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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ken Dorney, post: 2970537, member: 76086&quot;]The answer to this is multi-faceted and possibly disappointing.&nbsp; In the &#039;old days&#039; hoards or small lots of coins were much easier to obtain.&nbsp; It really was a &#039;trickle down&#039; concept.&nbsp; Most coins were handled by the larger (or largest) dealers where the best and/or rarest examples were selected for their inventories.&nbsp; What was left over was passed down to us &#039;little dealers&#039; (bottom feeders if you will).&nbsp; In those days it was really quite important for the small dealer to be in business as we bought all the material the larger dealers had no time or interest in handling themselves.&nbsp; We picked up the slack and provided a much needed source of income for them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course the internet changed all that.&nbsp; Now, anyone with a smart phone can become an instant dealer, even without the need for a reference library or any actual experience or knowledge.&nbsp; It is now much easier for large companies to dump a group of coins into a pile, take a second to shoot a picture, a few seconds more perhaps to photoshop the background...no need to lose any profit to a smaller dealer.</p><p><br /></p><p>The same also applies to source dealers.&nbsp; 25 years ago there were plenty of eastern Europeans willing to sell hoards at rock bottom prices, but when the internet came of age they began to be our competition, not our sources.</p><p><br /></p><p>So...hoards.&nbsp; Yes, there are still many countless coins to be had and they still come to market, just that the market has changed.&nbsp; And of course, there are still many hoards still sitting in vaults around the world where the owners are waiting for the right market conditions to release them.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>So, where do you get these elusive coins for resale?&nbsp; Most of them are now in online auctions.&nbsp; Unfortunately you will have to compete with the entire world at large&nbsp; to get them.&nbsp; And of course sometimes one has to spend many thousands of dollars on these lots to get them at a low enough price to resell.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are of course some collectors who wish to consign and not go to auction.&nbsp; Those are difficult enough to get.&nbsp; However, I would suggest if you really need a lot of inventory, make sure you go to larger coin shows where there will be ancient dealers in attendance.&nbsp; This is much easier on the east coast than the west (it has become a numismatic wasteland here the last 10 years).&nbsp; Ask around.&nbsp; Ask all of them.&nbsp; If they dont have them they may be willing to turn you on to someone who does.</p><p><br /></p><p>Its a longer post than I intended, and there is much else to the topic, but that should give an idea, anyway.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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