What are the kids into these days?

I have prepared sets for my 20 great grandkids and sent them. Now I am sending packages of obsolete coins to my brothers and sisters grandkids and great grandkids. I have a bunch of stuff. I am including some ancient Native American artifacts in some packages. I have a bazillion of those too that I found. Let's get kids interested in something that doesn't include electronics.

 

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Yes, but they both have done a lot of damage, too, and you can’t excuse them from that. They have to do a better job curbing bad info and thieves...IMHO...Spark

 

We will never be able to put what's right ahead of what's profitable.

 

Too true. But you can avoid both businesses...Spark

 

That would be true of me, too. I guess I started when I got an IHC in change from the ice cream man when I was a kid and had to ask my Dad what it was. And I remember all the SLQs and silver Washingtons my mom used to give me for lunch money. Mercs and Walkers were still circulating in the early 1960s as well. One other thing that got me interested was when they got rid of the silver in 1965. I was 10 years old then. But I was far more into stamp collecting than coins. I got rid of my silver when I was out of work and needed cash around 1979-80 when silver had hit a peak, and didn't pursue it again until recently. Now I like to collect Franklin halves, not only because of the silver content, but also because it's a coin that I remember. I just recently completed a circulated collection of them. Now I'll gradually improve on the condition those coins are in.

 

So have shows, so have LCS, for have coin forums etc. There's bad info everywhere.

 

Well so has the internet, social media, millions of dishonest flea markets, bad or illegal businesses, and the list goes on and on. I would rather focus on the positive, more people introduced to coins and the hobby!!

 

I applaud your positive outlook. It’s just those two entities are 2 of the worst to affect coin collecting most directly. Etsy is a third.

All we can do is the right thing, and be wary and cognizant of those who don’t. New members don’t know, nine times out of ten, so it is up to us to tell them while we stay positive about the hobby...imo...Spark

 

I hear you, all collectors need to educate themselves before they buy things. Unlike well known items we buy all the time, as you know Collectables are very subjective.

millions of good transactions happen on eBay all the time, very few are bad comparatively. I agree it’s buyer beware, but walk into any jewelry store or pawn shop in the country and blindly buy jewelry and your likely in trouble as well.

 

Or any coin show, or lcs etc. The only difference is people will never know those happened.

 

I think we Boomers are too hard on the kids these days. I started collecting in the 1960's when I was 11 or 12 and my folks showed me a cigar box of circulated silver, buffalo nickels, and wheat cents they plucked from circulation.

I started sorting them by type, date, and mint mark, so, amused, they let me keep them. I bought a few Whitman folders at the LCS and the rest is history.

Back then, we searched pocket change for silver, war nickels, and wheat cents. We didn't know much but we kept learning. We dreamed of the elusive 16-D, 32-D or 55 double die which we never found.

Kids today search for errors in the same way. There's not much else to hunt for on a newbie's budget.

I was lucky that the LCS owner's wife was sympathetic to kids like me coming to the shop on my bike to buy circulated dimes and quarters. I still have those low-priced pieces in my collection. Today I can afford a few nicer pieces but those XF-45 Mercury's are still special.

Today's error hunters are a lot like me 50 years ago.

 

I started around 7 with Lincoln cents. Wheat pennies were still often seen in circulation as was the occasional silver. But it was a large cent and a 2 cent piece that really got me going. Once I found early coins I never went back

 

Im 17 and my local coin show got canceled cause of the hurricane down here on the gulf coast but when I go to shops and shows ive only seen 2 kids younger than me and they were boy scouts trying to get a badge

 

@Corn Man ...hang in there. Where are you on the gulf coast?
I lost long time friends to Katrina in 2005...Waveland/Bay St. Louis.

BTW... the old eye of Laura is sitting on top of me right now here in Conway Arkansas. ...Spark

 

Lousiana they just rescedualed the gulf coast coinshow so imma just go to new orleans and blow all my money I saved up for it

 

No, but that isn't unusual. Historically there have never been a lot of young people at shows. Loot at convention pictures from the early ANA shows. What do you see? A bunch of old white guys. Jump forward and look at the pictures from shows or club officers in the30's 40's 50's etc and what do you see? Old white guys. Young people are constantly coming into the hobby, but as a rule they only hang around for a couple years so you never see large groups. But when they come back in their 30's and 40's they stick around for 30 years or more That gives them a chance to accumulate into large groups by age and be noticeable.

From what I understand there are also large groups of young people in active Facebook and instagram groups. No personal experience here as I don't have accounts in social media.

Exactly, that is why there is such a large interest in errors and varieties today. It is the only thing you have any realistic chance of finding in pocket change or rolls today. You really have no chance finding an SVDB, a 14 D, heck even common silver is very unlikely. But could you find a 99 WAM? Yes, we even had someone recently turn up a 92 D CAM cent. A 72 , 84, 95 DDO is rare but they do still turn up. Errors and varieties are the go to items for todays young people hoping to find SOMETHING good in their change.

 

Agreed. Pocket change is tough as it’s such garbage anymore. Best advice I got Is befriend an older experienced numismatist or dealer. As they can get you started and supply your collecting of so many classic series that other than the keys cost very little. IHC wheat cents liberty or buffalo nickels barber and mercury dimes standing quarters and walking halves are all very doable in circulated grades On a lower budget. with the exception of a couple coins Was a complete set of ihc for sale at a local auction the other day. I didn’t bid as I didn’t feel like breaking it up for the keys 77 was g-6 09-s was vf

 

Unfortunately, those coins are long gone. The chances of finding a desirable date now are much smaller. I think that may be a factor. When I was that age, like you, that stuff was still around. And BTW, I LOVE your handle. I'm from NE Ohio as well. Born and raised in Canton, now live in the Akron area. Do you ever go to the shows at St. Michael's Orthodox Church in Broadview Heights?

 

Yes, that was the point I was trying to make, today there's nothing in circulation worth saving so we shouldn't be too hard on kids hoping a crappy Zincoln is, well, something...

Thanks for the grin regarding my handle. I've been using it on various boards since I lived in Geauga County for about a decade back in the 90's. Today, I'd say we're almost neighbors as I now live in Summit County. I've recently re-discovered my interest in coins so I've been hoping to attend some local shows but, you know, pandemic and all....

 

If you ever go to those shows in Broadview Heights, look for me. I'll bet I'll be the only "Manny" name tag there. 2nd Saturday of each month. Masks are required. I'd love to chat.