Why are US coin prices dropping?

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All the kids are just as smart as their smartphones

 

I can assure you that literacy is very much in decline. Over the years I have taught, on and off, at local community colleges as an adjunct instructor. There has been a huge drop off in the last 30 years in the ability of the students to both read and write effectively. These days well over half of them cannot construct a grammatically correct sentence and they cannot understand a question if it has more than one three-syllable word in it. And these are the ones who made it to college!

 

Not only that, because of the proliferation of malapropisms from the dubiously literate, the English language is actually changing to the point where words mean the opposite of what they used to mean.

 

This is true. I have seen it myself in my line of work. Kids who make straight A's ask me to read their scholarship applications and I find multiple mistakes. It boggles the mind.

 

My only point is that all hobbies compete for a share of time (and mind) with potential participants. Coin collecting teaches history, takes concentration, and competes with what younger people often consider activity that is less exciting than technology based activities. If you don't think so ask a teenager if he/she had rather play "Call of Duty" this afternoon or go to a coin show or read a book.

But there are plenty of studies out there from the Dept of Ed that show literacy has not improved in decades. I am not a fan of the Huff Post but they had this brief synopsis of the report I read from the Dept of Ed.

"According to a study conducted in late April by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million adults in the U.S. can’t read. That’s 14 percent of the population. 21 percent of adults in the U.S. read below a 5th grade level, and 19 percent of high school graduates can’t read. The current literacy rate isn’t any better than it was 10 years ago."

In the Dept of Ed study I saw they formed a real link between the introduction of electronics, specifically TV in the 60s, and a decline in reading and reading skills. That doesn't mean people are dumber or that TV is bad, but it may speak to the ability to concentrate and think critically or analytically. Our children and grandchildren live in a world of soundbites and I know their attention span is shorter than ours.

I am probably in a different world here though. I am the first generation in the last three without a PhD in our family. One of our sons has his, so intelligence can skip generations I guess.

Have a good day and good discussion. We cannot solve the literacy issues, but encouraging coin collecting in the next generation is a good thing. I think I will go read a book!

 

It was the same in the 1960s. And the 1910s. And the 1860s. And so on.

 

I put together a philly merc set over the past couple of years and I've noticed that prices have been strong. I haven't seen any drop. Key dates are still crazy. I had to save quite a bit for my 1921 VF35. I'm glad I didn't do denver. I'm sure at some point prices will fall. Especially when the boomers die/retire and all of their coins are liqudated. I think a lot of stackers have also become collectors too which helps keep prices high.

 

They can do both. The thing that everyone forgets is that younger collectors are internet based collectors. You don't NEED to go to a coin show anymore, or an LCS or a coin club. People can do all of their collecting from their computer if they want too. Internet sales far outpace in person sales in this day an age. It isn't just the same crowd you see at a show or coin club that are responsible for all of the internet sales.

There are plenty of younger collectors out there you just won't ever see the overwhelming majority of them making a physical appearance anywhere when they can get what they want from internet listings. That doesn't even get into any of the potential biases many shops have towards a younger crowd that have chased them away. Younger collectors do exist and there are plenty of them but just like with modern collectors they will quietly collect and no one will be aware of their existence other than sales records.

If a 12 year old or a teenager doesn't want to collect so what, it doesn't mean the hobby is dying. 12 years old thing they're going to all be professional athletes and we all know what teenagers are focused on. No one still likes all the same things or didn't develop a new interest since they were those ages. Previous collectors probably all had these same thoughts when cars came out and the radio ect ect. Collecting will be just fine.

Price changes are largely driven by expendable income and in a lot of ways the internet has driven prices down on somethings. eBay can be a race to the bottom price wise on sales for super common things, people are no longer at the mercy of their local shop for prices and other things have turned out to be a lot more available than previously believed. Market taste changes over time too, series go hot and cold.

 

I just had a lot of 33 coins on GC. The good, bad and ugly some were real dreck.
That said I expected about $800-900 total after all the juice.
I will be getting a check for over $1300.

 

Congratulations. I have purchased from them from time-to-time and usually feel like I get a fair deal.

 

GC?

 

Great Collections

 

To some degree this is accurate in that words are added and dropped over time. But I believe this comes from frequent use in everyday conversation and most often new words or new phrases. However, I believe malapropisms are improper use of words or illogical substitutions. I don't remember Websters ever endorsing poor grammar or ignorance.

Ore eye cud bee mistooken

 

Cell phone texting has had it's impact on grammar and I agree that literacy is on the decline. They don't need (or want) to be grammatically correct...they just use TTYL or BRB...etc. Latest figures show that 14% of Americans cannot read.
Sadly, 85% of the juveniles who face trial in the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.
What does this have to do with coin prices?? Probably nothing, but most of us here on CT that buy/collect/sell coins are quite literate with at least a high school education.

 

https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-literacy-america

 

Collecting has taken a bite. Pottery, sports memorabilia, dolls, and the like have all shown down swings. Some reasons may be to a generation that is living more in apartments, more job mobile, and has less time. Children deliver fewer newspapers, take in less collectibles in change, and have less fascination with the coins available. I have a nephew who I started like my father with 32 coins, and had him research them. He has collected ever since. Our hobby can link to history, advances in manufacturing, and what is money. That has been how I introduce the hobby.

 

I am doing the same with our grandchildren. Each month I send them a coin and 4 or 5 questions related to history about the coin or events happening when it was minted. I have found that the Canadian Mint makes a lot of what I would call "entertainment" coins with color, embedded crystals etc. While not my cup of tea, if it gets a 10 year old excited about collecting then I think a good starting point.

 

I found this link also and I believe it is a good call to action on education. Learning history through coins is more palatable than just reading a book and takes some thinking.