Does coin collecting have a future?

yah, I think that BRandM nailed it ...

I started being interested in coins because my "Granny" would baby-sit me and she'd show me her pretty coins from England, etc, so I started a one cent collection and continued that throughout my life ...

=> but it wasn't until my mid-40's when all of a sudden I had enough disposable cash and a need to find a new/old hobby => that is when I returned to coin collecting and started taking-over where Granny had left off!!

=> oh, and don't think that we're all gonna die-off and there won't be anybody else to buy our pretty coins ... ummm, there is always gonna be a new wave of 40+ year olds rolling down the pike waiting to start-up where their Grannies or their Grand-dads left off!!

 

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I'm happy to report that I have interested my niece of 8 years to the hobby of coin collecting. Last week my brother, his girl friend, niece and my best friend went out for lunch. We decided to go to my house to see my newborn and his mother, I showed my niece my collection of coins while my brother and best friend mocked and made fun of me as a geek or old man collecting coins. Well my niece said "wow this is so coo!!" everyone shut up, I glowed with happiness that I had a real connection with my niece. At that point I gave her a 1945 walking liberty half dollar, I told her it was hers. By the end of the afternoon she had picked out a few more coins that she seemed interested in. I found out the next day that she took her new collection to school so that she could show her friends. I believe that I have done my part to spread the hobby that day and gain a "coin buddy" in my niece.

 

Numismatics has ALWAYS been an older man's hobby. The demographics have been that way for at least 80 years... but, if you firmly believe that it's a dying hobby, I'll buy your collection for 80% of grey sheet.

 

I remember seeing a photo of a big coin show in Singapore last year. It was a photo of the line to get in. I didn't see anyone in that photo who wasn't young.

 

Yes they do, along with phone cards, and just about anything you can think of!
This question is very common on almost any forum that deals in collections or items no matter what they are about. Any as been stated a number of times, the younger crowd mostly doesn't have the disposable income to collect in earnest. As any on here who has had a family can recall.

I know that since I am only interested in exonumia and not coins in the collecting sense. I do leave a nice amount when I go into the few B&M LCS. And only because of the point I am in life.

A lot of items that were big ticket antiques when us old farts were YN's are now loosing in value when sold. Mostly from the fact that the items in question are to far removed form yn's life and experience. So they have little interest in them, unless they were exposed to them as a child.

Stamps is one collecting area, that is suffering more than others. Due partly from the fact that the Stamp companies bought so many sheets when they were released. And the number of people that collected sheets, plate blocks and plenty of singles.
Having had a father that collected stamps in sheet and plate blocks. And the collectors shops in this area paying about 30% of face value. Due to the number of people selling them, and the low numbers of people looking to buy them.

Coins will always have a following whether it is just collecting topical's, that seems to becoming more popular. Or by countries there will be an ever changing parade of collectors.
As some people that inherit generic coin album collects just spend them when they find out what the LCS will pay for them. Roll hunting is still a large segment of the hobby.

Besides most coins will always be face value, like my mother 85yrs, state quarter collection (she never meet a state quarter that she let go of) She still insists that they will be worth more than a quarter some day. Nothing anyone can say will change her mind.

Prices will go up and down, and there will always be new collectors to fill the voids of those that leave this mortal coil!

 

I have a shellac record collection. I wonder if it'll put my kids through college in 16 years.

 

It's all about money.

 

That is a bit different...

#1) They're Asian. They look young. They might have been 50-60. (Joking, obviously.)
#2) They might have been there to buy gold, not necessarily coins.
#3) It's the International Coin Fair! Singapore promotes the heck out of it. It's kind of like a state fair.

 

I was at a bookstore the other day and saw a bunch of middle schoolers looking at ATB quarter folders, so there's hope

 

I think the state quarters and ATB quarters are helping younger people to begin to enjoy coin collecting. I myself have collected on and off since I was in my early 20s. I ended up selling off my early collections to help pay the bills having had a family to feed. Now that my sons are grown up I have gotten back into the hobby and have much more disposable income than I ever had while providing for my family. I think that is the case with several younger collectors. Many will come back as they become empty nesters and move towards retirement age. Coin collections are a wonderful legacy to pass on to your grandchildren after you leave this world.

