There is a very good article on CoinWeek today about the changing trends in coin collecting and I think worth a little time to read, and a great deal of time to ponder. http://www.coinweek.com/coins/coin-...oom-generations-of-modern-us-coin-collecting/
Indeed, an interesting article. I guess I fall into that '11 category even though I started well before that. I satisfy most of their criteria for that category except for slabs: I don't buy them much. I was over 50 when I bought my first coin.
Well the difference in collecting styles and objectives leaves many of us '64s feeling like the hobby is dying. Truthfully it is changing, but there will always be collectors of both styles. By the way, the cover picture is creepy. Kind of a Beetlejuice creepy!
I'm absolutely part of the '11 class. I got into coins as silver bullion and made purchases based on spot price. After a while I became interested in the coins themselves particularly Peace dollars and Franklin halves. Slabs and collector/investor mentality are a large part of what turned me off to U.S. & modern coinage. I became interested in exonumia and eventually ancients. I own 4 coins in slabs and I want to sell every one of them! I think the hobby is fine it's just changed a bit.
I'm of the class of '64........but I absolutely adore 'Moderns', and I believe, many more of my generation do. The author is making generalizations with no substantiating data.
Hey, I'm both. I came in as a small child on the trailing edge of the '64 peak, picking up the interest from my older brother and my Mom's parents. I lost interest as a young adult, but got dragged back in during the 2011 tsunami.
I'm a 64 for sure. I am a slab hater and I have freed more large cents from them than I can count. Busted out 4 just last weekend.
Bloody hell, there was an bullion interest back in 2006/2005 when I was weening on the stuff. Bob Chambers suckered me in with his offerings, God rest him........
Maybe I'm a hybrid. I'm a '64 for sure, but mind neither slabs nor modern coins (though I am real picky). Also invest in gold bullion coins -- though I really don't consider that "collecting."
He lost my interest with the following statement: "The number of coin collectors peaked in the mid-1960s, reaching levels that we will (probably) never see again." Since I'd argue that the introduction of the State Quarters Program brought in a heck of a lot more collectors than those looking to cash in on grabbing all the silver they could from the bank.
I have been a collector for 48 years. I fall into both categories, the 1964 and the 2011 classes. Long a collector from circulation, I began collecting from gifts and the pocket change my father brought home from his store each day. Wheat cents were always a favorite! It was a time when Kennedy half dollars actually circulated, the great majority being silver clad. My grandmother expanded on my budding collection with a small group of silver dimes, quarters and a pair of Franklin halves. Her older sister (aunt) gave me her Mercury dime folder when she collected in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. Living in upstate New York, Canadian coins could be found often in change, many of them 80% silver. Lots of variety. My collecting never waned over the next 40 years but after the year 2010, I had better means to expand and enjoy modern coins worldwide and to a greater degree than I could have ever imagined. I buy many modern sets I would have seen in COINage, World Coin News and reading the listings found in the Standard Catalog of World Coins, 2nd edition. It was a very expensive book back in 1974, $12.50 a copy. eBay is a daily search and I keep a watch list of 200+ sets and coins. My inventory is on a computer instead of handwritten. I do buy with an eye toward underlying and intrinsic value of precious metal. One area I have only delved into twice is certified coins. I own only two, both 1994D proof-like commemoratives. I am no fan of slabs. Those of us from the 1964 era still remember Brown & Dunn grading guides. Of possible mention, the roll craze of the 1950's and early 1960's was passed over in the article.
