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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3581485, member: 19463&quot;]I can&#039;t help thinking I would have been better off had I told everyone lies like &quot;fake&quot;, &quot;ruined if cleaned&quot; and &quot;too rare to dream of&quot; back in the day when most here were being driven out of the US hobby by expense and boredom.&nbsp; Many collecting hobbies are dying as old people cut back on buying and young people buy experiences rather than &quot;things&quot;.&nbsp; There are still more ancient coins than there are collectors but that will not matter when the only coins in demand are the top 1% to be fought over by the wealthy and museums.&nbsp; To survive, young people need to be let in on the secret that &quot;fake&quot;, &quot;ruined if cleaned&quot; and &quot;too rare to dream of&quot; are lies and there are coins in every price bracket, every historical period and every sub-specialty available if they want them when they tire of climbing mountains and jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.&nbsp; When we tell new people the hobby has no place for them, it will be true.&nbsp; The museums will spend more commissioning &#039;new&#039; art than acquiring &#039;old&#039;.&nbsp; Fewer schools still offer Latin language. Fewer people know there was history before they were born as schools only teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).&nbsp; People seeking degrees in arts and humanities are becoming rare for practical reasons.&nbsp; I&#039;m not worried that the hobby will die before I do.&nbsp; Those among us that are younger might want to consider what they can do to insure there are generations yet unborn who remember and care.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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