Are the collectors going to die off?

I'm glad I'm not the only tightwad here..lol

Hell, I don't even have cable at home, I'd rather be outside doing something then sitting around the house.


I do have to agree though that the average age of the collector is growing. At the coin club I'm in I'd say the average age is 60+

We only have 3 kids under 18 who attend and they're children of members.

 

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I know... I was there.

 

As a young professional (27) in the coin buisness I have noticed that there are more and more people in my age range walking the floors and setting behind the tables. I have just noticed this is the last few years. Before then I was a bit worried because I was almost always the youngest kid in the room at most coin shows. Whether it's the gold and silver prices bringing the entrepreneurs out or if people of my generation are finally starting to apprecieate the hobby. I don't know.

 

Maybe that is because more of the YN's coin"clubs" are such places as cointalk, collectors universe, etc.

 

Ultimately everything is a fad.

You really need to take a closer look at those coins you consider will always be "good coins" or "good investment" or "solid value". They're great coins and I love them as much as you do but you're missing the big picture here. These coins are mostly owned by people born between 1946 and 1964. These are older people now. Time stopped in 1965 only for coin collectors. The rest of the world just kept right on racking up new dates each year. Now these older people who own these coins are going to start selling. Do you really think the newbies who have been insulted and had their coins insulted are going to be the biggest buyers of these coins. What most don't appreciate is ultimately they'll be the only buyers. When someone gives up collecting because he's told his collection is junk you've lost a future buyer forever. When someone turns to eBay because dealers won't make fair offers you've lost an audience.

People talk about "real coins" made before 1965 but there are lots of "real collectors" who don't collect them. There are lots of "real collectors" who have been driven out of the hobby by those who think they are fools. Be this as it may who are the people who retired this year going to sell their collections to? The simple fact is there are going to be huge numbers of all these old coins coming into the market over the next fifteen years. Most will be snapped up by old collectors who'll have them right back on the market in a few years.

Where you should be cultivating young collectors and encouraging them you're telling them that 97% of moderns are common. Well guess what; 97% of old coins are common too. This is just the way things work. To the degree that older collectors want to exclude beginners and those who collect moderns they are setting themselves up for a potentially rude awakening. Demand for moderns isn't nearly so dependent on these considerations and supply just keeps drying up because modern collectors tend to be young and have growing collections.

These are facts though most won't see them soon.

Time really does fly so it won't feelk like it's been very long.

 

I'm a 28 year old collector. I started getting into coins when I was around 10 or so. 90% of my family (elders) collected to some degree at some point prior. My collecting interest fell off for a decade. I still purchased but very infrequently. There's alot going on during the 16-26 year old years and I think this is partly responsible for the perceived "gap." I talk to friends in my same age group today, and am very surprised to find out how many of them collected in the past. Many will return to the hobby some day. Also, the basic fact that population is growing should play a role in any observation.

The hobby is not going to die off...

 

That is the bottom line. It is good for the hobby and good for collectors.

Most dealers not only basd mouth moderns but make no effort to stock them or give younger customers a break or encouragement. Since newbies tend to be less sophisticated they might even have to pay more. But the worst part is in their offers to buy. Sure, they don't make verey strong offers on old coins either but these are established markets where values are more set in stone so fifty to ninety percent of wholesale isn't that bad. But with moderns they don't even seem to care what whoilesale is. They might actually offer melt value on MS-70 eagles or face value for a roll of 1983 quarters.

So modern collectors have to be their own dealers and find their own suppliers. They are excluded from the hobby.

Of course this has been changing the last few years so I don't want slam dealers but I amn trying to make a point about the demographics in the hobby for the next couple generations. Some things about the future really can be predicted. Events can't be and short term trends are always invisible, but demographics is often "known" far in advance. In this case it's apparent that old line dealers and collectors would be better served by encouraging new collectors than shutting them out.

 

This is an interesting thread and I hope you don't mind if I jump into the discussion. I find the above thoughts kind of curious because they sound a bit drastic. It seems to me that if a young person has his coins "insulted" by a dealer, or told they're "junk," he'll likely deem that dealer a jerk and not return. But I'd have a hard time believing that he would be so fragile and ambivalent about his hobby that he would give it up never to return. Being told that a set of State Quarters, for example, is not rare and not worth much seems to be a right of passage that every budding collector goes through. And often, the dealer will tell the youth there's no reason he still can't enjoy his carefully assembled set!

When I began collecting as a kid in the early 70's, I usually yawned at the new proof set my dad had just brought home; I was much more excited by the handful of beat-up Morgans my grandfather had given me. I would think it the case with today's young collectors. We are all drawn toward exotic things.