It was a good article. I think there was a little too much emphasis collectors being either "64s" or the "11s". There are a lot of "in-betweeners" and many, many routes to collecting. I was a teen in the 60's, but didn't start collecting until the 80s. I think the article is on the mark about shows becoming more about socializing than buying and selling. However, the commercial aspect won't go away. The commercial aspect of shows consists of more than direct buying and selling. I'll often bring coins to shows to submit for grading or to auctions (saves postage). I also look at auction lots and sometimes pick-up won coins (again, saves postage). I buy most, but not all, of my more expensive coins via the internet, not at shows or at brick and mortar shops. However, a LCS with a good website is local to the world. Although I live in Calif., I have bought coins from LCSs on the east coast via their websites. There is a powerful interaction at work among shows, brick and mortar shops. and the internet ... at least powerful for those LCS dealers who take advantage of it. I've looked at coins offered by LCS dealers at shows or in their shops, and then finished the deal via the internet. I've also seen coins offered on the web by LCSs, then gone to their shop or booth at a show to look at the real thing. Venue interaction is the name of the game for me for buying. Cal
I guess I'm a blend of the two: I began my present collecting with bullion before finding my way into copper. I started collecting as a child (in the 1980s), but got serious as an adult (in 2011, ironically). My focus is almost entirely on exonumia and Civil War tokens in particular, but I love early Federal and pre-Federal copper issues. I focus on completing sets - my collection is 95% copper, so melt value has no bearing. I am a child of the computer revolution, so the internet is where the bulk of my exchanges occur - but let's be honest, we're all on this forum, so I have a feeling we all embrace it. I do, however, attend local and regional shows and auctions in person. There's nothing like a bourse negotiation in person. The bulk of the value in my collection was pressed between the years 1860 and 1865. Modern coins do nothing for me, but I do recognise their appeal to other collectors. I also won't call them junk, because there are some serious rarities and even minor varieties available to anyone with patience and $25 for a box of Lincolns. I own some, mostly birthdate sets for the family, and Libertads - I just love the design on this elegant type. I realize the benefits of the slab, but also realize their limitations. Most of my important coins are slabbed, and imaged. I do this more for storage and protection, and to participate in registry sets, than to assign a grade. I'm not opposed to buying raw coins - the bulk of mine are (or were), and slabbed coins are bought for the coin inside, not the label (full disclosure, some are bought for pedigree purposes, at least in part). I think that most of us would find ourselves straddling the fence, as the hobby itself does the same.
It sounds to me like the author is fronting for one of the precious metals factions rather than writing for Coin World. I seem to recall reading that the introduction of the State Quarter program brought more new collectors into the hobby than anything, and this had nothing to do with precious metals. Chris
I view slabbed coins very differently than apparently many of those posting who are '11s. Out of necessity I purchase many if not most coins over the internet. There are so many fakes out there that I view a slabbed coin as a form of defense against fakes. It isn't perfect because there are fake slabs, but I feel that there are a lot fewer faked slabs than faked coins. I have been building a very large grading set and in my series everything above MS64 starts to escalate exponentially in price. Slabs offer a real defense above that level because in all likelihood I will only be able to purchase a single coin in those grades in my lifetime. I am less of a fan of the TPGs than this might sound, but I do think they offer a service that has value. Thanks for all the comments and for taking time to read the article. It has sparked some good debate if nothing else.
Great article. However here is an issue, I am in the class of 64' but was born in 74' LOL. Thanks for the article!
I'm a bit of a hybrid, perhaps like other Class of '75s who thought the Bicentennial stuff was neat, started as a kid at the time when there were no silver coins or old designs in change anymore, then didn't have enough money to buy anything silver when the prices spiked, but did after it tanked. I liked the sets laid out in traditional books, and still do. I re-started collecting as an adult in the early 90s, after the initial slab boom-bust. I prefer to buy slabbed coins, since then I don't have to pay to slab them. Much of collecting for me now is research and collaboration and socializing, most of which is online. The social aspect of shows has become more important than buying stuff. One of the big differences between the '64s an '11s is when they started collecting. It shows that collectors don't need to start as kids. People bemoaning "there's no kids at the show" perhaps have the misconception that coin collecting is like playing baseball or piano -- you have to start young (which itself isn't really true). Heck, you could say that starting young pretty much guarantees lapse in collecting from ages 14-22. There are coin collectors to be made out of many adults with a collecting personality trait (which is innate, IMHO) that like money, history, economics, artistry, precious metals, etc.