Over the past several years, I've managed to buy a few gold and silver coins from some of the big guns in the coin business. Last night I received a phone message from Investment Rarities, one of those companies, home to Jim Cook and some of the writings of Ted Butler, Doug Noland, Bill Buckler and others. The caller just wanted to alert me that, if I was planning to sell my few coins now or later to give them a call, since they had an interesting plan of buying coins from customers or their friends.

Though I know this has happened to others here, it is the first such call to me from such a well known firm. Obviously, it can only mean one thing. Times are getting tough for some of the big dealers. Fewer and fewer coins to sell?

Supply shortage big time, seems to me, when they have to ring the phone of someone pretty close to the bottom of their customer list with small collections. Me.