Do you think we need more younger collectors?

hahah that is so true.

 

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The hobby only needs people that are interested in coins and that want to be involved. Age is not a prerequisite. The field is large enough for it to become a lifelong endeavor so you do see some gray hair around. There are different factions and circles to hang in and coin collecting has a bit of an image problem. A bunch of rich guys trying to squeeze a hundred bucks out of each other is what the hobby looks like from the outside looking in and that is intimidating to young and old alike, I'm sure. Yes, I said it. I've been on both sides of the table and I settled into the aisle before all the enjoyment left. The fear of over paying and selling too low puts many into a sate of inaction and taking the time to learn first is daunting to most. It is just a tough hobby to break into for some.

Also, you can't make a person be interested in coins and trying to make one see the beauty and importance is futile. It should be a hobby of attraction. As a known collector, when someone comes to me with a genuine interest, I treat them with open arms. I sometimes have friends come to me with questions about coins. Instead of ripping them (and running them to the rich guys to squeeze a hundred bucks), I try to give them a reason to look deeper into what it is they have and encourage them to enjoy owning coins themselves. If they resist the spark and just want to bail I will give some selling advice so they don't get ripped and have a favorable experience with the coins and maybe return someday.

Matt

 

Why is it that the newbie's ALWAYS ask this question?

Why is it that the younger collectors with nothing better to do ALWAYS ask if this 300 year old Hobby is going to die because they see nothing but older folks at Coin Shows?

Ya think that maybe the young one's whose folks won't drive them can't get to some of the coin shows?

Why do I keep responding to these death questions trying to explain that absolutely nothing is any different than it was 100 years ago ?

 

I'm a younger collector! But I don't know very many other collectors that are my age, just two of my friends and one of them isn't that serious about it. Although us young'ns don't always get treated very kindly by other collectors because we are younger. But I think it's a great hobby and it's extremely easy to get started. I started by collecting the state quarters when I was about 3 or 4..... Only recently have I been getting into older (and more expensive than circulation value) coins. I am surprised that there aren't as many people my age collecting, at least, not that I have met.

 

I'll bet that the "target market" for young coin collectors
would be the ones with an entrepreneurial streak in them.
How many old timers got started by such things as searching
through change for key dates or DDO's. Or scooping 40%
JFKs from the bank for face value. I'm just not sure what kind
of entrepreneurial opportunities exist for young people
today that would instill a mind set to go on that first coin
venture. The last kid I saw cutting grass was me in 1969.

 

That's ok. TSA agents have looked at me funny when they went through my bag at security and found a couple hundred dollars worth of coin rolls.

And ask me if I plan to do a lot of laundry or something. I just say "Something like that". Really none of their business.... Last time I looked there was no law against doing that.

Tellers look at me funny when I go in and ask for 200 in quarters and 200 in dimes. Or two boxes of cents and two boxes of nickels or dimes. Even if I've been there before.

It's ok. I tell them I collect modern coins and stuff. And then I tell them I'm looking for the elusive 1992 Close AM cent or something. That glazes their eyes over.

 

This is a question we needed to ask 15 years ago when many millions of children were running around collecting states coins. The answer then, as now, is that we needed them. The aging collector base will be selling their collections over the next twenty years and there will need to be younger collectors to buy them. The good news is that we did manage not to alienate all the younger collectors. The bad news is that there might not be enough but only time will really tell.

I was screaming from the rooftops 15 years ago to try to treat the new collectors well but, frankly, I don't think we did a good job. It could have been worse I suppose. Now, it is what it is and there's little chance of another big influx anytime soon. We can still work to nurture and encourage the younger folk. This can take many forms but the thing I value most is education. There are ten or twelve million collectors that have been added but many of these will drop out and some will never progress much beyond beginner.

I believe the future is still bright if we can gain control of the big threats to the hobby.

Things will be very different in twenty years no matter how events unfold. This will be a massive demographic change in the hobby.

 

To all the young collectors that posted in this thread,
some folks no doubt looked at Dave Bowers funny
when he began dealing coins at age 15. But it did not
matter because there is no age restrictions for the gifted,
talented or dedicated. So you can your hold heads high.

And to Detecto, thankyou for starting this. It't been very
refreshing.

 

I like it just how it is, cause at coin shows usually my sister and I are the only ones that seem to be under 20 and I always get great deals for being "young" haha

 

Also, I don't usually tell people my age I collect coins cause I've had people asked me things llike "isnt for old people?" or give me a weird look for some reason. whenever friends or x-girlfriends would come over I would just take my coins off my desk and put them in my closet, or if I forgot one or a few and they ask me what they were i'd be like "that? my uncle said i could have it and im trying to sell it"

 

Do we need more younger collectors? Yes, of course, so as to keep the hobby alive. What we need is more SERIOUS collectors of all ages, and not chop-busters who are just in it for ego, and to see if they can put one over on dealers and sellers in general--that is tacky and offensive.

 

And I still disagree.

The circle of life in numismatics is the same as it ever was.

Kids get interested when they find coins in circulation, or when they get them from grandparents or other adults. They buy some from dealers (at full retail, most likely).

Some stay interested. Most lose interest, and either put their coins back into circulation, sell them to dealers (at a substantial markdown), or put them away.

