Internet effectively increases supply
 

Spent a few dollars bought a used Blue Book of Gun Values published in 1992, that's 21 years ago, was internet up at that time? I cannot remember... at least not popular. It has an interesting page on a popular way to find collectible C&R then -- fee paid service:

Comparing with today, Lugers were cheaper in 1992. Of course. But, not dirt cheap. By 1992, the price was already up.

Gun prices were just beginning to spike during the Clinton regime.

We were just beginning to use the Internet at work (big tech company) in the early 90s, and it was certainly not widely used by many people. Yahoo didn't start until the mid 90s, which is about the time the Internet began to take off.

First browser and server for what we know of as the Internet (HTTP) came out in the USA in 1993. I was working at IBM at the time, and had very early access. Need less to say, it was world altering!

http://home.web.cern.ch/about/birth-web

heres a neat history from 60's to 1992 or so. you have to scroll to several pages to cover all the decades.

http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/

I got into this 'start of Internet' discussion some time ago; I used BBS's until 1995-6, when Win95 with the GUI came out. That's when the 'Internet' really took off.

From Wikipedia -

"Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) began to emerge in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990. The Internet was commercialized in 1995 when NSFNET was decommissioned, removing the last restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic."

Sounds about right.

I just realized this -- the traditional "fee-paid service" mentioned in this 1992 Blue Book has a new form in the internet era. C&R dealerships, e.g. Simpson Ltd, Legacy-Collectibles, Pre98, am-firearms etc, are actually performing that service role. But the model's appearance changed a little bit to fit the modern era -- now they are online as well.

And, this statement in BB was interesting, Without fee-paid service, you might be spending your time running around the country looking for the gun -- and still end up with a "fake!"

Nowadays, new collectors do not have to physically run around the country anymore. People run around in the virtual market, e.g., gunbroker.com, auctionarms.com etc. Different style now, but numerous examples show the same logic still applies.