My dealer, the largest wholesaler in the Chicago area, tells me that coin buying is down because the economy sucks. He gets the big fish still buying, but it's rare to see the $50k a year guy buying coins any more. Most of his business is buying scrap from all the 'buy gold now' stores, and then selling it back to the refineries. Margins have come down on the 'higher end' coins- I recall that gold maples had a sizable markup over spot 6 months ago, and now are $30 over.