As adults, some regain their interest (or get interested for the first time). Some search for coins in circulation, but more frequently they buy from dealers (at full retail).

When children or grandchildren come along, the adults may pass down some of their coins, hoping to kindle interest in the next generation. Or, the adults may lose interest or fall on hard times, and sell their collections to dealers (at a substantial markdown).

When the adult collectors die, their coins may go to family members who collect, or to family members who aren't interested. Those latter members will either sell the collections to dealers (at an even more substantial markdown), or cash them in at the bank (putting them back into circulation).

I'm not sure there's anything about this process that's changed in the last hundred years, and maybe longer than that.

 

pre 1982 copper pennies perhaps lol?

 

This is pretty much the way it's always been though in the distant past this was just the hobby of kings. Princes became the new generation of collectors. This hasn't changed and might never change.

What is different now and unlike anything ever seen before is the strange and otherworldly demographic that "afflicts" the coin market. This demographic could be seen coming since the days of the Bible bill so it shouldn't have sneeked up on anyone. What we have is a strange situation where almost no collectors of any age joined the ranks between 1965 and 1998 (ironically that's less true at THIS site). Of those few who did join during those years the vast majority collect old coins so they and the rest of the collectors form the market. But the average age here is huge because most coin collectors begin at a very tender age and no such collectors were added for a generation and a half as the ANA and all the coin organs were in strict agreement that moderns sucked and moderns is where most new collectors start.

So we have very old collectors who each fit your pattern but we don't have the young collectors in this country who fit your pattern. Younger collectors are scarce and tend to collect moderns (at least until someone tells them they're junk). In other countries the demographic is much wider but in this country the average collector is in his 50's. This is not normal and is caused by the lack of new collectors between 1965 and 1998. New collectors willnot arise automatically just because a father wants to pass down his collection. A collection given to a non-collector will simply be sold and maybe at the corner shop. A collector is born not made.

Millions of coin collections will be sold or passed down over the next couple decades (almost all collections). These coins won't disappear if there aren't enough willing buyers but will simply cause the prices to readjust. This means we need millions of new advanced collectors. Of course now days a collector can advance much faster than in the past. Thousands of people per day visit sites like this one.

The hobby will be virtually unrecognizable going forward. There will be new and younger faces at the coin shows. Of course it will be older collectors who tend to go to shows but "older" in the future will be much younger. There's simply no way around this even if it weren't just the hobby because baby boomers make up the bulge throughout the country. It's more than a mere bulge in the hobby because of the failure to recruit new memberes for more than three decades.

It's a done deal and it's been a done deal since we all decided that moderns were garbage back in 1965. The baby boomers are what's left of the hobby from 1965. And most of the hobby is baby boomers.

 

I think the hobby may scare off some because most people are older folks. I am only 32, but when I go to shows, I feel like an outsider. This doesn't bother me, but I'm sure others my age or younger, probably get the same feeling and thus turn away from such events.

I still believe there are a lot more younger collectors out there than most people can imagine.

 

since teens and kids can't have credit cards to buy stuff from eBay and can't drive to coin shows (until 16), most don't collect until they get older. Having money is also a problem.

 

All we need to draw collectors to the hobby is simply a high priced sale of a modern coin. I mean of the sale of that 1992 CAM had been for 112,000 instead of 12,500, collectors would spring from the ranks of new coin searchers. Some people who do things and get an interest follow up as a matter of course.

But seriously, how is a kid gonna get interested when it takes all of his allowance to buy a single coin ? But back in the day when instant riches might be found in the next batch of change, people became very interested in this. I mean, everyone looked for that 43 copper cent or a 44 steelie or even a 3 legged Buffalo. Today because of the improved engraving techniques and minting process, fewer significant errors can be found in today's coins. People want hobbies they can first afford, and secondly to build dreams on. What golfer doesn;t want a hole in one, or bowler to roll a 300 game ? It's VERY expensive to build a complete set of Wheats, so new collectors won;t even try. Same for Morgans and Mercs. Jeffersons are easier as well as Roosies, except for the high cost of Silver ones.

Even a modern series like the LMC's, it's nearly impossible to complete the set. Who can afford those very rare transition coins ? And without those, the set just isn;t complete. I wonder how many just give up when they learn that they won;t ever be able to finish the set ?

Supplies are another high cost item. Add that to the extreme expense of TPG's and we have done what Ford did with the Edsel. Got the price wrong for the demographics.

Just sayin'

 

Or perhaps a 1983 Lincoln transitional error as
a 13 year girl found not too long ago.

 

I'm 13. These days a lot of kids are too busy with sports and other stuff to have time to actually collect or they think it is boring.

 

Yes. Many millions of kids and young adults have or are collecting the states coins. Many are at the age where they drop hobbies n favor of the opposite sex but they'll be back as they establish families and start having some disposable income.

I really believe the future is bright but people should understand there are going to be gut wrenching growing pains. I don't know what the US coin collecting hobby will look like in ten years but I know it will be very different.

World markets are far easier to predict and these have been highly predictable for 40 years. The exact way it all plays out can't be known but collectors of the future are going to be amazed that no one bothered to save the coins from the last half of the 20th century. Everyone figured they were just modern junk and when they're made in such huge numbers they could just save themselves. This tactic failed utterly.