I watched a youtube segment on the ancient coin marketplace. The commenter stated that coins may go the same route as postage stamps, in other words become obsolete as a hobby. Well, stamps, even though today snailmail is kinda a thing of the past. Rare, classic postage stamps are very much in high demand, and recent auctions prove it. With coins, esp. the classical types 670BC-1933, prices, demand is thru the roof. Yes, modern stuff is lacklustre but not the high quality classical types. Demand exceeds supply by five figures. Ditto, with modern bland automobiles, you see 50s/60s cars sell 100K -M++++. Rare coins, stamps, cars all are in HOT demand, that will only increase with time. I certainly i am a fan....
I pay no attention to those idiots on youtube, tiktok and other social media trash. Most of them like to portray themselves as experts and most of them know jack poop. One of the reasons I stay away from that kind of content. I agree, coins, classic cars, really old stamps, Comic Books and other hobbies are not going anywhere. The bigger issue is A.I. and how it will affect various hobbies.
USPS Stamp Issues This should tell why people are no longer interested in stamp collecting. I started stamp collecting in 1948 at the same time I started coin collecting. I quit when the USPS started issuing wallpaper (too many stamps). I am including here a summary of the issues: USPS Stamp Issues. The first two lines represent about 50 years each. The following lines are by decades. 1847 to 1899 293 6 new stamps per year 1900 to 1949 693 14 new stamps per year 1950 to 1959 152 15 new stamps per year 1960 to 1969 247 25 new stamps per year 1970 to 1979 408 41 new stamps per year 1980 to 1989 643 64 new stamps per year 1990 to 1999 931 93 new stamps per year 2000 to 2009 1065 106 new stamps per year My collection consists of about 90% of the US issues. I am also attaching photos of my albums lying flat. The first album is 1847 to 1975. The second is 1976 to 1995. The third is 1996 to 2002, when I quit. The US Mint is trying to catch up with USPS and I quit new coins also. My first mint purchase was the 1959 Proof Set. Now the mint is making ballast to go along with the wallpaper from USPS.
Agree! Postage stamps were nice when they were engraved, this stopped in 60s with photogravure. My French Colonies collection is 99.9% complete. My collection stops at independence 1960s. The TAAF stamps are even engraved today. However, coins suffer from same crappola. The UK mint still produces decent material. US stamps were neat from 1847-1940. I have Germany complete from 1871-1990. Still needs a few Post Offices/ Colonies types. The Sudentenland issues are rare. Have German States 1849-1922 99.9% complete too, All in hingeless albums. Some rares I won Roumet auction last week.
How will A.I. affect our hobbies? Like I do not even own a smartphone! I use the computer between my ears instead. The human brain is far more intelligent then A.I. Our computer does not have viruses, memory overload, cannot be hacked, or freeze up (unless you sit in -50 all night) They asked the top ace of aces Erich Hartmann 352 kills in WW2, would you rather fly the fighter plane with aid of onboard computer? or fly with your skills alone, he said the later....
I have been a collector my whole life. It has been in the last 20 years that I have become more concerned with quality. I have a very nice collection of eastern European minerals, meteorites, shells, and items associated with the three major space faring nations: China, the old USSR, and the USA. I have extensive libraries for all my collectibles. I have a very small stamp collection of 14 stamps (three series and early airmail). My primary focus is coins. I have been selling off the high value space items to help support an undergraduate scholarship that was created in my honor.
I don’t have any photos but I do have have a complete set of Zeppelins stamps. You know the kind you have to lick. They are considered mint, never hinged and they look like the day they were issued. I stopped collecting stamps years ago. I love collecting them but when self-stick stamps appeared, that was the end for collecting modern issues.
I haven't added new stuff to my collection for years. For complete sets you need to take out a mortgage and build a large vault. We have gone from three coins a year per denomination to 5 from each mint, proof, reverse proof, enhanced, first release, first strike, etc. Like the title says, utter nonsense.
