When I first started out in the coin business, I assumed I was going to sell everything; Morgan Dollars, Barber Dimes, St. Gaudens double eagles and Charlotte gold, I’d handle it all. But I quickly learned that it would be difficult–and costly–to be an expert in so many areas of the market. I then decided that I’d become really good at just a few things and leave the rest to other people.   
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One of the oldest jokes in the book goes, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.” Hoary? Yes. Old when your grandpa was a kid? Sure. But oh so true and applicable to the subject of this blog which is, as you no doubt already know, “how to become a good numismatist.” Because to become a good collector, you do need to practice. But what exactly do you need to practice most?   
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I recently received an email from a collector who asked what I thought were an extremely intelligent group of questions. In a nutshell, he asked the following. As boomers age, are we nearing a bubble in coin prices? At some point will the number of collectors with the financial means to collect rare gold decrease and will prices suffer accordingly? Go to any coin show and you will see a disturbing trend.   
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Many articles about coin collecting (including more than a few written by yours truly) have suggested that it is extremely important for collectors to learn how to grade. In theory, this makes sense. But is this realistic? Can a person with a family, a job and interests besides coins realistically learn how to grade coins? I think that the “learn how to grade” advice that I mentioned above is fine, at least in theory.   
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There is no doubt that we are currently experiencing a very good coin market. Many areas have increased exponentially in price in the last three to five years with the top end of the market now out of reach for most collectors. And this has created a market that has proven very frustrating to long-term collectors. Let’s say that you are a collector who has focused on early gold for the last decade.   
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More than ever, it is extremely important for coin collectors to learn how to grade AND to become knowledgeable in the field(s) in which they collect. Now this is easy for me to say. I’m a full-time coin dealer and have been since 1982. 25+ years of daily dealing has helped me learn how to grade pretty well and has made me very knowledgeable in a number of areas.   
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