Poll to see the age range in this collecting community

4for4

👨‍👦‍👦🏈⚾️⚽️🎾🏒🥅🥊🤼‍♂️🏌🏿‍♂️🎤🎸👬

mintonlypls

60-69

A very informative poll….I like it.

JolleyWrencher

Either the youngbucks don't have time for polls, they don't want to reveal their age, or this community really has a median age in the 50s and we should all see the writing on the wall with future demand...

Most of our kids don't want our collections. We all had better start giving away cheap commons of LBJ, Trout, and Mahomes at Halloween this year and get them hooked!

BBBrkrr

50-59

@JolleyWrencher said:
Either the youngbucks don't have time for polls, they don't want to reveal their age, or this community really has a median age in the 50s and we should all see the writing on the wall with future demand...

Most of our kids don't want our collections. We all had better start giving away cheap commons of LBJ, Trout, and Mahomes at Halloween this year and get them hooked!

I'd guess that has more to do with how each age group uses the internet than who collects. Most of the youngs probably don't even know what a forum is.

Chicago1976

50-59

I don't think younger collectors spend much time on message boards. Many social media platforms on their phone to talk cards. Not a knock on them, just an observation.

JolleyWrencher

Ya you're both probably correct but it still seems our kids don't really want our collections...maybe some would rather collect players they like and then their interest will grow eventually.

Forums...hope they never go away. The history they contain is great however the cost to preserve and maintain the information isn't free.

Sure glad we have this forum.

BBBrkrr

50-59

@JolleyWrencher said:
Ya you're both probably correct but it still seems our kids don't really want our collections...maybe some would rather collect players they like and then their interest will grow eventually.

Forums...hope they never go away. The history they contain is great however the cost to preserve and maintain the information isn't free.

Sure glad we have this forum.

That's what happened with me. I never saw Clemente or Aaron play, but I sure enjoy collecting their cards.

olb31

50-59

40-70 seems about right. be nice to see some 30's. but it's expensive so you probably need to work.

Stone193

70+

I'm in my 20th year here and 5 as a mod.

Last time we did this, I seem to remember that the average was over 40.

We're a very mature group to say the least?

Ahmanfan

30-39

I’ve been on this board since I was 17 years old. Granted, that was a long time ago. I’ve literally grown up on this board.

Mikeygiggs_336699

40-49

4 years till I hit the big 5..0, I primarily collect my era which is 80s hockey and baseball with a small samples of some 60s and 70s. I’m sure a many on this board collect who they grew up watching as nostalgia is a powerful drug. I’m happy to say I’m in much better physical shape now than I was in my early 20s primarily due to my marathon training and I have some sort of a six pack lol!

82FootballWaxMemorys

I fall into none of those choices

mintonlypls

60-69

It looks like a middle-aged hobby/investment…

Copyboy1

50-59

Young collectors are all on Reddit trying to sell Kenny Pickett autograph cards for $10 each.

4for4

50-59

Here’s a young collector with his dad dropping cards off at PSA recently.

Estil

40-49

So at 43 I'm probably among the youngest on here yet at videogamesage.com I'm likely among the oldest. Go figure. And according to my profile I've been here since my college days (early 2000s).

4for4

50-59

@Estil said:
So at 43 I'm probably among the youngest on here yet at videogamesage.com I'm likely among the oldest. Go figure. And according to my profile I've been here since my college days (early 2000s).

I feel the next big surge in the hobby is with your group.
The 8-13 year old kids between 1988-1993 who saw MJ, Gretzky, Lemieux and the dream team play.

There were lots of kids at shows in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

I remember seeing Bill Barber with his son who was 8 and collecting.
Many other kids didn’t have money then for many of the things they wanted. That wave should come in the next 10-15 years.

1951WheatiesPremium

40-49

This hobby is the healthiest it has ever been. Sure, the way people collect and what they choose to collect changes over time. But the instinct to collect is one of our basest instincts as human beings.

While I wasn’t fortunate enough to attend the National, the trading section was apparently littered with kids and pelican cases; some of those youngsters - whether they’re in it for love or money - will gravitate towards vintage. I started my collection with with Rickey, Guidry, Mattingly and Winfield. I’ve still got them but I went back in time and never looked back. Not everyone sticks with the hobby, not every one gravitates to the older cardboard and not everyone will revere the history of the sport and collecting. But some most certainly will.