 

It is a VERY common scenario. Very few collectors start young as stay with it all their life. They discover coins, then the coins drop by the wayside as they discover cars, girls college, family and career. Then when the kids move out someof them then come back to coins and stay with them the next thirty to forty years.

I was at a fish fry this week end and aswith past ones I noticed that they were almost no young people or kids there. You see the same thing in more upscale restaurants. Does this mean in the future people are going to give up eating? (Yeah I know, eventually all restaurants will be Taco Bell.)

 

I die, my kids get my coins. You now have two new collectors.

 

I've grown in the Hobby . I Didn't become interested until 31 when my friend showed me his Silver Rounds collection . Fascinated by the Designs I visited my first coin store and discovered 19th Century coins . Now it's 35 yrs later and I'm still fascinated by designs on coins .
I personally feel the Numismatic Hobby will continue to intrigue and attract young people .

 

I realize this old thread was necro-bumped by a new member (as newbies are wont to do), but thought this comment by Condor was worth noting.

I have to believe what you describe is a chain of events that has played out countless times in the lives of coin collectors. It certainly did for me. I got interested in coins around age 8, thanks to a much older cousin who was a collector. I later put my collecting pursuits on the back burner for — you guessed it — girls, cars, college, building a career and starting a family. I became a serious active collector again by around age 30. That’s earlier than in the scenario you cite, but in broad terms it’s still the same process: get the bug at a young age, set it aside for a while, then come back to it for good.

 

I should also add, my son is following a similar pattern. I got him interested at a young age, but now, at 24 and two years out of college, he's focused on starting his career. What's interesting is that, even though he's not actively collecting right now, he's still very much into coins in a passive sense. When I bring him coins from a foreign country, he's quite interested and appreciative, and when he did a study abroad program in Australia three years ago, he brought a bag of Aussie coins home with him and promptly encased the best ones in 2x2s. I'll be surprised if he doesn't become more actively engaged again in a few years.

 

My youngest son (now 34) laughs at me as I CRH. So I told him I wasn't doing it just for my enjoyment but also for his grand kids and that he was to pass it on to them. Although I'm not too sure the zinc clad coins of this age will make it to their age.

 

It's always been an old rich mans pastime. Coin cabinets and collections have been verified in digs in Rome with small cache's of obviously objects that indicate the owner had a purpose for the coins selected.

I started collecting when I was seven years old or so and I'm still at it. The hobby is adapting to the change in the culture of the hobby. It's always good to remember we are just care-takers of our coins, then to pass them on to future owner properly cared for. I firmly believe it will survive because it isn't just about the money, it's about meeting new friends, learning how coins were used in business, as well as a means of sharing information. It is a worthy pursuit.

The attachment is a British token struck by a chemist/slash druggist. It certqainly
made it's way to me because it was cherished by numerous owners since it was minted. That is our reponsibility, it's not always about the money, though money is a good thing. The great collections are our gift. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

There is a genetic quirk that makes some of us hoarders, er, collectors of interesting, rare, or beautiful things. Exactly what things varies with time, culture, and what we are exposed to. As we enter more and more into a cashless society, fewer young hoarders will be exposed to collectible cash, and so we can expect fewer collectors to enter the hobby the way most of us older types did. On the other hand, there are plenty of avenues to expose new collectors to coins, even some that we older collectors look askance at, such as u-tube videos and the marketing of "rare" novelty products from over-zealous mints. And those of us also afflicted with a history-loving gene will always be attracted to coins as one of the cheapest ways to actually own a piece of history, whether relatively recent or, especially, ancient. One of the biggest items attracting the interest of potential collectors today is the astronomical prices paid for rare, or even nearly rare, pieces. This attracts people who see coins as a way to invest and get rich. There is a danger here, however, in that some of the prices may be reaching up into the bubble stratosphere, and the winds of caution and change could pop the bubble, chasing away the investors, if a few of these million dollar babies should lose money on the resale. The true collectors will still be there, however.

 

Numismatics is my drug of choice. The most important benefit to this passion is that we also collect many friends along the way. Cheers.