Now I Am Getting Worried.... The Future Of Our Hobby

I hear you and this is definitely a very common concern to have! Most of the coins I picked up over the years, I bought in hopes of making a few bucks. On some of them, I will make a few bucks but on some I will lose and that sucks. That said, I still consider my gold coins to be worth what I paid at minimum! Unfortunately, ebay is not helping our hobby at all, but I'm sure y'all know that. All I can say on our hobby Randy, is you're not alone my friend, you're not alone.

 

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There, you hit on a good point. eBay is not helping. When eBay started it was much like an on-line flea market. Almost what you might look at as a swap meet. The general population on eBay were collectors (not just coins) and they were looking for nice things to add to their collections. As far as coins, eBay, big business, TV coin barkers, TPG's and the US Mint took the lead and put a plan in motion that took fun out and profit in. In the early days you could put up a $40 coin and start the bidding at $0.01 and it would end 7 days later real close to the expected value. Everyone would have fun and someone would get the coin of their dreams. I don't use eBay anymore, they cater to fraud and deception.

 

I think the hobby suffers because a lot of people leave their heirs common junk.

 

eBay seems to have a lot of fraudsters that have been around selling the same crap for years, scamming as many people as possible. A lot of fake stuff and just way overpriced junk.

On the other hand, I feel it's also given an avenue for many younger people (and some older people) to really see what's out there and pique their interest in coin collecting. I spend a lot of time looking at coins on eBay, not always with the intent to purchase, but just to see what all is out there, see what coins are selling for what prices, compare grades, etc. This has got me interested in some coins and series that I otherwise would not have been exposed to or paid much attention to.

Consider also that many people don't have the option of visiting coin shops and shows. The nearest coin shop to me is a two hour drive. I've never been even once. I'm not about to drive that far just to not find anything I like and can afford. I don't even bother looking up shows in my area because the closest any would ever pop up would probably be five or six hours away. I'd potentially spend more on gas than I would on coins once I got there. What if I just wanna pick up a few cool but cheap coins, not plan for months in advance to spend $1,000, for a trip like that to even really be worth it? I could spend $50 or $5 on eBay and be quite happy with what I've got sitting in my mailbox by the end of the week. So online markets like eBay do allow a lot of people like me to get into the hobby and obtain cool coins that interest us, that otherwise we would never see or be able to buy.

eBay overall probably isn't really helping the hobby, and can cause newcomers or potential newcomers to the hobby to overpay for worthless junk or get ripped off. But the same could be said of many coin shops and dealers. Sure the Internet anonymity factor makes it easier to scam customers, as well as the fact that sellers in China and the like can rip people off easier than the mom and pop store next door that relies on word of mouth and Google reviews from local customers. But I definitely don't think eBay is all bad. There are also a lot of ways I think it benefits the hobby, and I think we'd be seeing even fewer young people interested in the hobby today if not for online marketplaces like eBay. Because face it, my generation practically lives on the Internet. Coins having such a large presence and market on the Internet definitely draws more young people to the hobby.

 

+1

 

I spend dateless and partial date buffalo nickels and wheatback cents. They will circulate a bit, and someone may take them home and give them to their kids.
They will get people looking stuff up, which may inspire a few collectors.

 

I don't understand what the connection is here?

 

Randy, I know it's a late reply, but the hobby has ALWAYS looked like a geritol commercial. It looked like that in the 70s.

Even if kids get started, they get sidelined with girls, cars, girls, college, girls, careers, girls, then family. 40 is our sweet spot where the family and career is going, and they look for a hobby. It has always been that way. The same sentiment of lack of youngsters gets postulated every 5 years, but it is meaningless. Usually 30-50 they learning the hobby, the 50-65 crowd making the larger purchases, and 65-80 crowd still participating but at a less expensive level. Overly broad, but a generality. Cumulatively, 1-29 participation is nothing really.

Yes, it's fun to see kids in the hobby, I give them ancient coins, but do not think it is the life or death of the hubby's future if they aren't there.

