In 75 years of collecting coins I have visited, if nothundreds, at least dozens and dozens of coin shops and coindealers in the Eastern half of the United States. I recall thedealer and the type of shop he had, if not what I bought ateach.. Most were street level stores. some occupied offices Inlarger city high rise buildings

Often my conversations over-the-counter with the dealer led toan invitation to the back room, an inner sanctum of numismatics.One of these was Art Kelley of St. Louis. In a shop filled withdusty antiques the showcase of coins lined one wall. Coinbusiness was most often conducted in the back room where thecoffee pot was always hot. If two people showed up at the sametime you couldn't talk to the other person. Gruff old Kelleydemanded you only talk to him. He would berate any person whodared speak to another.

It seems the larger the city the smaller the shop, with someexceptions. After all that was needed was one showcase and asafe. Contrast this with some more elaborate and decoratedemporiums. Silvertown in Indiana, holds the record for the mostelaborate I visited. It is the Coin Castle of America. Twostories tall, winding staircase, showrooms, and, of course, thebackroom. It wasn't long befor the Hendricksons, father Leon andson David, invited me back to the work area. They delighted inshowing me two bound volumes of the first issues of CoinWorld, most of which was when I was editor.

New York City dealers were almost always in high-rise officebuildings. Bob Friedberg's Coin & Currency Institute was in ahigh rise across the street from Macy's where he had a firstfloor coin department. Hans Schulman was also in a midtownbuilding, filled with odd and curious money and lots ofbooks.

Since mail order is a large part of coin dealing, many dealerseschew shops to operate out of their home. Look at the ads inThe Numismatist 60 years or more - most were their homeaddresses. In modern times you could even operate out of awarehouse and some did.

My blue ribbon here goes to Harry Forman. He found a buildinghidden behind a Post Office. A large room was where he and hislongtime assistant Ruth Bauer worked, This was adjacent to astoreroom with shelves where you could find most anything relatedto numismatics. But you had to find the hidden driveway to thathidden building.

Longtime coin dealer Aubrey Bebee found the most ideallocation. After years in South Chicago he bought a former bankbuilding in Omaha, Nebraska with a walk-in safe. Now that wasprotection plus accessibility!

As a youth I shopped at a Kansas City Missouri coin dealer,Wilbur Bishoff. His backroom was his bedroom. He lived in hiscoin shop.

Modern times bring modern coin shop locations, notably theshopping mall. Some have given up this ideal location, with itsinherent problems, and moved back to the home office. Joe Levinedid this for his Presidential Coin and Antique company in2005.

With the increasing number of coin shows and conventions, plusthe burgeoning power of the internet and eBay it doesn't matterany more where you conduct coin business. After all, even a coinshop with the best ambiance, it's still the bargains inside thatattract collectors.

Larry Dziubek writes:

Larry Korchnak writes:

Larry Dziubek adds:

Pat McBride writes: