers as well as the coin show dealers will have to change their approach if they want to survive,

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