Why Male Predominance?

It's my observation that numismatists--including collectors, dealers and writers--are almost exclusively male. I would estimate a 9 to 1 male-to-female ratio. Do you agree? If you do, what do you attribute the heavy weighting toward the male end to? To put the question another way, why do men find coins more interesting than women do?

On the other hand, if you don't agree, maybe I'm wrong. So tell me that.

gunsmoke

 

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About 1/5 of the dealers/collectors I deal with on eBay are women.

 

Men are fascinated by bright, shiny things. Women are more practical...!

 

Coin collecting is the "Hobby of Kings", not of Queens.

Of the women that are in the hobby, I find almost every one to be super nice, intelligent and easy to talk to.
Our hobby is made better by those women that do participate.

My wife has a doll collection, and likes to crochet.
I collect coins and enjoy all aspects of numismatics.

As a general rule, men and women are different creatures.
I kinda like it that way.

 

I know a couple of lady collectors...one of my best bullion buyers is female.
Funny thing...numismatics has always been a guy thing, even as youngsters in school.
Nick

 

Wasn't the Savannah Scammer a female? I think her name was Pamela something if I remember correctly.

 

Tradition, that is why.
We need to get more women involved, if there is a way.

 

I know a few ladies that either collect or work in coin stores, but I don't know alot that collect. I'm not so sure I want to get any started either as it might backfire.

Speedy

 

Traditionally, making the money and collecting coins has been the domain of men. It has started to change in the past couple of decades but it was completely dominated by men for so long that there is a large gap to close. Cub scouts still have a coin collecting badge but I'm not sure girl scouts have the same requirement. It's a cultural thing I guess.

Women have certainly become a larger part of the hobby in recent years. Any hobby that both men and women participate in can only make it better for all. Well, there may be exceptions but I don't want to know about them.

 

My theory

Most of the coin guys that I know are shy, introverted and a bit socially awkward when it comes to the ladies. When you can't get a date on a weekend night, one usually turns to a solitary hobby like coins, stamps, sports cards or comics. They find comfort in hanging out and talking shop with other collectors in silimar situations. Clubs form and activities start up. Eventually, they marry and start a family but keep the hobby as an escape from the daily duldrums of life.

Girls on the otherhand are more extroverted and need interaction with others so they shop, talk on the phone alot and hang out with their friends all the time.

Girls extroverted and coin guys introverted = exact opposites.

Many of the girls in coins that I know are the ones that are not the "popular girls" maybe they couldn't find a date on the weekends either so they hung out with the coin guys.

With the advent of the state quarter program, the dynamic is changing. Many women are dealers and work in coin stores as sale people because most of the customers are men. Who would you rather buy from a pretty girl or a grumpy old fart who is bickering with you over a grade or two. All she has to do is smile and say, "sure, sugar it's a MS63" and you just fork over the cash. It's marketing.

With an influx of money and huge price swing ..the women will come. Make coin collecting cool and the women will come. Make it all about the bling ..and girls will come.

 

My wife LOVES coin collecting! She knows all the key dates we need, she has a good eye for flaws, and double dies. She's always on the lookout for "close and wide AM's". And she can tell the difference between copper and zinc cents and silver and clad! When she's bored, she'll bring home 2 boxes of whatever she can get from the bank to sort through. She loves Numismatics as much as I do!

 

With your mysoginistic beliefs, exemplified by that remark, I strongly suggest that you take extra precautions about revealing your address to forum members, at least if you value your physical well being.

 

one of my friends and his wife became interested in collecting at the same time. he went for proof sets and halves and she towards quarters. nice they have something both can enjoy.

 

Satootoko,

By being physically asaulted, that would only prove my generalization was correct, so as I take one for team, I have the solace in knowing that my assumptions were spot on

For the record, I love all women, even the not so popular ones.

 

If you were a girl, would you want to hang out with men like us? Honestly. Most women have better taste than that.

 

If I were a girl/woman, my standards would be pretty low.

 

That's not tru- Oooh. Shiny....

 

Savannah Scammer.

Bob,that is correct - Pamela 'Pjd1966' Donnelly & her teddy bear.I wonder if they're in the slammer breaking rocks yet?

Aidan.

 

I've been going to coin shows, coin stores, hobby stores and the like for many, many years and seldon see women. Kids are there but also a minority. With kids it is simple. They don't have access to get to coin shows without a parent and if the parent isn't interested, the kid suffers. With women though they basically don't care for most hobbies that men are intereseted in. With just about any hobby or thing men appear to do for fun, women just shy away from. For example I also go to gun shows, knife shows, train shows, car shows, sporting supply shows and just about any type of show. Women are usually about 1% or there about. At the gun shows around here I've only seen one lady over about 20 to 30 years there. At shooting ranges it runs about 10% and that is usually some guy taking a girl there for a date. Probably the last date. Never seen a women at a knife show yet. At car shows there are about 40% women spectators but never seen a women owning a show car yet.
Possibly the women are busy with those trivial things like raising kids, cleaning a house, buying food and clothing, doing wash, taking the kids to school, fixing things that men never have time for, sewing, being a nurse at home for the entire family and all those other unnecessary things. I still remember when my wife rotated the tires on one of my cars because it had to be done. Women like this just don't realize how important coin collecting is I guess.
Sometimes I wonder why the divorse rate is so high. Must be women just don't understand what is important.