Younger collectors?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by NCnovice, Dec 11, 2017.

  1. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Idiocracy...........sad.
     
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  3. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    For what it's worth, it wasn't much different 50 years ago.
     
  4. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    This tends to be a catch-22 situation. People moan about how there are no young collectors, and then they say never tell anyone you are a collector for reasons of security. But for the most part no one becomes a collector without exposure to the hobby. If no one talks about it, there is no exposure and no young (or new older) collectors. Our security concerns are one of the things contributing to the decline.

    I think to a large extent this is due to exposure and how things are taught. I once worked in a pizza parlor that had two dining rooms, a family side and a side with games and a couple pool tables that was frequented by the younger, "rougher" crowd. My boss and I used to discuss politics and the world events and a couple of these guys started asking a few questions about things they had heard. So we posted a world map on the wall. They would come in and aska question and we would go over to the map, locate the area,and discuss what was going on. This lead to some of these people just coming in for the discussions, with us and between each other. They started paying attention to the news. One night some new guy comes in, laughs at the map and tears it off the wall. The regulars about beat the daylights out of him.
     
  5. Rushmore

    Rushmore Coin Addict

    That was my problem as a teenager. My funds and transportation were limited then. I'm 41 about to turn 42 in a couple of months. I started "collecting" when I was nine but it was coins pulled out of circulation like Bicentennial quarters and wheat cents. I did get some coin gifts in my growing up years-SBA dollar at a Sunday School function, clad half dollar from my 5th grade teacher, 1921s wheatie from another teacher. It wasn't until I was a Jr in high school when I went to my first coin show in my hometown and the only funds I had was birthday money and doing farm work for my dad. I got serious about coins in college when I had a part time job. There is no social life at all community colleges so beer money became coin money. This was in the mid 90s so internet was in its infancy but I would stop occasionally at a coin shop near the restaurant I worked at and buy something when my budget allowed. Nowadays I buy the majority of my coins off the net and a local shop. I would love to go to more shows but only get to 1 or 2 a year due to few shows in NE South Dakota. I usually have to drive at least two hours to a show.
     
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  6. Rushmore

    Rushmore Coin Addict

    I'm in that boat too. I rarely talk about my hobby unless its with members of my local coin club.
     
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  7. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    The security issue is one I don't really get. I mean, I do, but I don't. And I say that because if that is really an issue then why do people live their lives like they do ? For example, to me it's similar to saying something like - don't live in a nice house in an expensive neighborhood because if you do your house will be a target. Or, don't drive a nice car because if you do it will be a target for theft and or carjacking. Or, don't wear a nice watch or jewelry, or nice clothes, or, or, or. Do ya see what I mean ? Almost anything and everything can make you a target. And yet people go right on doing them without even a thought about security. So no, I don't get it.

    Regarding the issue of collectors or rather who becomes one and who does not, and when; I've posted the story of taking 5 kids, age 10, to a coin show many times - and every one of them became a collector. I've also posted several stories of how I carried a 1 oz AGE in my pocket for many, many years. And of how I would show it to people on almost a daily basis, and that alone sparked an interest in collecting for more people than I can count. And there were many, many time when just talking about the hobby over the course of my life sparked an interest in others - both young and old. And that was just me - 1 person ! Now just imagine what would happen if only 10% of collectors did that.

    And then there is another story, one that has repeated itself so many times that they cannot even be counted. It is the story of the life of a coin collector. It starts out when the person is young, often quite young, between 4 and 10 lets say. An interest in coins is sparked and their hobby begins. But by the time they are mid-teen other interests like girls, or boys, come to the forefront and the coins take a backseat. Late teens, there's college and or getting a job that they focus on. 20's - it's marriage and family concerns, buying a house, cars, etc etc. 30's it's career, and family, and house, and cars, and. 40's, well things often change here. That interest in coins they had as kids often reawakens and slowly comes back to life. And by then the kids are often if not usually grown and on their own so there is more disposable income. And by the time the 50's arrive many of them are die hard collectors again, often spending large amounts of money on a single coin. Why ? Because they always wanted to and now they can.

    Now are there exceptions to that story ? Of course, people are different. Some, like me, become collectors when they are children and stay that way their entire lives. With others the changes occur at slightly different ages. And, and, and - there are many stories of how it happens. But the one I listed above, as I said the frequency of that story, or one very similar to it, occurring cannot even be counted. It has been repeated countless numbers of times on coin forum, in coin mags, and in the telling of stories in person. That story is the general rule for coin collectors.

    So what's the point ? Well, I guess it's the same point it's always been - coin collecting has been around for 2,000 years. It has endured all of the changes the world has witnessed, and yet it continues. And it will likely endure for another 2,000, and maybe much longer.
     
