Baby boomers

Don't be too sure about that Randy. I heard Elon Musk (Tesla) is working on a flying car.

 

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I recently met a high-school coin collector. I asked him how many fellow students are coin collectors. His response floored me, " most of them don't even know coin collecting is a hobby''. This is what concerns me of the future of our wonderful hobby. I don't think there will be enough serious coin collectors to replace the present ones or to sustain a progressive growth.

 

OK, but I didn’t say we “need” a study - I said that if one exists it would be interesting to see the details. The mods here have referred to surprisingly large numbers of young members on CT. I’m speaking as one who vacillates between pessimism and optimism about the hobby, so numbers interest me.

 

Statistics, right?

A wise man once said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

 

I think one of the biggest things getting crossed is the distinct difference in collecting coins versus using coins. Yes many things numismatists collect are legal tender, but I'm pretty sure even if we go into a cashless society, people will still collect coins. I'm 34 and I know several coin collectors my age, a few younger, a few older. Also, the hobby is very private for many people for many reasons so I think there are even more coin collection out there, they just don't advertise it.

 

The problem with coin collecting is that there aren't any new coins worth collecting.

 

True, but there are a lot of older coins worth collecting.

 

I went to sleep last night thinking about this. I grew up in the 1960's-1970's. I been an avid coin lover since I was about ten. I cannot think of one of my running buddies back in those days that shared my interest of old coins. All my friends were consumed with the interests of the day... Cars, girls, records, girls, long hair, girls. But I seriously cannot remember one of my friends growing up as being a coin lover like me.

 

Did they end up collecting anything though, or just total non-hobbyists?

 

I agree with that, but it leaves me wondering how Scandinavian countries are so serious about it.

 

I think most of my old running buddies just collected ex wives.

 

Damn now I have to wipe my keyboard, thanks. I'll make sure not to sip any beverage before reading your posts from now on.

 

I have one more North Korean coin than ex-wives.

 

I know what you mean. So many distractions. Back then nobody paid attention to me when I tried telling them how chess could change their lives.

 

@physics-fan3.14
"I don't think you need a study to prove common sense. Boomers were born between 1946 - 1964, meaning they are 54 to 72 years old. You look around the hobby, that is a significant chunk of the coin collecting population - well over half, I would surmise."

Yes, well over half of coin collectors are older than 54 but they own 95% of the value of all collectible coins minted before 1965. Older collectors only hold about half the value of all the coins made after 1964. Since most people curtail their hobby activities after retirement this has been and will continue to pressure the value of all coins and especially older coins.

Young people are collecting coins, tokens, and medals and their demand will grow over time. There is also demand that is soaring in other major countries and as these collectors evolve they will exert more pressure on US issues. For now the explosive prices are in China, India, and Russia and this demand shows up most dramatically in moderns because the supply of moderns is exceedingly weak. There is a perception that all moderns are common but the reality is most moderns are scarce in pristine condition and some are scarce even in heavily worn condition. This is because most coins from all countries were saved in the US and US collectors saved very few base metal coins. They didn't want to tie up 10c in a brand new high denomination Indian coin when they could get great old silver and copper coins for a dime. It was almost impossible to get coins from Russia and China and this was fine with US collectors.

It's hardly obvious yet but for most practical purposes the hobby already belongs to a new generation of numismatists. It's not obvious only because they own so few of the only coins the baby boomers think of as "collectible". But this will change as surely as the tide going in and out. This new generation will own virtually all the coins in only 20 or 30 years.

There will be far more collectors in the future than there were in 1964. Indeed, there are already far more collectors in the world than there were in 1964.

 

I'm convinced that people and various forums are attempting this for their own gain.

 

Wait! What? I thought I was a Boomer! Wow , that made my day! Jim

 

If you had asked me that question when I was in High School I would have given the same answer. And that was 40 years ago And those other kids were all Baby boomers, the same people that now make up the majority of collectors.

When I started collecting the vast majority of coin collectors were from "the Greatest Generation". Most of them are dead now. But coin collecting is still rolling on.

When the Boomers die off coin collecting die? No. Will the collector base get smaller? Possibly. And that might be a good thing. Fewer collectors may make for greater availability and moderate prices and allow more collectors to own coins that today are priced out of reach. many collectors today want to see continually rising prices so that they can make money on their coins, but constantly rising prices also tends to discourage new collectors because they believe they can't possibly get the coins they want.