Do you think we need more younger collectors?

I'm 17 but i started when i was like 10 (although it wasn't untill this year i started seriously collecting and purchasing, before i just collected what i could get at coinstars and what was passed down to me)

 

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We DO need new, younger collectors, but without the OP's MO (ie, being a troll). They ARE the next generation of collectors, they ARE the next generation that'll be buying our coins!!! If interest waned, I cringe to think what my '55 DDO Lincoln (PCGS AU58) would be worth (though, it was pulled from a cig machine back in the day, so it cost me nada, just grading fees....a gift from dad).

 

Assuming you're anywhere near my age, it's possible that the stickers you would have bought are worth more than the coins you managed to keep.

 

Yes... I suppose that's possible.
Coins were just so nice and shiny.

 

Im 14 and i started collecting when i was 6 when i found a 1969 kennedy half in my basement (4 if you count state quarters)

 

Young, as long as she is hot!! :hail:

 

I don't quite understand what you're saying, but it _sounds_ offensive/degrading.

 

It was an obviously poor attempt at levity... Sorry

 

Yep...:grandpa:

 

I really don't think there is a lack of young collectors, I think they are less evident in the coin community because it is hard to become really involved when you are a child and lack access to many things that coin collectors need, ie. money and time. But don't fret, someday those kids will grow up, get more money, and look back at those coins that interested them when they were kids and become the new, old collectors.

 

I was a YN once...from about 1965 - 1975, then "life" got in the way. I was like Rip Van Winkle taking a thirty (30) year nap and waking up in 2005. In 2005 I got back into coin collecting, but everything had changed...except Numismatic News, of course!

There were TPGs, the internet, and toned coins were no longer considered "damaged goods". In the early 70's, I had one (1) coin store and one (1) Numismatist to learn from, Mr. Bob Deitel (if anyone knew him...he was great!). The only thing I was lacking was money. I spent hours after school with my nose pressed against the glass cases at the Madison (CT) Coin Store and Mr. Deitel would explain why a seated half had one price and another was less (or more).

It was fascinating...and Mr. Deitel enjoyed the conversation. Mercury dimes were my passion and Mr. Deitel guided me through the process of putting together a BU collection...strike quality was everything. Back then, coins weren't graded on the Sheldon scale...Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) was the best and it meant just that...a coin that "appears the same as it did when it dropped from the die".

Nowadays, "BU" is meaningless. I've seen "BU" used to describe toned coins! Nowadays, you have "Choice", "Gem", "Star" grades, "Plus" grades, "CAC" certification, "Early Release", "First Strike", "Blast White"...all designed to make inferior coins seem superior...or to validate what a collector should already know.

I digress...the thread is about YNs. So I have two (2) observations to share...1) YNs probably don't have any more money for "collectable" coins than I did, and 2) YN's have WAY more resources to access quality coins and learn from their owners than I did.

My recommendation to a YN (today) would be to learn photography. Spend your early years collecting photographs of coins instead of coins themselves. Focus on specific collections...then branch out over time. Go to coin shows with an IPad and a DinoLite. Meet a wide range of Numismatists and offer to photograph their best coins for free. Learn "why" these are the Numismatist's "best" coins. Focus on strike quality and die states...don't worry so much about bag marks except when grading coins.

Not only will you emass enough material to write a book (if you choose), you will learn so much...without the expense of actually buying the coins. As you grow older and can afford putting together a nice collection, you will not only have the knowledge to do so, but you'll have developed the associations needed to access the best of the best...and THAT's the key to coin collecting...(imho).

 

Perfect analogy!

In 1967, my gross pay was $88.80 per week with a take home of about $65.

A roll of dollar would have cost me 1/4 of my "gross" pay. A roll of half dollars 1/8.

Sure, I got initiated into coin collecting at about 11 years old and at that time, Franklin half's were brand new coins. Could I have saved them? I suppose but generally speaking, I got my hands on a half dollar about once every 10 months or so.

Walkers and Standing Liberty Quarters were common place as were "mercury" dimes. But...............if simply was not economically possible.

Today is a bit different since I get more in retirement each month than I made in an entire year. But then, my expenses have gone up just as much. However, $20 doesn't represent 1/4 of my income which makes collecting so much easier.

Perhaps the OP should give this stuff a little more thought before posting since the term "I started as a kid" is really wide open but it generally means that the collector got "introduced" to coin collecting when they were kids.

Along with bottle caps.............matchbooks..........baseball cards.........etc.

 

Is this haiku?

 

Lol...another thread described him as an "Askhole"! :too-funny:

Although, I have to admit, he seems to start threads that take on lives of their own...

 

i think kids actually see less and less coins. i was in a LONG checkout line and was curious if anyone would pay with cash, nope all 8 people paid with plastic. eight transacations without a single coin in use

 

No, it's a product of having one too many...........

 

Yeah... it's pretty wild how things have changed. I like to bring cash just to throw the clerk off a little, and I don't have to keep track of a misc. debit charge.

 

What do YOU call someone who strikes a firm deal with another forum member, doesn't send the agreed upon money, then just disappears (from the seller, at least, but continues to post like nothing happened), even going so far as to ignoring PM's from the seller he AGREED upon a deal with???

 

I wish Paul Harvey was here for "the rest of the story", but that would be rude and NOMB...



(hey look, I made it to 100 posts without getting banned!!! :thumb

 

Do people pay fees for using debit cards?