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Message:: [QUOTE="Valentinian, post: 2293334, member: 44316"]Australia = Montana when it comes to local dealers. There are very few ancient coins for sale within hundreds of miles. In the 1980's I relied on paper catalogs and occasional long trips to the summer ANA show. We took regular trips back East to see relatives. Stopping at US coin shops in the major cities on the way almost never turned out to be worthwhile. Only ancient-coin dealers have much in the way of ancient coins, so going out of the way three hours each way visit a dealer like Kern (who had hoards, and this was pre-slabs) with many ancients was worthwhile. If I got a paper catalog and immediately picked up the phone to order it was often already gone. The Pony Express did not get the catalog to Montana soon enough. Auctions from lesser firms using mail bids were a good source. The internet changed everything. Doug and I put up our educational sites in lte 1996 or 1997 (Is that right, Doug?) and information about coins began to be free. However, I just checked my records and internet buying did not contribute much in my case until 1999. That must have been when Yahoo and eBay auctions (Yahoo auctions folded) began to be significant. The rest is history.[/QUOTE]