First time poster...could use advice

The thing is you don't GET kids interested in coins collecting. You expose them to it, and it either takes or it doesn't. It doesn't take, there's no way to make it take. Giving them the exposure on the other hand can be fairly easy. Most younger children tend to adore their parents or grandparents, and are often eager to be able to do anything with them. Having your granddaughter with you while you work with your coins and explain them to her, and possibly even help her start a set of something will go a long way towards introducing her to the subject, and providing an emotional connection to both you and the coins.

This will often cause at least for a short time and interest in coins and collecting. If the child after a year two seems to lose interest don't force it. It is very common for a collector to start out young, and then move away from coins. They develop other outside interests and seemed no longer have any interest at all in coins. But often later, after their careers are settled, the house is paid for, and their kids are grown, the collecting interest often returns. Look at your own experience. And once such a collector returns to the fold, they often remain a collector for 30 more years or more. This is why you don't see many young people at club meetings or coin shows. Most young people are in that in between period. One problem is usually when your children would be at that age where introduction would work best, the collector is also in that in between. Where he's more concerned with career, paying off the house, and raising the kids, and is not doing much of any collecting on his own. He often therefore misses the chance to expose his children to coin collecting. This is why the the hobby often skips a generation. The collector is not active when his own children are at the proper age for exposure, but he is when his grandchildren are at the right age.

 

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I got really interested through scouts. There was that coin collecting merit badge and my scout leader had us all join the Rochester Junior Numismatics Association. I was hooked and while I took a similar hiatus to raise children and get divorced I came back to it about 15 years ago full bore. I'm hoping my grandsons follow the same route through scouts.

 

We coin collectors are a small fraction of the population. Woman make up less than half of coin collectors. The chances your granddaughter will actually care about your coins are slim.

Is it the having a collection, or the acquiring it piece-by-piece that is more involving? I think most of us enjoy the process of looking for coins to buy, researching what would be good price, and possibly making offers or actually buying coins. Having a collection dropped in your lap is not the same as collecting. I have memories associated with my coins. I recall how I got them, what they cost, and I researched them. I wanted them at the time and they spoke to me in some way. Having someone else's collection dropped in your lap would not duplicate the collecting experience.

If you are already a collector, sure, you would like to have the additional coins for free and you might cherry pick them for the ones that add to your ensemble, but there is no way you can appreciate them the way the original owner did. So much of his experience with them is lacking.

If you are a non-collector, being given a group of coins is unlikely to provide the high that actually desiring them and acquiring them provides. Take a kid to a coin show with a budget and the process might resemble the collecting experience enough to find out if there is a budding collector in that person.

Maybe it is time to begin. It can be lots of fun to have coins coming in, and it can be lots of fun having coins go out. I recommend beginning to sell them.

Collecting is a hobby of the mind. If you don't know anything about coins, a high grade rarity is just an old coin. It is what you know that provides pleasure. You can get that pleasure as the coin comes in when you buy it, and you can get that pleasure when the coin goes out when you sell it. To sell a coin you focus on what it is in order to price it . You take time focusing on the coin. If you know anything about it, that will be pleasurable; it will be a continuation of the hobby. With the right mindset, selling off your coins can be fun.

Even if you can find a relative who turns out to be a coin collector, in my opinion you should not give her your collection. Maybe giving a few coins, hoping to start the fire, is okay, but you should reflect on how much your collection overlaps with the collections of other collectors you know personally. Most of the time I think "I wouldn't want that coin because .... " or "that one cost too much.. " or "that is not in my collecting area" or "there are many coins out there that I would prefer to that one." Even when a collector collects generally the same thing I collect we differ greatly in details!

So, why would you think it is a good idea to give your collection to a granddaughter? She is not you and will never be you. If you sell it, bit by bit, instead you will have the pleasure of continuing your hobby. You can decide what to do with the money.

 

Have a pow wow with those involved and explain your views. Then listen to what those have to say. Then make your best decision. Might be a no brainer

 

You must be proud of your cubbies

 

Do you study coin types you don't own and don't hope to own? I study coin types a lot, but mostly those I own or hope to own.