 

Good or bad, ebay is a major part of our hobby. If it were gone, there would be a giant hole that would take a long time to fill. Most dealer sites don't show much in the way of average collector coins. It's a lot of work for lower value coins.
This would make for some interesting changes in the hobby.

 

That's what killed baseball cards: too many varieties.

With traditional coins, it was basically 1 per year....at most a few per year with different mint marks.

With today's coins, you can have multiple varities.

I think that is one reason bill collecting is not as popular as coin collecting: too many varieties with serial numbers....Fed Districts...etc. It's no longer get a good quality 1935 and then 1936 etc....it's 6 different bills for 1935 and 8 for 1936....takes forever, lots more work, and lots more $$$.

 

But has it been INCREASING ??

Does anybody know what FUN, for example, looked like in size 10 years ago ? 30 years ago ? 50 years ago ?

 

But if you are using TPG material, at least you know what you are buying there.

I agree, with raw ungraded, the chance of fraud is very high. With graded stuff, not so much.

 

From my understanding they had licensed the use of the name to another company, the contract ended and wasn't renewed.

What else are you going to do with it? Throw it in the river? Melt it all down?

 

I wish my heirs would leave me some common junk....common Saint-Gaudens and junk silver or gold.

 

The PCGS name for bill grading was licensed out in the US. The license wasn't renewed and anyone outside the inner circle will likely never know the exact reasons. Google it.

As far as PCGS they are going to be starting to grade bills again in house in the near future as they announced that.

 

The hobby has supposedly been dying for centuries. Your complaints were the same your grandparents generation with your generation with the exception of posters on forums. Coin forums are such a minuscule part of collectors. Hobbys that take money are later in like hobbies generally, that's not rocket science.

Not trying to be a jerk, but just because something changes doesn't mean it's dying. Pretty sure it's not all 80 year olds buying everything online including sites that a lot of older collectors wouldn't even know.

Again not trying to be a jerk but as someone who would be next generation it gets so old hearing this nonsense about how everything is going to be gone because of the future blah blah blah.

If you really want something to get upset about the hobby about, focus on people who claim they know everything or that TPGs aren't as good as they are etc believing that is where people get taken advantage of the most.

 

OK, I didn't know that.

So we'll have 3 bill/currency grading companies. Interesting.....

 

The mints from all countries are doing exactly what the Baseball and Hockey card market did in the 1990s . The contracts ran out with Topps and O-pee-chee so all of a sudden there were 10 new card companies flooding the market with garbage such as Pro-Set hockey what a joke that was . I owned a hockey card and comic store which was doing really well ,which I sold when the market was peaking. The coin companies should see what they are doing by flooding the market with all kinds of things they are calling coins. One of the better things they are doing is having some issues with very short mint runs of less then 25K . I recommend to coin buyers especially newbies is to purchase very limited runs , and stick with old coins prior to the 1967 for Canadian and similar with US coins . The older issues all have a special feeling to them. Buy what you like not what you want and be careful of the ever expanding fakes that are also damaging the market and scaring away hoards of people. I am in the process of giving all my coins to my newest Grandson . I have been trying to send him a 15 pound box every month and have another 15 boxes to pack up . His dad is going to help him as he ages to understand the coins and their beauty as well as the fickle market place. We are experiencing a downturn in pricing ,or what I like to view as a correction in pricing. Too bad many people got caught up in the high pricing that is perpetuated by the grading companies. The TPGs are responsible for the upward stupidity in pricing and will eventually have to make a massive correction when people stop buying their tombed products which really does not make them all that much better then if the coins were raw. A piece of plactic holding the coin makes it all of a sudden worth 100 times more because of a personal opinion of a grading company . So does that mean the MS65 coin I have is worth less because the coin are raw and do not have Joe Blows plastic tomb . Wake up people . Stick to honest sellers , buy raw coins tell the tombers to get lost with their high priced money making game. Just a friendly opinion , take from it what you want , leave the rest . Dillan

 

Not to worry.

Had a ten year old buy a NGC PF69 UC $5 AGE from my table at recent show. Another young guy real sharp vest pocket trader in 6th grade bought some slabbed type in $200 range.

perhaps the hobby skipped a generation