139 million adults are collecting state quarters...

CharlieB

Seems like a high number to me or is it?
This is word for word from an article in the local newpaper.


"Incidently, if you're not collecting the state quarters in
some fashion, you're clearly in the minority. According to a
recent survey, more than 139 million adults are collecting.
Add to that the number of children searching for and collecting
the coins, and it adds up to well over half the U.S. population.
Best of all, the monetary value of previously issued state quarters
has been increasing beyond 25 cents - some very impressively"

- The Washington Times - January 17, 2003

Placid

They must be rare

AbesNeighbor

I think it's great for kids and new collectors to get involved in this and maybe it will influence some to become more serious collectors, but...., anyone who believes that they are going to get rich collecting State Quarters is in for a rude awakening in the future..I believe.

Dan

MacCoin

I don't think anyone is planning on getting rich from collecting state quarters. people just do it for fun.

JeffinMich

I think this is old news. 139,000,000 people were collecting state quarters, but now the interest has dropped off quite a bit.

Even the Coin Vault guys have taken a pass on the state quarters. They used to sell bags, gold plated, tubes, state quarter bears, etc.

BillJones

I think you are correct, Abesneighbor.

The state quarter collectors are similar to those who put away Lincoln cents every year. They are collectors, but they don’t spend much on the hobby. Unless and until they begin to buy coins at well over face value, they are not going to have much of an impact on the market. Yes, some within that number will become full-fledged collectors, but remains to be seen how many will make that transition.

As for getting rich on state quarters, these who can get them into PCGS slabs with high grades on them and sell them for 4 figure numbers will make money, but I’m not sure that the will become rich on that alone.

Conder101

They count everyone who has put aside a state quarter as a "collector of state quarters". By the standards they used there are 300 million Lincoln cent collectors. In short the 139 million state quarter collector figure is nonsense.

DesertLizard

This makes no sense. Say everyone collected 1 qtr, so you have 139,000,000 Mass. qtrs. in collector hands. How much will each be worth in a few years? Answer: a quarter. Collectible increase because of demand and scarcity or perceived scarcity. Just say no to SQ!

oldcameoproofsguy

I hope that many of these folks catch numismatic fever and start collecting other coins and series. It would be good for the hobby if interest grows.

cladking

Many millions of people are collecting the states issues because they're fun or
are historic or are just simply available. It is not the least unusual to see a clerk
actually take a look at the quarters that are tendered so there's no doubt that
lots of people are collecting them. I'm not the one who's going to tell them that
they'll be worth only a quarter in a few years. There's little doubt that the average
non-gem regular issue states coins to date are not going to have a great deal of
value in a few years. But many of these coins in the series have not even been
designed yet, it may be a little early to write them off. Not all the coins are average
and there are special issues for collectors only. It seems somewhat early to write
these off considering that many collectors are not yet even aware of their existence.
It's also a little late to recognize that many of these latter already have significant
premiums. It's not a good idea to collect any coins strictly as an investment normally,
and these new quarters are likely no exception. Many people are making profits from
them in various ways. For the main part they would be wise to keep their day jobs.

danglen

I think you guys may be missing the point. For arguments sake, lets say that 99% of the 139 million "collectors" lose interest in the hobby and move on to other things. That still leaves 1,390,000 new collectors in the hobby, many of them kids today, but who will be the doctors, lawyers and young professionals ten to twenty years from now, with a whole lot of disposable income to spend on their hobby. Even if you were to say that 99.9% of these "collectors lose interest, that's still 139,000 new serious collectors coming into the hobby. I'm EXTREMELY bullish on the future of the numismatic industry over the next ten to twenty years. The kids that collect States Quarters today are the type set builders and commemorative coin collectors of tomorrow. I can see us here ten years from now saying "I remember when I could have bought a boatload of ------------- (you fill in the blank) for only XYZ. That's why I'm buying as many boatloads as I can today

clw54

When I was a kid there were still Mercuries, Buffalo's, and Wheat's in change. That spurred interest back then. Now there isn't much in change to excite people. This might be what gets people interested now.

cladking

Interesting coins are where you find them. There are billions of coins in
circulation which were mostly ignored until just the last few years. There
may never have been a time that coins were so completely ignored. There
are now hundreds of thousands of people collecting obsolete quarters and
other coins from circulation and we're finding some great coins!