Sweden closer to cashless society

That's my point. Electronicsus ruining the hobby.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

That's my point. Electronics are ruining the hobby.

 

No they aren't. More people than ever are being exposed and collecting from the internet. If someone just wants the hobby to be coin shows and coin clubs then yes you could say it is, but if the measurement is number of collectors it certainly isn't

 

I have to disagree, sir, and his is coming from someone who both preferred face-to-face, and generally shunned electronic opportunities in favor of it. However, if by "ruining" you simply mean changing, I wholeheartedly agree.

 

The 'nays' have been pointing this out for years, yet our hobby continues to thrive.......

 

I'm convinced that since the very first coin collector, every generation has thought the hobby was dying and they were going to be the last collectors

 

Nope. Not (nut?) us.........

 

It won't die, but it will change. No one collects roll like they did in the '60s, and fewer people put date/mm sets together. And now it's called toning instead of tarnish.

 

I agree - the Internet has allowed people access to much more knowledge. Whether they use it or not is another story.

 

Certainly it has changed and will continue too. You are right that rolls and full set runs are a lot less popular now a days. With grading and the massive availability of whats on the internet collectors are definitely more into type collecting or just buying whatever looks good to them. I would say world coins are far more popular as well than what they used to be with US collectors

 

Which is good, but now I have to pay more for the better stuff.

 

Hi all, I'm relatively new to posting here, but I thought I'd chime in since this is a subject that's been on my mind as well.

I think many of us can relate to picking up a "cool" coin when we were younger, or experiencing a moment of fascination with a coin or coins which helped us get into the hobby of collecting. As we do inevitably move toward using less coins and currency, there will, in my mind, be a lesser catalyst for new collectors to pick up the hobby.

On the other hand, the same technologies that may hurt the hobby in some ways by making monetized coins less common or obsolete will also help it in others. Just look at what's happened in recent years. Since the rise of the internet, coin prices have risen MUCH faster than the rate of inflation, and arguably also faster than prices of almost any non-commodity good. This is during a time where cash transactions have been falling. This must be due at least in part to a greater availability of information and a new level of access to formerly more geographically limited markets.

Future generations may not have as much childhood or early adulthood exposure to coins as we have had, but they will undoubtedly come into contact with coinage in some shape or form. It's human nature to want to get close to history and to feel it in some way, and to collect things. Coins will probably always remain a preferable way to do that. There is no other single historic and accessible "thing" you can collect from nearly all ages in recorded history. Not stamps. Not guns. Not books.

Coins are one of the best ways to stay in contact with human history, and I'm inclined to believe that won't change even in my lifetime.

On a side note, I find it funny that I can write this with such confidence. Only a week ago, I expressed a similar doubt to my wife about collecting "toy" soldier figures. I wondered if the store I had bought them from would go out of business at some point. Her response: "I don't think so. People will always enjoy things with a history attached to them."

If I am wrong, my current modest collection may drop precipitously in value. BUT, as a lifelong I-don't-care-what-others-think collector, I will look at the glass as half-full and go on the coin shopping spree of a lifetime to make up for it

 

On the other hand though, if it wasn't for grading and the internet market you may have never had a chance at that better stuff if the only way to get it was coin shows and your local dealers.

 

While I am far from promoting Bitcoin, I am sure there will be ways of getting around that "control". People have always been creative when it comes to such issues - even if it was only due to the problem that country-specific payment systems may lock travelers out.

Christian

 

Even if and when Sweden goes cashless, what stops Sweden from making commemoratives or collector coins and selling them electronically? It's all about markets and consumers. I don't collect modern collector coins (e.g., Eagles) or coins in circulation that have boatloads of MS69 or MS70 grades- they don't interest me but apparently there is a market for these products (called coins). Plenty to collect for the next 2000 years (right ancients?) even if modern coins become obsolete.

 

Nothing other than profitability. If they can make money selling collector coins and want to keep selling them they could, there's no rules to going cashless they get to decide how they want to do it

 

Most people here in Canada carry cash. Most people prefer cash to cheques/credit card payments. The "modern" methods of payment via credit cards have put many into uncontrolled spending sprees=debt problems In the good "old" days gold/silver/copper currency was the norm, hence no inflation Also, the mints produced beautifull works of art that were used for commerce. Here is an example from Germany/ Regensburg.

 

Uh-oh. Inflation has been around for at least two millennia, probably longer. Do a search for Diocletian and inflation for example. And wasn't it Nero who had various coins debased because he needed to finance his ambitious projects? Or take that silver that the Spaniards brought to Europe from South America - what happens if you create more "precious" metal but do not increase the number of products and service that it can buy?

Right, your gold coin above (nice piece!) was worth its value in gold back then. But of course that value fluctuated. And for most people, gold was not anything they would use or even see in everyday life. The money that they did use, however, would lose its value whenever a ruler decided that it was time to replace silver by copper, or to make a denomination smaller, or when other circumstances made that necessary. No inflation? Phhhh ...

Christian

 

Sweden may force banks to keep cash available.

https://www.bloombergquint.com/poli...ly-to-force-banks-to-handle-cash-transactions

 

I suspect that once people realize that this leaves them at the mercy of the Riksbank and its fondness for negative interest rates, some of the enthusiasm may fade.