When the hobby inevitably dies, who should bear the blame?

People who send letters (yes sometimes you still have to do that) and packages that don't mind saving 35 to 40% on the postage costs.

 

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I like the rant! I couldn't agree more about some of the commemorative issues. And I do collect them. Surely they could come up with better ideas for the commemorative issues, but I think that's not really the Mint's fault. (No offense to Boy's Town or the Lion's Club, but really?) It's Congress that say's which commemorative coins will be issued. Maybe we need better designs chosen. Or half dollar silver coins.

 

I also like what jrs146 had to say. I just wish I could afford rare coins.

 

I am of the belief that the enormous variety of distractions which modern technology presents will be balanced out by the ease with which the Internet is able to facilitate numismatic progress, the process of "becoming good at it" which used to take years compressed into months or weeks. Numismatics will never be an "instant gratification" endeavor, but those aren't the types we seek anyway.

People will always want to express their individuality. The easy availability of information on the Internet leads to exposures to numismatics previously impossible - one writeup of a large transaction in "mainstream" media leads to a thousand hits on Google - and even though the ranks may thin out somewhat I rather doubt it because of the new participants worldwide who would never have given it a thought but for a random exposure not imaginable twenty years ago.

 

The hobby will not die.

Ever.

Our coins will simply be valued lower.

 

You probably can, if you look outside US coins. At the very least, you will be able to afford rarer coins than if you spent the equivalent money on US coins.

 

(1) Counterfeits (both domestic and Chinese);
(2) TPGs, grade inflation, and disappearing/watered down guarantees;
(3) Coin doctors;
(4) Collectors over-dependent on plastic/stickers; and
(5) Massive greed.

 

If the coins ever depreciated so as to only be worth face value or melt value, I would call that a total collapse and death of the hobby.

 

When the mint stops producing pennies and nickels the demand for those older coins will go up.

 

...but you forget the thousands and thousands of collectors, like me, who do NOT collect in hopes of that elusive "future profit." If those beautiful, toned Mint State silver coins from the 19th century get to be worth melt value, you can be assured I will grab as many of those mother hubbards as I can! I could care less about future "resale value."

I collect coins because, ...uh, I like the coins I collect, and enjoy exploring outside of my current interests. The coins I currently collect are relatively valueless, although many are "condition rarities" or "absolute rarities" by most measures.

There are a few of us weirdos around

 

That would be a total collapse of society. Zombie apocalypse?

 

We're ready.

 

The coin collecting hobby, according to the self-appointed experts in the general media, has been "dying" for the past 40 years.

 

They started saying coin collecting was dying or sure to die since the clads came out over 50 years ago.

 

And since, there are people who have based their entire collecting careers on clads.

 

I was that Sportscard and stamp collector and still have most of those in a box somewhere. I watched the meltdown but ugh hoped it would eventually rebound. Now with my precious coins and currency I am slowly selling off the more common even graded ones and getting more gold and silver coins which I like but have been out of reach in my price range. As I age into the next life, I hope coin collecting, tangible assets are never fully erased by virtual reality. For sure that time is coming but not in my lifetime. For now keep collecting what you enjoy.

 

If you are truly a pure collector, you will be fine. If you are a collector/investor or purely an investor, ''supply and demand''will dictate the future interest in our hobby. Circulating ''money'' for everyday transactions is down worldwide. Sweden as a nation will go cash-less by the end of 2017. Aspen, Co. has already been there for years where you can buy one candy bar with plastic. Why would kids today (the future ''demand'') be interested in our hobby if their exposure to coins is nil. How will they become impassioned with something that is not in their everyday awareness, especially when the utility of the item is becoming extinct? As collectors, this is our challenge and to the extent we expand our noble hobby, our legacy.

 

I hope that the kids today soon realize how not having currency is just another way their privacy will be violated. Just another way for them to be tracked and inundated with ads to purchase things they don't want or need. Just another way that they/we will lose our liberties. Scary!

 

With or without the eventual complete virtualization of commerce, that ship has already sailed. If we as numismatists wish for our hobby to achieve Volante's alternate outcome - prosperity - we need to be already visualizing, planning and working towards our place in this entirely new reality.

 

Hmmmm?