Rare coin investors make up a very small percentage of the stock market's investors, despite the fact that there are more than a million active American coin collectors. However, due primarily to the Internet, a growing number of middle-class men and women would likely turn to the rare coin market in order to safeguard their wealth in the event that gold was to break $1,000 and silver would reach $17 per ounce. The Wall Street executive and the Kansan farmer, who would never be able to go into a coin shop and probably never will, can now easily find gold and silver on the Internet.