CSBorgal on eBay

For collectors the web requires more self-reliance and for dealers brings fewer repeat customers.  The Borgal-Jones model, unique among current approaches to sales, seems capable of capturing the rising interest of new collectors and encouraging loyalty while presenting almost no public exposure.
   

This model, as strong as it is, is probably not going to entice many dealers into trying it.  It is hard work, requires nerve and strong execution.   Mr. Borgal, at 32, is a full generation younger than most dealers.
    

This said the collectors’ and dealer models are not quite so divergent at the top of the market because collectors spending serious money usually seek expert advice.  What’s mostly different at this level are the ways collector and dealer find each other.  That’s the message in Michael Buehler’s and the Borgal-Jones approaches and in the broad support dealers provide to book collecting groups in hopes of being visible at the critical moment.  Dealers want to be there at inception but they are also open to adoption. 

It turns out the field has always evolved.  Perhaps today it feels more like revolution than evolution but soon enough it will settle down.  Until it does dealers are adjusting and preparing.  The next generation of important collectors is searching the Internet as we speak.

Links to each referenced dealers

The William Reese Company

John Windle, Antiquarian Bookseller

David Brass Rare Books

Michael Buehler, Boston Rare Maps and American Map Making

Leigh Stein, Eveleigh Books and Stamps

John Zubal Books

CS Borgal on eBay