It’s inevitable.

craig44

40-49

while this poll may not reflect it, there sure were a bunch of young kids/teens at the show i went to last weekend. The hobby is alive and well. those kids were wheeling and dealing.

I would not worry about card collecting going away. it has been plugging along since the 1880's. it will be around long after I am no longer around.

NGS428

40-49

Per the thread title, the poll is more of a reflection of the forum we are on than anything greater than that. The kiddos need to know about this fire 🔥 forum. That’s how they say it, right!

Who is good at marketing? 😀 I took a marketing class in college, see if I can remember what ol Bernie taught me..

gameusedhoop

50-59

I was 33 when I started here in 2001.

waxman2745

40-49

40-49 age group. I joined Collectors Forums in December 2007 at age 24 and my collecting focus was early 70s Topps baseball. In 2008, I bought some 1971 OPC baseball, and those bright yellow backs got me hooked on OPC. 15 and a half years later I am still actively collecting. This is certainly the longest hobby that I have had in my life and the one that I have experienced the most enjoyment/sense of accomplishment from.

Kid4hof03

50-59

@gameusedhoop said:
I was 33 when I started here in 2001.

I was just a few months short of 30 when I joined in 2002.

Estil

40-49

@4for4 said:

I feel the next big surge in the hobby is with your group.
The 8-13 year old kids between 1988-1993 who saw MJ, Gretzky, Lemieux and the dream team play.

There were lots of kids at shows in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

I remember seeing Bill Barber with his son who was 8 and collecting.
Many other kids didn’t have money then for many of the things they wanted. That wave should come in the next 10-15 years.

I was in fact born in 1980 so yeah; I was right the middle of that plus the greatest video game console war ever...SNES vs GEN (I was SNES but didn't get one till 1994)! Plus I got to see the NES at its prime and I'll never forget seeing The Wizard and it showing Super Mario Bros 3 to the US for the first time (I got my own copy in 1991 for my 11th b-day). Now that my friends is something that will never be possible to replicate seeing as how we now have Internet and YouTube and social media and whatnot.

To this day I refuse to watch the Academy Awards since The Wizard got completely snubbed; not even ONE nomination!!

TheGoonies1985

40-49

Weird no one voted in 20-29 or 20 and under yet.

BBBrkrr

50-59

Another reason the 20s and 30s aren't showing up here is that's the time when a lot of folks fall out of the hobby to focus on finding a partner and having families. I know that's how it was for me, and I didn't get back in until my 40s.

I'd guess if you did this poll forever there would always be a gap in that age range.

They'll mostly come back.

pdoidoi

60-69

I think the younger kids are into the Pokemon type and then the slightly older up the Magic type game cards.
When I brows the sports cards at Walmart or Target I almost always see adults. Can't think the last time I saw any kids brows the sports cards area.

olb31

50-59

@pdoidoi said:
I think the younger kids are into the Pokemon type and then the slightly older up the Magic type game cards.
When I brows the sports cards at Walmart or Target I almost always see adults. Can't think the last time I saw any kids brows the sports cards area.

I agree. Not many kids into sports like they used to be.

olb31

50-59

Plus the expense. I collected from 7 - 23. Then I got a job, chased girls, etc. Got back into the hobby at 40.

sayheywyo

60-69

I'm 61. Good to see so many in the 40-59 age range that collect. Established, power earning years and more disposable income to keep the hobby going. IMO, the younger generation was more into gaming than cards.

gameusedhoop

50-59

My 26 year old son in law is active buying graded 50's to 70's HOF'ers. He is basically playing death roulette, but it's a start. SMH. At least he isn't in on Ja Morant and Wander Franco, I beat the unproven rookie chase out of him long before it took hold.

hyperchipper09

50-59

53 in actual years, maturity level varies from 14-53

4for4

50-59

Here’s a very happy young collector who will forget about this card in his 20’s and reclaim it in his 40’s. If dad holds onto it.

MantleFan23

40-49

Most of my collecting interests came from my Dad who loved Mantle and Maris and other stars from the 50s through the 70s. I'm 45 and focus mostly on those years along with unopened from those years. The only player that I collect from my youth is Ryne Sandberg. Everyone is different, I guess. However, it doesn't surprise me that this board is between the ages of 40-60. I started following this board in 2009 when I was 31.

BaltimoreYankee

60-69

60-69 for me. I don't know how to show the age group with the little colorful square.
Been hanging here since around 2012.

mrmopar

That is a very telling set of results. I am really starting to believe card collecting is going to change dramatically in the very near future. I really am not ready to give it up, but if I wait much longer to start selling off, who knows...

