Collector stereotypes

shirohniichan

I'm building a set of collector sterotypes. How am I doing?

Modern coin collector:
Avg. age: 25
Education: Jr. college
Dress: Jeans and "Super Genius" T-shirt
Occupation: Computer geek
Method of collecting: Buys lots of mint sets and bags looking for the best coins to submit to PCGS. Variety seekers look at every coin they get in change with a 15x loupe.
Other hobbies: Comic books and sports cards

Classic coin collector:
Avg. age: 55
Education: Grad school or law school
Dress: Dockers and polo shirt
Occupation: Attorney or middle manager
Method of collecting: Walks around bourse floors with loupe and CDN in hand or shops on eBay.
Other hobbies: Wine tasting, world travel

Slab-hater:
Avg. age: 95
Education: Self-taught
Dress: Old slacks and tweed jacket (pipe in pocket)
Occupation: Self-employed, lit prof, or retired
Method of collecting: Buys coins off of bid boards or trades with club members.
Other hobbies: Classic car restoration, token collecting

ANACONDA

Wow - for a guy who has posted almost 19,000 times you are still pumping out quality work.

Get your flame retardent suit on and your skull cap.

a

Russ

Funny thing about stereotypes. They are frequently wrong. I'm a modern collector and:

I'm 46 years old.
Never been to college at all (Army while everybody else was doing that).
I do wear jeans, but I don't wear T-Shirts with words on them.
Got me on the occupation.
I don't buy mint sets or bags, although I do buy 1964 proof sets. The coins in my change get dumped on the dresser without a second look.

Russ, NCNE

coinrookie

Need to broaden your stereotypes.
44 Years young
Buy slabbed coins and mint sets
College dropout
Blue collar construction worker.

dragon

Shiroh,

You are soooooooo way off,,,,,,,,I am a classic collector, never attended grad school, am way under age 55, I spit in public places, handle venomous snakes, never walk around with a loupe or CDN, and if I wore Dockers and a polo shirt, the huligans and misfits in my Harley chapter would probably beat the bejesus out of me.

dragon

edited to add that I also would rather sell American flags in downtown Bagdhad than be an attorney.

nwcs

Well, 29 years old. Collect mostly classic, a little modern, just venturing into varieties. I have some slabs, but still willing to get raw coins. For me, though, it's mostly economics. If I had much more $$$ then I'd get it all!

dragon

Shiroh, I would also point out that Polo shirts are out of fashion, I wear a t-shirt that says on the back: If You Can Read This....The B#tch Fell Off.

dragon

kieferscoins

Here's a young collector:

Avg. age: 13
Education: Jr. High
Dress: Jeans and "Spider-Man" T-shirt
Occupation: Homework
Method of collecting: Buys raw coins in average condition, puts them in albums and takes them to coin club meetings.


Cameron Kiefer

shirohniichan

Yes, polo shirts are behind the times-- that's why I figured classic collectors would be wearing them.

What are sterotypical error collectors like?

kieferscoins

What are sterotypical error collectors like?

Avg. age: 42
Education: A.A., B.A.
Dress: Dirty Jeans and a button up shirt
Occupation: Mailman
Method of collecting: Searching rolls and bags for errors. Carries 20X loupe and studies every coin. Believes ANACS is the best.
Other hobbies: Misprinted magazine labels and cigar labels.

Cameron Kiefer

braddick

How about "DarkSiders"? Or, is that being redundant with the Slab Haters?

onthespot

how about the stereotypical person who inherits coins and is just hanging out here, partly to learn about coins so she can unload hers, and partly because it is a HOOT!!!

age:42
edu: Univ grad, RN
dress: sweats and teeshirts, barefoot or tennies
Occ: gawd, is there room to list them all? Besides nursing, have worked as horse trainer, dog groomer, landlord, food service, warehouse supervisor, BST all kinds of stuff, dog rescue, staff photographer for magazine, freelance photographer, year round camp staff, antique dealer, personal assistant, housesitter for people with dangerous and illegal exotic animals, and the list goes on and on... god there are SO many ways to turn a buck!!!
Method of unloading coins: haven't figured out how to unload most of them yet, still working on it.
Other hobbies: Breeding Paint Horse show prospects, collecting vintage marbles and vintage plastic model horses.

shirohniichan

Sorry, OTS, you don't fit the sterotype. Please cease and desist from coin collecting effective immediately.

Which type of collector is most likely to drive a Volvo?

kieferscoins

I thought onthespot was joking about all those jobs, but when I re-read the post it looks like she is not.

