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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2339971, member: 19463&quot;]Dealers as we know them would disappear to be replaced by a group that did not have shows in expensive hotels and issue glossy catalogs.&nbsp;&nbsp; They would not melt the coins because they would make less that way than selling them off to whoever would have them at double melt.&nbsp; I know a couple older collectors who bought denarii for silver value in the 1950&#039;s.&nbsp; Better coins sold for more and supported a trade but the level things most of us have now were flea market items that kids like me could buy for a half dollar.&nbsp;&nbsp; My wife collects bells, much of this has happened in that hobby since most collectors are over 70 and more collections come on the market than there are people who want any but the best ones.&nbsp; As a result you find them in flea markets rather than in glossy catalogs.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, I need dealers to sell me coins.&nbsp; No, those dealers do not have to employ a staff of experts and have sales that bring in $26 million.&nbsp;&nbsp; We would lose the importation of new hoard material and interest in the coins by museums anxious to impress visitors with piles of hoard material.&nbsp; The exit from the hobby of people only interested in resale would not keep me from buying their coins but only change the venue.&nbsp; I really enjoyed eBay back in the late 1990&#039;s when collectors sold their surplus to other collectors but now it is rare to find a coin not sold by a professional.&nbsp; I bought ancient coins on eBay starting in March, 1998,&nbsp; before they issued stock and started catering to professional sellers later that year.&nbsp; Those were the good old days.&nbsp; You can tell this is a fantasy since someone actually said something nice about eBay.&nbsp; Prices on better coins may drop but I doubt it will end dealers as we know them.&nbsp; Down 50% is possible; 90% is improbable.&nbsp;&nbsp; Cheap coins will continue to sell for nuisance value or what sellers require as a minimum cost to be worth handling a coin plus postage etc.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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