For The Coppercoins Enthusiasts Out There...

I'll have to echo the sentiments of amida and cconrad..sure would be nice to see the WAMS,CAMS,and RDV-006 on there even if you didn't document all the dies.After all, they are pretty popular and would make it more of a one stop shop for most of us.
I don't think the fee would be a problem either but as pointed out, have a portion of the site free to attract the curious.

Scooby beat me to the punch, but I've always been amazed at the wealth of free information on CC.com and the time involved in making it accessible for all. Time is money and you're not a charity!

Many aspects of your site are intriguing.

One of the things that I've been wondering for some time now Chuck-
What's to keep some jerk with a vendetta or whatever his motivation from posting fake population numbers? We see those type on this forum from time to time and I don't know that a nominal membership fee would necessarily curb their motivation.

I realize that the reported examples will just be a glimpse into a coin's scale of rarity and won't be an accurate reflection of any kind until the site gets populated with active members. But the concept of an in depth census on die varieties is riveting! So much so, that it has the potential to INFLUENCE market values, not just report on their numbers. I understand that the site's valuation specific varieties will be based largely on confirmed sale prices and other indisputable factors, but I can foresee a ripple effect eventually- solely from the reported examples in existence.

Finally, how will your site be able to pertain to someone like me? I don't collect varieties, but I buy and sell a respectable volume of them. In what manner will I be able to report the grades and numbers of the coins I handle and pass on? Most of my clients are the type of collectors who wouldn't have a membership (they have their own collecting goals, usually the pursuit of certified registry sets)?

Last question- depending on your answer to the previous. Would it be easy for you to facilitate a "dealer" aspect of membership, something that could organize my inventory, and store [my own] declaration of market value for each specific piece, having no reflection or influence on the coin's value as per the site. And what about an overall virtual showroom for customers to see my coins? I know this would be a lot of additional work, but it's also something that I'd be interested in paying FAR more than $5 for. Just a thought, but a "reseller" membership, for those who buy and sell could truly be a cash cow and perhaps ease much of the financial strain in what you're attempting to put together. This is my thinking- look at eBay- I pay them several hundred dollars a month, on a slow month. If I had the ability to display my coins under a well respected name like CopperCoins- I'd very seriously revisit the business I do on ebay. I'm not suggesting a sale price percentage based fee, but perhaps a flat fee of $25 or $30 a month, even more if the features of membership proved to be an in depth resource.

I like your idea a lot. You can certainly count me in for the initial membership. I'll be eager to see it come to fruition.


Edited because I have 10 thumbs.

ebm - Okay...so I have thought about everything you said and am ready to respond.

Having a two-tier membership is a little more complicated than it might sound, programmatically. What I can do, however, is make all the top-notch die markers visible to everyone, and keep the more minor stuff behind the wall.

The ease of deriving information from the site would be simpler from behind the wall - for paid members. For instance, I plan to effect a complete price guide of Lincoln Cent die varities that is printable...for paid members. For the visitors, each value will be locatable, but not all in one place.

The MC thing would be an added benefit of membership, not the reason for membership. It would be an easy way for someone to inventory everything they have and keep track of it. The values for the coins they have, if accurately input, would change with the overall values in the market. As the price guide is updated, so are the values of what they hold. If they input their cost per coin as entered, they could easily watch the value of their collection rise and fall with the market (I predict mostly rising values).

Like I've said before, and it bears stating again...

The website as you currently use it will for the most part remain just as useable as it is now. The ONLY thing you will miss by not paying for membership is the ability to dig through the marker photos to identify the more minor varieties.

As for a CD version of the site...it's a good idea, but I still have to figure out how to protect copyright on digital media. It still escapes me how to keep someone from buying one of them and making 100 copies for their friends. I am pretty sure such protection can be implemented, but I don't know technically how to do it. If it ever comes down to creating the site on portable media, I will have to make it non-copyable (encrypted) before I'll go through with making them.

I will also be working with my son eventually to create an Ipod app for die variety identification. That's still quite a ways off, but I am thinking forward.

Chuck,

That makes perfect sense. Thanks for taking the time.

The thing I have going for me with print media is that it is not only rather expensive to copy a book page for page, but the quality suffers because the originals are all printed at 300DPI from digital images. Copy machines cannot recreate that kind of quality easily, and the ones that can are expensive to use. Basically buying the book is cheaper, easier.

With digital media, an original copy of a disc, a $20 CD machine, and a 25c disc and you have an EXACT duplicate of the original. I'd have a lot more trust in selling a printed book version than a CD version.

I guess the music industry goes through the same thing, except they have no choice but to put their work out on CDs.

Having had some experience in this field I think digital media (cd or dvd) is the way to go for the reasons coppercoins mentions. I have seen this done successfully in other venues. ....
Books go out of date the day they are sent to press, and the great thing about digital media is, the possiblities of UPDATES,,,, for example if I own the CD, coppercoins could make updates available (on a password protected website, for example) which I as a CD owner could download (for a fee or ... say, one free year of updates for purchase of the CD)... these could download to my computer, and probably be formated to interact seamlessly with the CD I own.
If interested coppercoins... I will forward a link to the other photo rich example I refer to above.

I was curious of the same thing Bill- here's what made sense to me.

The people in the "know" who are comfortable with the market values and even have the ability to influence them, won't be relying on random reported or alleged coins. They ascertain their own perspective on the variety based upon their experience.

I've of course been wrong. But the fact that you don't want to ruin the market for a coin and are holding onto a quantity so that their collectibility and desire are preserved....well, that doesn't influence my perspective. I'd trust that you wouldn't hurt the hobby.

It's really the guy who wants to brag about his lucky find in an OBW who we'd hear talking about copious quantities. I'd trust that someone who is clearly bragging would be taken for what their opinion is worth.