Cameron Kiefer

Outhaul

Onthespot is FOR REAL! And is a wonderful person. I have had the good fortune to actually speak to her Helpful to a fault. Patty has tons going on right now. If I had that many irons in the fire it would take a magician to organize and maintain my schedule!

Cheers,

Bob

GP

yep, combine modern and classic and you got me

Age: 29
Education: BS
Dress: dockers and button down shirts, jeans and t-shirts outside of work
Occupation: computer geek
Method of collecting: Ebay, local shops and shows. I do buy modern proof sets from the mint and glance at my change when I hear silver
Other hobbies: wine collecting, computers and shooting things

shirohniichan

How about "DarkSiders"? Or, is that being redundant with the Slab Haters?

Darksiders are too diverse for simple classification, but here goes:

Type A Darksider
Avg. age: Around 40
Education: MA
Dress: Dockers and button down shirts
Occupation: Engineer or defense contractor
Method of collecting: Searches through dealers' junk boxes and buys obscure coins dealers know nothing about at shows.
Other hobbies: Currency collecting

BillJones

You are partly right: Here's me:

Classic Coin collector and dealer, author

Age: 53

Buys coins in slabs mainly because most of the decent coins that are offered for sale have been slabbed. Most of the coins that are offered raw are raw for a reason (usually an unpleasant reason.)

Hates tokens in slabs because every one I have seen is overgraded.

Education:
BS in Accounting, MBA in Finance

Dress: Cordorys and shirts

Method of buying - pretty much what you wrote except I use a 10X and I don't mess much with Ebay.

Other Hobbies: Political items including 19th century tokens and 20th century buttons, 19th century medals and tokens, movies and U.S. history

lathmach

My profile:

Classic collector, specifically Liberty Seated coins.
Age: 57
Education: Completed 7th grade
Dress: Black work uniforms 90% of the time
Occupation: Own and operate Job Shop Machine Shop for 26 years
Method of collecting: Walks the bourse with 16X loupe searching for unattributed rare die varieties and reports new finds, cherrypicks off Ebay
Other Hobbies: Hunt, Fish, Bicycle

Ray

cladking

You just about nailed me! I'm pretty much all those things on average.

Maybe a little younger though.

Good luck with your collection. You can have this one or modify it as you see fit.

Darksider:
Avg. age: 42
Education: Yes
Dress: Usually
Preoccupation: Always
Method of collecting: Always looking for and hind for coins that others have left behind.
Other hobbies: Metal detecting, weight lifting, sand sifting, tiddly winks.

shirohniichan

I guess I should add hunting or target shooting as every collector's other hobby.

KlectorKid

Classic Collector
15 years old
Method: buys everything he likes
Education: highschool
Dress: baggy clothes spikey hair
Other hobbies: video games
Job: none

RLinn

ROTFLMAO! Shiroh, the mental image you create was priceless. Doesn't matter if it is accurate or not, I still like it.

shirohniichan

Classic Collector
15 years old
Method: buys everything he likes
Education: highschool
Dress: baggy clothes spikey hair
Other hobbies: video games
Job: none

Are you sure?! I could swear this was the profile for the typical state quarter collector. Their favorite expressions include "yo" and "peace out."

Outhaul

Hey shiro...what about...DUUUUUUUUDE!

Everytime I hear that my ears bleed!

Jaredc

Coin Speculator:
Avg age: 800 or so
Favorite places: under bridges and on the roof of tunnels
Education: enough brain power to use opposable thumbs to hold coins and/or slabs and say "my precious" when holding something that goes for ridiculous prices on e-bay in the short term.
Favorite Classic Commems: Bay Bridge, Antietam, Cleveland- for the bridges that remind them of home and Cleveland...well it's not called the "mistake by the lake" cause it's a catchy rhyme.
Dress: lots of hair does not make the need for fancy dress excpet for the occasional well placed rag.
Other Hobbies: boiling small, wayward children and eating their bones.

KlectorKid

For me at least that decription fits, I dont say yo or peace out and i dont buy state quarters. but i do say dude

shirohniichan

Here's one similar to Jared's speculator in name, but quite different in appearance.

eBay Coin Speculator
Age: 20
Education: still in college
Dress: Jeans and T-shirt
Occupation: Student
Method of collecting: Buys lots of things from the Mint, then immediately sells them on eBay as "investments."
Other hobbies: Trolling coin forums while completely absorbed with the rarity of scratched proof quarters, Millenium Sets, Goodacre Sacs, etc.; making up excuses why he doesn't send coins buyers already paid for; looking for sympathy

MacCoin

Shiro
thats my son, me, and my father your talking about