 

Your aunt left you a gift for the ages. If you are willing to pass it forward I can recommend a place where her photos and mementos will be put on display and preserved. The Museum of the Army is building their museum building and a collection of items for display from each branch of the Army. With the increase in females currently serving their historical roots would draw a lot of interest and be cherished. If you can not find a link to them online send me a pm and I will look it up for you. If it costs more than you are willing to spend a GOFUNDME account will easily raise the needed funds.

 

Apologies I reread your post and see that your aunt was a marine. My advice stands but contact the Marine Corps Museum instead.

 

OP The easiest way to get kids interested is to ask to look in their piggy banks or change then "buy" the rare ones for a fair or more than fair price and explain why you wanted it. Those sharp eyes will look for additional "valuable" coins. Give them Whitman folders and help them get them filled with your pocket change. Buy them a type coin album and give them one nice coin for a gift each year. Explain to them how valuable that album is. Some will get the bug others won't. You'll know when their interests wane.

 

For some, numismatics, coin-collecting, is but a brief phase in their life, for others it's a life-time interest. But, even if kids do some coin-collecting for a while, and then go on to other things, who is to say that the numismatic phase wasn't the source of inspiration that led on to other matters of dedication and learning ? I speak as one who has never had children. But, I do remember, a long time ago, I was a kid myself !

 

@GDJMSP, I admire your willingness to change the focus of your numismatic passion from accumulation to education and encouragement. Now, if EVERYONE did that the hobby would change in a dramatic way. Nevertheless three things have me thinking about my collection (hoard, according to my wife):

1. Several threads such as this one over the past three years I’ve been a member;

2. Your sharing, Doug, about the value of aspects of numismatics other than accumulation;

3. A photo I saw last week of Mohandas Gandhi’s worldly possessions, other than clothing, at the time of his death: two pairs of sandals, a pair of glasses, a small book and a tiny carving of the “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” monkeys. (I think my recollection is fairly accurate).

All this and other influences have me pondering where I go from here, both in my own collecting and how I approach trying to expose my grandchildren to the hobby.

Steve

 

I've got 13 grandchildren and would like to get at least a couple of them interested in collecting.
What I've been doing is saving all the State and ATB quarters that I get that are in excellent condition and plan on getting the older ones (ages 6 through 12) folders for Christmas and letting them fill them with the quarters I've saved. I'm going to mix them with the coins in my spare change jar so they have to search for their hole fillers. I think I'll hold out a couple of states so they have to look for them in circulation.
Hopefully, at least a couple of them will show enough interest to begin a collection and I"ll have someone to pass my coins on to.

 

I've done that in the past and noticed that they get frustrated if some mint marks don't circulate in their area. The simple solution is to give them what is scarce in your area and let them look for what they can possibly find. In my area P are common and d are difficult. Your idea of sprinkling what they need in your change jar and letting them look and find them would also work and avoid frustration.

 

I started as a kid with my father who collected a little but not serious. I caught the fever bad. I’ve had breaks as life got in the way but the passion was there. I remember as a 10-11 year old reading every coin book I could get my hands on and my favorite was a bunch of old bowers and ruddy catalogs I had been given. I never forgot some of them Were now expecting a son which neither of us ever thought would happen and I’d love if he gets the passion too my fiancé has an appreciation for coins too but not the passion or knowledge yet I’m more a dealer now than a collector but if love to be able to share this with him

 

Even if a numismatically inclined grandchild takes the coins, what if they fall on hard times at some point or another in their lifetime and have to sell some or all of them? How many generations of hands have your coins already passed through before they became yours? We like to think these are "our" coins, despite the disturbing fact they will outlast us in the end. We are merely temporary stewards of hard currency history. Provided they don't get melted down, rest assured your coins will ultimately find a home in the hands of those who appreciate them as much as you did, whether they be your progeny or otherwise.

 

It's nice to "own" some coins, valuable or duds, or just, for whatever reason, interesting to you. Whilst I appreciate having a few rare coins, probably each one of us has different motivations about his, or her, coins. For myself, the value isn't top of my list. I enjoy the history, the art etc., and the ability, when I have an unusual coin, to took it up, the ponder about it, find out about a personality, or "god" depicted, and to learn about the background. Not just about the coin, if that makes sense, but the environment, the setting, in how it came about. Many history books have lots of ancient coins as illustrations. If it weren't for a number of ancient coins, the reality of much history would be totally unavailable to us. Coins do tell a story !!!