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  8. Mr. Flute

    Mr. Flute Well-Known Member

    I see all the same age demographics everyone else is seeing at shows, the internet, LCSs, etc and maybe this time is different, but I'll wait and see. We can only know if this moment in time is different than in the past by looking back from the future.

    I had a fairly typical cycle to my collecting intensity/habits:
    • Started at 12 (I'm 40 now) of my own initiative
    • Hit it as hard as possible between 12-17 (had the luck of a decent local coin shop, a good yearly show in my hometown, a town size that permitted access by bike and the luck of a generous coin collector on my paper route),
    • Collecting was put on the back burner between 18-30
    • Started heavy again at 31 and likely won't let up for the rest of my life
    I have since triggered an interest in coin collecting for my 9 year old son (the middle of my three sons). He's really excited about it and likes getting to know more about the hobby and business everyday. He even benefited when we attended a monthly show in our region at the beginning of November. The organizers and most of the dealers were genuinely excited to see him engaging. So much so, that toward the end of the show the organizers gave him the $9 we had found on the show floor earlier in the day, which we had given to the police officer that was acting as show security.

    That really got my son excited still. So, I'm trying to do my part to foster the next generation.
     
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  9. Packrat

    Packrat Well-Known Member

    It seems to me that, unless one is into error searching, the prospect of finding valuable coins in circulation is getting more difficult. That is how I got my start as an eight year old and continuing through my school age years. Our coin club continually struggles to get new blood into the hobby. It looks like "the Big Boys" have taken over the hobby and TV marketers have done a great disservice to the hobby by providing misinformation about coin values and future values.
     
  10. Joshua Lemons

    Joshua Lemons Well-Known Member Supporter

    I agree, I am 33 and buy the bulk of my material online. I also happen to live in an area with only 3 brick and mortar stores within a sixty mile radius. The nearest regularly scheduled coin show is two hours away and quite small.
     
  11. scopru

    scopru Member

    I recently went to a coin show in OK. Now granted this is a 50 table show, so not large by any stretch of the imagination, but I would say I saw more younger people there than I expected. By younger I mean under 40. To include numerous under 20 years of age. I, as others have said, agree that the younger generations are doing more online than in person. I do not think the hobby is in trouble at all. It is a cycle and continues to change with the times. Tech is what the younger generations grow up on, so that is the comfort zone for many entrants into the hobby. However, a good design change (not a yearly change that seems to go on and on and on each year) could spur a new batch of collectors.
     
  12. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I went to my first coin show 45 years ago and I would have come to the same conclusion then that where are the younger collectors. Most of the people I saw either browsing or selling looked 60+ (back then at my age anyone over 50 looked old). IMO, things just don't seem much different other than now I'm on the other side.
     
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  13. PlanoSteve

    PlanoSteve Well-Known Member

    As for me, I have a "make up artist" do me up as an old man before I go to a show - that way I look the part of an old, mature, sophisticated & monied coin buyer. (OK, I probably should acknowledge my "make up artist" is God.)
     
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  14. NYandW

    NYandW Makes Cents!

    Nice thread, folks. Thank you.
     
  15. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    30 years of running have given me the hitch in my getty up:)
     
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  16. Kasia

    Kasia Got my learning hat on

    oh nooooooooooooo!
     
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  17. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    Your answer is well stated...with the exception of the last sentence.
     
  18. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    @Youngcoin Keep it up Jacob! Best collecting to all.
     
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  19. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    When I lived in Oklahoma I observed a decent mix of ages at the shows I normally attended (Oklahoma state show in Oklahoma City and annual November show in Lawton). I would periodically attend the monthly show in Grapevine Texas and observed quite a few younger collectors. Now that I live in Wisconsin the mix is skewed more to the older folks like me.
     
  20. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    The way a lot of people here collect coins has no interest to me either. (I'm 37). Three-quarters of the threads on here are about things I couldn't care less about. That doesn't mean I'm not a coin collector. There's no point in trying to label people as a real collector, not a real collector, etc. based on anyone's personal standards. If someone thinks they're a collector, then they are, and the way they collect might change over time too.
     
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  21. WRSiegel

    WRSiegel Freshman

    I'm 25 now, and I am in the same boat as @Mr. Flute . I was really into my collecting up until I was 18, and have been pretty lax about it since then and don't see myself really getting into it again until I'm 30 something or 40 something. I still look through my change, but the limited financials is the driver for me. I'd much rather put that money in my 401(k) with compounding interest or towards my mortgage than coins. Or cars or women or clothes, at my age all sound much better than coins haha. I still like to wander over here every once and a while, the group here is still very knowledgeable. The one thing that I do think will help the hobby long term is the existence of the internet and forums like these. My interest in coins would have fizzled out early if it wasn't for CoinTalk!
     
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