1951WheatiesPremium

40-49

@mrmopar said:
That is a very telling set of results. I am really starting to believe card collecting is going to change dramatically in the very near future. I really am not ready to give it up, but if I wait much longer to start selling off, who knows...

I wouldn’t read too much into the results of the poll. Asking the average age on any message board will produce a similar age range. The age and tech are related and message boards are old news for the younger generation. Kids are on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Telegram etc moving their product.

I’m here so I’m not hating on the boards at all but even PSA doesn’t seem to assign much value to these boards as most of their information is spread on their other forms of social media platforms and then usually trickles down to here, which is an observation and not a criticism, by the way.

divecchia

50-59

@BBBrkrr said:
Another reason the 20s and 30s aren't showing up here is that's the time when a lot of folks fall out of the hobby to focus on finding a partner and having families. I know that's how it was for me, and I didn't get back in until my 40s.

I agree that the above is true for most. For me, I was lucky in that I have never stopped once I got started (37 years ago). Probably due to not having much of a childhood as I started working at 12. I worked all summers and after school with a guy that owned 5 rental properties. Learned the basics of all the major trades of home repair while in school. Most other kids had paper routes and they got to enjoy their summers off from school.

I got started coin collecting in the late 1980's shortly after I got married. I was in my early 20's when I bought my first coin. It was a 1908 Saint Gaudens No Motto $20 gold piece. It was at that time the most beautiful coin I had ever seen. It was raw and ungraded. I traded that piece for a PCGS graded example and manged to put together a 13 piece PCGS graded U.S. gold type set in less than 10 years. While still collecting coins in September of 1993 I started collecting Nolan Ryan cards (raw for the most part). Stopped collecting coins in the mid 1990's as there was not enough funds for both hobbies. Sold off the coins to fund a camping trailer for the summer weekends and the rest went to my growing Nolan Ryan collection. In 2008 I upped my Nolan Ryan collecting by grading my Nolan Ryan cards and participating in the Nolan Ryan Master set. While still doing Ryan PSA graded cards I picked up coin collecting again in 2017. I stopped collecting Nolan Ryan in September of 2020. I collected Nolan Ryan for 27 years. The same number of years that Ryan pitched. Sold off most of my Ryan collection to fund my daughters townhouse and put the rest into my growing PCGS U.S. type set that I still collect today.

It's been a great ride and I'm glad that I was fortunate enough to have never stopped.

Donato

4for4

50-59

This is for the guys in their 60’s.

Cakes

50-59

Loved those little boxes, you could actually lay them down and eat out of them!

pdoidoi

60-69

They still make these, not sure if it's Kellogg's or another brand

pdoidoi

60-69

These cards were available in 10 pks of Quaker Oats. Known as Quaker Pack-O-Ten. One sample card was enclosed in the 10 packs and I think it was 10 cents you could order the full set of 18 cards.

robert67

50-59

Happy to be here at age 56.👍

mintonlypls

60-69

@4for4 said:
This is for the guys in their 60’s.

Yep...those bring back a lot of memories back in my day! I think there was a Post Cereal card on each box...better than the larger boxes which might have had six Post Cereal cards.

Estil

40-49

@PillarDollarCollector said:
Weird no one voted in 20-29 or 20 and under yet.

I would say concerning is more like it. I mean we need new collectors to join our hobbies too! And that goes for cards, coins, and stamps alike! As George Jones would say, who's gonna fill our shoes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxHjRqnY7zA

82FootballWaxMemorys

Old White guys, no surprises

Estil

40-49

@82FootballWaxMemorys said:
Old White guys, no surprises

Nobody here said anything about that...I mean do we even know what hardly any of us here even look like?

BaltimoreYankee

60-69

Sports card collectors: Old
Classic car collectors: Older
Stamp collectors: Dead

1951WheatiesPremium

40-49

NSCC 2023

Estil

40-49

@BaltimoreYankee said:
Sports card collectors: Old
Classic car collectors: Older
Stamp collectors: Dead

Of course that depends on what is defined as a "classic car" or "vintage car" or "historic vehicle".

craig44

40-49

I wouldnt worry. There are more kids in the hobby now than there have been for many many years. they just are not posting on forums.

I wonder how the poll would look for coin collectors? I havent been to a coin show for decades. is there any young blood there?