I saw an estimate of 35 million coin collectors. Does anyone know a source for estimates of the number of collectors by coin denomination? I know that there must be fewer collectors of dollars or halves than pennies because face value of each dollar coin is 100 times as expensive as a penny. Thanks.
I don't know of an accurate estimate of the total number of coin collectors, let alone one by denomination. If you ask the US Mint, there were 120 million people collecting the State Quarters. That number is absurd in my opinion, beyond absurd. If you ask Q. David Bowers he estimates there are approx 1.5 million coin collectors. People on this forum have estimated everywhere from 200,000-300,000 to the 120 million the mint estimates. To me, just throwing coins from your change into a jar on the dresser does not make you a coin collector. To me, coin collectors at least have to have some purpose in mind. And they have to organize their coins. They don't have to collect by sets necessarily. But they are collecting for any of a myriad of reasons and actively seeking out the coins. Even if that is just going through their pocket change looking for specific coins. Those would be the minimum requirements before I would call anyone a coin collector.
Thanks for your reply. Does it make any sense to you that there would be more small denomination collectors than large denomination if they have a purpose in mind?
Woohooo...I meet the minimum requirements! By the way, Doug...that was a very astute observation in regards to the Mints claim of the number of coin collectors...they probably counted everyone who had coins in their pockets, too.
The US population is approx. 300 million. 1% of this amount is 3 million. How big is the city/town you live in? The population of my town is 18,000. I don't think there are as many as 180 serious coin collectors in my town but I feel there are more than 18 (300,000 nationally so to speak). Probably somewhere between 50 to 100.
I agree. Definition is everything here. If, by coin collector, you mean everyone who sees a state quarter (or territory quarter) and says "huh...that's different" and sets it aside on their dresser, then yeah...there are tens of millions. If you count the number who buy/sell on a regular basis, attend coin shows, participate on forums, etc., then the number is much smaller. "True" coin collectors, in the U.S., I'd place at a million or somewhat fewer.
Very confusing. Coin Collectors buy and sell. Those who collect coins only collect ? The truth is that they both effect supply and demand. I am a terrible collector because I never sell but I do have several collections. Are dealers collectors ? Very confusing.
Over the years I have visited this question several times and I have used three different methods to arrive at an estimate of the number of collectors. In each case the estimates settled around a figure of 1.5 to 2 million collectors. Trying to class collectors by denomination is a little misleading. Grouping them by series makes more sense. There are probably more collectors of Lincoln cents than anything else. But the number of collectors of Indian head cents is MUCH smaller, and of large cents smaller still. There are probably more collectors of dollars though than nickels, but more collectors of Buffalo nickels than Peace dollars, and more collectors of Morgans than Indian head cents. Lots of people collect Mercury dimes, almost no one collects seated dimes. I also believe that most collectors tend to collect the coins that were circulating while they were children, and the series before that one. Ususally the one that circulated when they were children theyare so-so about and they really like the older series. When I begin collecting most of the "old white guys"were collecting Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, and Franklin halves For the older series there were a lot of collectors of V Nickels, Barber coins, and Walking Liberty haves. Today the number of people building collections of V nickels. barbers, and walkers has declined considerably. Now the current sets are collected and thier older sets are the Buffalos, Mercury, and Franklins.
Thanks, Conder, for your comments. You are quite right that I should consider numbers for series, not denominations. I am most interested in the Kennedys right now because of the possibility of 60s silver and the low mintages of recent dates combined with their low cost compared to other series.
