Krause Joins The Electronic Age

I like to consider myself to be a relatively organized person (I think that's a result of getting it bashed into me when I was in the Scouts), and I've always felt it important to take copies of the Krause catalogues with me when I travel to coin shows. As any collector of world coins will tell you, you need no less than 3 editions to cover coins dating back to 1700 - each of these books weigh 2 kilos apiece, then there's 3 more to cover notes over the same period! That's no less than 12 kilos of books, and although your average ANDA show will always have a few attractive world coins and notes on offer, the effort / value ratio has always been a bit questionable. This predilection towards laziness now has no excuse, since the launch of the NumisMaster website by Krause publications. I've often wondered how long it was going to be until Krause offered their books in PDF format, but obviously they believe they have a better business model of ensuring they stay relevant in the electronic age. Essentially, an annual subscription to this website will give you access to prices of all coins issued around the world since 1800 - no need to lug any more books around, although you will need a decent broadband connection in your laptop / phone / PDA when you're at a coin show or auction. I think it's a great development, although it'll be interesting to see how it takes on within the numismatic community. What do you think?


Category: Market News