Another coin show story

I think most people are getting tired of coin show stories. I think I'm getting borred going to them. We have so many around here it is getting tiresome. I just got back from a coin show in a place called Itasca. There is one there on the 3rd Sunday of every Month. As usuall I arrived a little early and even made comments to a few dealers how empty the place was. Then just as I said that it was like someone opened the flood gates and in started pouring in more dealers and buyers. The place got so crowded I ended up having to leave by about 9:30AM. It is, as most coin shows around here free to get in and free to park. Prices of coins were a little on the high side although I did manage to spend about $1,000. As usual though most of the people there were as old as me. Really getting worried that there is no future coin collectors.

 

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I like coin show reports. Unfortunately, I don't have any good monthly coin shows near me.

Charlie

 

You raise a good point Carl. I know when I pass on to the great coin safe in the sky, all my work will have been for nothing. None of my kin are into coins,they will just sell them(and get ripped off). Its sad.

 

I'm normally the youngest at the monthly Toledo show, aside from those kids being pulled along by parents/grandparents. Kind of disappointing to see really.

 

We have several coin shows a Month around here. Today there was two of them. One just West of me and the other about twice as far to the North. There is one every second Sunday of every Month just south of me. Then there is the usuall massive ones every once in a while. For instance there is a Chicago International Coin Fair coming up on March 30 to april 2. I don't like that one even though I usually go. They carge $5 to get in and there is $11 to park. They made sure there is no place to park free in the area. They built so much garbage there and all parking is paid.
Then we have coin stores or stores that sell coins around here also. One great disapointment was a local indoor flea market closing recently. There was about 6 coin dealers there that had the greatest prices anywhere. With all this going on I thought people would get tired of hearing about all these shows.
And another really horrible thing is the lack of any YN's at these shows or stores. One nice thing about this is that most of the people at these shows make me feel like a kid and I'm well into my 60's. One dealer told me he wasn't really a dealer. He was just selling off his entire 60 years of collecting because none of his relatives want anything to do with the coins. My son is the same. Don't know what will happen to my coins when time comes. He will probably just take them to a bank.

 

As long as your coins bring you pleasure now, that is what matters.
As for your collection not being passed on, who knows. It may stay in the family as a keepsake of you or it may be sold. But if sold think of what brought you pleasure was used to bring pleasure in another way to the next generation.

 

Stories?

Just Carl, or anyone who feels like answering for that matter, could you point me to where the coin show stories are? I've never been to one but plan to go, sometime this year probably, and would like to check out these stories. I've been reading quite a bit here but haven't dug them up yet. Thanks

 

well heres a little hope for you. I'm a 17 year old, and am very much into coin collecting. although my collection is sort of on the small side, its growing, and i hope that i can continue my hobby for many years to come.

 

Went to a show in Portland, Maine today. Pretty small show, not really crowded, and alot of really nice coins!!!

Myster --Age 32

 

So sell your coins already!!

I have little patience for the whining that the seasoned citizens around here reserve for the pending doom of the hobby when they all die. Life WILL go on without you! If you want to maximize the sale price of your unwanted (by your heirs) collection then arrange to sell it before you die or set up a way for it to be sold after you die so that you won't burden them with it.

On a seperate point the hobby isn't dying!! I'm 28 and as such I'm still on the young end of collectors, but I am unusual becasue most people my age don't have the disposable income to expend on rare coins. The cost of rare coins precludes the lower classes from collecting the kinds of coins that would require attending coin shows to find. As people age and their disposable income increases they become interested in new hobbies and coin collecting is one of them. This is one of the main reasons that the hobby is populated with older people.

Maybe this is harsh, but from a numismatic perspective I'm looking forward to the baby-boomers dying. Right now the boomers are at a point in their lives where they are entering numismatics and I believe that is one of the reasons that prices have been on the rise so steadily the last few years. There are more of them buying than there are collections being broken up right now. Once the boomers pass on then the next generation will see a decrease in prices as demand falters.

The sky is NOT falling, even if your kids don't care about your coins.

 

That's the exact point I tried to make in the Poll thread about collector age - only you expressed it much better than I did.:thumb:

 

I just went to a coin show about 1/2 an hour east of me. Although the attendees were older (and white - but then I'm in western PA), there were quite a few people in their 30s and 40s, even among the dealers. And I'm 34, incidentally.

 

Same here,

I'm prolly younger than a lot of these guys (no offence ment) still twice your age, (30s) but I've got my Daughter (10) hooked and my g/f (30s) and we are working on a few of her friends...

 

I frequently see a lot of people that doom and gloom that our fine hobby is fading, to which I can't really argue... What I wnt to know is what are you doing about it?

How often do you try to share it with others???

How often do you give a new (young or old) person positive re-informent about the hobby? When you talk about it, do you portray it as a tired old hobby thats sadly dieing, or do you show and share the joy that you truely get from this fine hobby?


How often have you give someone a coin to try and get them started?

As I Posted in another thread like this I think its our job to get started promoting it, vs just doting on it dieing out or not being able to get people interested...

I don't mean to sound pushy, but its your Hobby... Make it grow or watch it die....

 

fading hobby?

I don't know if the hobby is fading or not, I am trying to get my kids involved ( so far, so good ). I wonder how many younger people getting into collecting just buy online as apposed to going to shows??? There could be a lot of computer aged collectors we never see.

 

Whoops!! Double posted...

 

Maybe this is harsh, but from a numismatic perspective I'm looking forward to the baby-boomers dying. Right now the boomers are at a point in their lives where they are entering numismatics and I believe that is one of the reasons that prices have been on the rise so steadily the last few years. There are more of them buying than there are collections being broken up right now. Once the boomers pass on then the next generation will see a decrease in prices as demand falters.

The sky is NOT falling, even if your kids don't care about your coins.[/QUOTE]


Hey Cave Troll...
Thats not so cool to say that you will be happy when the Boomers Die off...everyone has to face their own mortality and fate...it can happen to you, me or anyone at anytime. Besides the way our Government is printing money (fiat) by the time Boomers have passed on and the X Gen comes up..they will not be able to afford the hobby as you think they will. The cost of living, rasing a family and just plain survival is on the rise and probally will be for quite some time. A quality investment is just that, however, the main difference between our hobby and a more traditional investment vehicle like stocks are that the majority of the investment grade coins are influenced by the commodity price of the metal they are minted with. Then the Numismatics come into play...rarity, condition, availability, mintages...and the good ole traditional 10-20 % the dealers need to make to stay afloat and earn some profit..then again you have your Bull and Bear Markets in coins as well as stocks...one never truly knows the up or down side of any market until they find themselves right in the middle of it.
Who knows buy the time the Boomers do pass on that % may well be higher than 20%! Becareful what you wish for.

RickieB

 

Send them all to me... I'll watch over them and guard them with my life....

 

I'm 36 and been collecting coins since I was 8. This is a interesting Hobby for me. My kids light up when I give them a BU quarter to put in their collections. This hobby is not dying, it is growing. The new generation are way more involved via computer. They don't need to go to coin shows unless for fun or a specific coin that they can't find online. Don't worry, all collectibles go through phases. Well, there's my two cents worth. :mouth: Sgklee

 

Good point....

I myself have never been to a coin show, I've never even seen sign or a flyer for one... I don't know anyone in person thats been to one... I don't even know any other coin collectors excpet my daughter and I don't know if I'd call her real collecteor as shes just starting...

Also, I started out buying my few treasures online on Ebay, Apmex and a a few other places as I did not know of any local shops... Then, after I started taking it more serious and thinking ist something I want to do long term, I made the effort and started looking for a few shops..