Greyhairs on the bourse an observation.
krueger
Posts: 874 ✭✭✭
look at the photos of show crowds waiting outside the doors just before the opening.
Many such are usually posted to show excitement about the show.
I count the percentage of " grey hairs" in the crowd. It's ususally high and the majority.
Many dealers I knew in the 80's are passing away or are in walkers or electric wheel chairs.
In our youth We all grew up collecting from change in the 50's and 60's.. Buffalo's morgans, walkers, Mercury's early jeffersons, early lincolns. Pushing them in the holes in blue flat whitman folders. I remember getting morgans at face at the banks and in buiness's in vegas. The problem was having the money to do so.
SLq's were scarce most were slick. Even scarcer ( very) were Indians and barbers.
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How many grey hairs must one have to count as a “grey hair” ? Asking for a friend.
Those collecting memories sound exciting and different times to be sure.
The OP’s post is a good reminder to invite some friends with families to go to a show sometime, even if they aren’t into coins. They just might make a great memory and create new collectors to ensure shows continue in the decades to come.
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From what I remember, back in the mid-1970s it was the same.
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Quite a bit of young blood entering the frey. Whatnot, vaultbox, youtube, Instagram, Witter-U, etc all contribute in their own ways to draw a new batch of numismatists into the hobby.
In the vintage bar market grey hairs are quite the exception.
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A dealer once told me that coin collecting is just a bunch of old men sending packages back and forth in the mail.
I mean...he wasn't wrong...😂
Haha. I prefer to think of it like a group sport like DL Hansen does. Perhaps a sport that is dominated by handicaps.
Owner, Lone Mountain Coin
Rare Ingot Collector - Always on the hunt for more!
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Founder of Pre33Goldbugs - 5500 member group
I consider my hair “platinum!” Sounds much more dignified, you think? 😉
Brilliant. I hadn’t noticed.
What happens if you don’t have any hair?
You must wear a hat.
I heard mustard goes well with grey hair.
It was the same way in the 1950's. I remember in 1958 while in elementary school when they put up a poster showing the new Lincoln cent design showing the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse. It generated a lot of excitement. One of my friends collected the milk money from the other students and he pulled all the steel cents from circulation because he thought they were cool. When personal computers became available, many people were afraid that computers would take the place of coin collecting as a hobby among young people. If anything, computers made the hobby of coin collecting far better.
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
On my drivers license for hair color it says “flesh’….so there’s that. 😬
From what I remember, back in the mid-1970s it was the same.
When I went to my first coin show in 1965 at the age of 15, I was the youngest person there.
60 years later, I still feel like the youngest person at a show.
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Well, just go ahead and say old instead of "grey hair". No question at all that the demographic at shows is highly slanted toward the older side, whether you pick this as 60 y.o. or 50+. I have been to shows since the later 1960s and remember that there were a lot of older folks there. However, it was mainly because at least the younger collectors I knew really just collected from milk money or what the relatives had given.
If you didn't ride your bike to the show you weren't going. Nowadays nearly everybody has transportation and seemingly much more money so the option to go is much more wide open - yet there are precious few "YN"s at shows here. My son has ZERO interest in coins or shows or anything else related to them despite my best efforts. Neither do his friends or classmates despite giving coins with stories and other positive reinforcements to try to make coins more interesting. I give away coins with stories to boys and girls trying to entice at my office where I see people from cradle to grave, give presentations at school, etc. All to no avail. The only question, if any, I ever get is " how much is the worth?".
Computers or video games versus coins? Let's not gp there. LOL. No contest on that.
Well, my hair is greying and have joined the OP demographic. Love coins and the amusing anecdotes trotted out of examples of younger people or kids interested in coins. Always has been that way but the point is these are exceptions and unusual so don' t really show other than the aging demographic.
Well, just Love coins, period.
Hopefully everyone started with non gray hair especially if you started as a kid. For the most part you will turn gray or have less or no hair
Lafayette Grading Set
In the early 1960's there were a lot of young (under age 21) COLLECTORS active. The few young people I see today seem to be the children of the very rich who are playing vest pocket dealer. They probably go to coin shows to take a break from speculating in sports cards, comic books, or cryptocurrency.