Are their more Collectors today than say 10 or 20 years ago?
Abehunter
Posts: 286 ✭✭✭
Just wondering
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Abehunter
Posts: 286 ✭✭✭
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I think the number of collectors is stable or dropping slightly. People use disposable income to buy coins and as we see the economy continue to slow (stagflation), there will be less disposable income for people to buy coins.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I can see that,maybe some people will let some coins go at a good price to help bridge the gap of inflation for themselves
there
BHNC #203
I think the hobby has suffered a small decline in collectors, unless you count parking lot searchers.
Jim
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How has the ANA membership count changed?
I doubt it. When I mention that I collect coins to anyone, eyebrows are raised, a slightly shocked look, then a lot of silence.
What’s the definition of “collectors”? Someone who buys one coin a year from the Mint? Someone who is an ANA member? It’s hard to define and hard to measure. For that reason, I think the best proxy for hobby interest is pricing across all numismatic areas.
Prices have been going up, but it makes you wonder, is this due to more collectors or is it speculator purchases? In the late '70s and early '80s, the huge prices seemed to be driven by Wall Street types who didn't view 5 figure prices as something unusual in the hobby. When those guys left the building, the prices dropped like a stone. We are seeing the beginnings of that again. This time auctions are at the center of the price boom instead of dealers.
Still I was shocked at the last Summer FUN show at the prices for coins like 1883-CC and other common date Carson City dollars. It seems like those are more like collector coins than speculator items, but perhaps I'm wrong. If you had not noticed, the prices for those items have gone up almost three fold.
Just judging from coin show reports (attendance, high prices, sales), I believe there are far more collectors than 10 or 20 years ago. Cheers, RickO
To me a real collector is someone who is interested in the history and other numismatic aspects of the items that interest them. If all someone can talk about is how much they sold something for and how much money they are going to make from the hobby, I don't see them as true collectors.
Perhaps @ricko is on to something if you look at the number of numismatic books that are published and seem to be selling. The people who buy those books are real collectors.
From what I'm seeing via various social media and other outlets, I believe the number has increased and the new collectors are skewing younger. Most of their dealing is online, you won't see that many of them out shows or coin clubs. I know several people that started out as bullion stackers then started collecting that actual coins that the bullion designs were copying!
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
The way to share collecting is changing. The first Witter University class for YNs seems to have mostly consisted of collectors that frequent Instagram.
I think the last 2 years created a lot of new, younger collectors...but they don't have the same purchasing power (on average, obviously some very wealthy exceptions) as those that dropped out at the top end.
Way more coin collectors nowadays for sure.
Thank you internet.
Yeah it depends on how you define collectors. My take is that from a Numismatic standpoint there are fewer collectors every year as the collecting base is older and passing on while there are fewer YN's moving into the slot. Just a slow mathematical decline that can't be avoided. Kids today just are not as interested in coins, heck I would be my kids have not had change from a transaction in at least a year!
From a Bullion collector standpoint, ie: folks whose primary interest is precious metal 'collecting / investment' there are quite a few in this arena and at shows comprise a significant portion of the attendees.
And you have the speculators, folks who are in and out of the market while there is money to be made. These deal with mostly higher end stuff so will typically not be seen on a bourse floor. Many of them I think are knowledgeable about the items they are buying / selling but are not long term collectors and will drift off when the profit equation changes for their investment level participation.
Summing up the 3 groups though and I think the number is still up there but slowly declining. Still plenty of folks at the local shows I go to but some weekends are much better than others.
As has been pointed out by some of the other posts spiraling prices have negatively impacted entrance into the hobby as well as, IMO, excessively long design series from the Mint. The current designs have been around for ages (Lincolns over a century!!!) and it has gotten to a point you cannot collect a full series without a lot of investment and lots of arm strength to carry the Dansco around. 10-20 year series that you could predictably collect from circulation along with some additional purchases would go a long way in getting interest up I think.
K
I've noticed a lot of new posters on this website. Maybe that's a good sign....
More people on the planet, more access to information (the iPhone is only 15 years old), so more people who buy/collect.
Less people who marvel at the history, want to understand the minting process, pick up an old coin and wonder where it's been during its life, and argue about CAC/Carr/grading/parking lots/trolls/tpgs/etal.
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
The thing about history and coins, is that many newer people are looking at history through a different lens.
No CAC for you!
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
US Census Data - Resident Population
2000 - 281.5M
2010 - 308.75M
2020 - 331.5M
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
We seem to have this topic once a week or every other week. Based on the growth here and other forums, its crazy how many more collectors there are. But that includes the flippers and the verities/error finder, you know those that are looking to win the coin lottery.
If we are talking about collectors that complete sets, learn the coin history and are active, I also tend to believe there are more due to just the price increases we've seen.
Now, I will say I asked a few of my local dealers and both said the high end of the market is growing really fast, registry set collectors, slabbed coins and limited edition mint items, they can't keep in stock. Bullion is growing even faster, with silver and gold sales also growing. BUT the people that actually spend time looking through raw coins and trusting their own opinion on a grade has slowed down. Many people are afraid of buying raw coins, so that part of the market has slowed and slowed a lot since Covid. What does this mean? Well you can make your own assumptions.
My current registry sets:
20th Century Type Set
Virtual DANSCO 7070
Slabbed IHC set - Missing the Anacs Slabbed coins
I go into Nevada Coin & Jewelry all the time in Las Vegas and the owner there tells me the collector base for type coins has dwindled considerably while the gold and silver bullion "stackers" have really grown in numbers in the recent years. He also says he goes to all the coin shows in Vegas and they have gotten incrementally smaller and smaller by vendor count of the last 20 years.
And yet the internet activity for coins has exploded in recent years! Perhaps his perspective is limited.
Edit - BTW, Welcome to the board!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
How are his online presence and sales though? Is he listing his collector type coins online and has be built a good online reputation?
Total number? No.
More serious, well-informed collectors than 20 years ago? I'd say probably.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
this has been a mostly middle aged / old white man's hobby for my 40 years in it. attracting YNs makes sense, though it was creepy 30 years ago and still seems a little creepy, and it's a long term investment because kids don't have money anyway. on the other hand, there's a huge untapped reservoir of collectors with money if we attracted more women and general diversity, not just kids. of course I'm writing in generalities.
The number of mid range collectors with enough money to spend has decreased, even as the middle and lower income classes have been gutted and just don't have the money to spend on hobbies as they had in the past, as much of the money has been funneled to the top income brackets. If more people had significant extra money they would be spending on this and other hobbies.
It is very hard to assess the numbers participating entirely, or mostly so, via the internet. We oldsters, I think, tend to make much of our assessment based on who/how many attend shows/bourses. Bazillions of coins, a lot of them low-end "starter" types, sell online. It's a good sign for all but the social aspects of the hobby.
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Now listen boy, I'm tryin' to teach you sumthin' . . . . that ain't no optical illusion, it only looks like an optical illusion.
My mind reader refuses to charge me....
Based on my personal observations, I'd have to say no.
Dave
I think there are more today BUT the number of true collectors, the ones who take the time to learn and enjoy the hobby are less. There are many who want to make the “quick buck” by looking through their change and parking lot finds for that error or variety that they hear is worth $$$. They just take a magnified picture and say it is this or that, never believing what the seasoned collector or dealer tells them.
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