 

I never said that there weren't any. What I was getting at is how could you determine the entire market from a online forum poll? The only thing that poll showed was the age grouping on this forum, nothing else

 

Here's the good news : these are the guys who will revolutionize the hobby / industry. They already are.

It's the young folks who bring in new ideas and new technologies. Already, we see more and more folks wired in with electronic info on both sides of the table. Knowledge is power at deal time.

 

How can we say modern collectors are excluded from the hobby when millions of modern collectibles are minted every year ?

 

I'm turning 29 in a few weeks and have been active in the hobby since I was 11. When I started, I almost never saw any other young coin collectors, and Margo Russell authored one of the few coin books for kids available at the time.

Now, there's youth everywhere in the hobby. The America the Beautiful Quarters are going to sustain interest in coins for at least 11 more years (if not 22). The Lincoln cent series is as strong as ever.

I don't see coin collecting going away anytime, and I believe it will continue to see great influxes of interest and collectors as the economy improves. Blue skies ahead!

 

Why do these discussions always turn into an argument over future values of coin collections? Am I really the only one here who can honestly say I could care less if my collection is worth 10 million or 10 dollars in 50 years?! I just don't get it.
Guy~

 

Not everyone is looking to make a profit, but I would assume that most people would like to see their collections retain most of their values. I would hate to buy a coin for $1,000 and then have the hobby tank and have the coin only worth $250 1month or 25years down the road.

 

I think a number of older baby boomers, and older men , got started in coins because of having paper routes and collecting the monthly charge. I haven't seen a kid on a bicycle delivering papers for years. So that avenue of entry is dead. I believe the children of these collectors are for the most part not interested in their dad's or grandads hobby. Coin collecting will not die off, but I believe the total of number of collectors will greatly decrease as baby boomers sell off their collections, and there won't be enough newbies to replace them. My advice is to sell now IF you will need the money in the next 5-10 years. I see coin values going down. Aren't prices already going backwards, from a few years ago?

 

One thing I wanted to point out is technology. I think younger kids today are focused on video games, smartphones, internet, computers, facebook and so on. Yeah we have coin websites/forums but I see young ones growing up and the first thing they get exposed to is something tech. I see it getting more techy in the years ahead.

 

Yes, One Coin, prices are down for many collector coins, but that's largely because of the economy.

Bullion coins have done remarkably the past few years. Still, people will always be after collector coins like the 1909-S VDB and 1914-D cents, 1916-D Mercury dime, and 1916 Standing Liberty quarter.

Other areas may see growth as new demographics of collectors come in.

 

I shouldn't speak in generalities and as I said things have been changing for the better in the last few years. More dealers pay more attention to moderns and there isn't nearly the old boys club mentality of ten years ago. I'd still wager though that there are far more conversations about and far more catering to the needs of old coin collectors rather than new coin collectors in the shops. This is natural to a large degree because this is where most of the demand is and most of collectors.

Trends concern me far more than situations and the trend here seems to be in the right direction; inclusiveness.

 

I know what you mean with regards to the 1916-D. I have been looking for one in Fine condionton for a few months now and am overwhelmed by the number of Fair, Good, and Very Good dimes out there for sale. There are even quite a few EF and XF's out there.

 

Well, let's face it, most of the states quarters aren't really worth anything. Most of them are typical examples of typical states. People will have lots of rolls of Hawaii right now but how many Tennessee. If people do have a tougher roll like a P Delaware it's a safe bet it will be pretty typical because most people didn't go looking for choice rolls.

But old timers often don't stop to think about some of these distinctions. Just because someone collects states coins doesn't mean he's an unsophisticated boob with worthless coins. Indeed, even if his coins are worthless he might strill be learning a lot about numismatics and collecting. And the coins aren't necessarily so worthless. He just might have the extra leaf WI issues or have gone to the trouble to track down superb specimens of the early coins. Just maybe since all the mint set coins are SF now his '05 to date gems are going to soar in value in the next several years. Maybe he's been cherrying the proof and mint sets or buying slabbed coins from the major graders.

I tend to see the same thing when people ask about newer coins; a chorus telling him to spend them. Sure, many times this is the best advice but this same advice is one of the reasons it's so hard to find older clad rolls. Dealers would just hand them back and advise the person to spend them. There weren't many to start with and then this didn't help.

No one should ever be belittled because of his collection. I suppose my little buffalo nickel collection back in 1957 was pretty pathetic by most peoples' standards but no one needs to be told that their coins are junk and will never be worth anything. There are far better ways to break it to someone than to be discouraging. It breaks my heart to see young children walk into a coinm shop excitedly and walk out dejectedly. They may not stop collecting but it can't be good for them, their coins, or the hobby.

Again, in the last few years I really think people have been doing a pretty good job with encouraging kids. It's no one's responsibility and we all have other things to do.