Have you ever shown coins to a non-collector...

MrEureka

...that was so intrigued that he actually started collecting coins?

Not me. Not once. Never. I'm not sure it's even possible.

mgoodm3

No. Not here either.

AmericanSilverEagleCoins

My godsons age 7 ad 4 liked the state quarters that they asked for the State Quarters Whitman type folder for Xmas. I gave them each a PCGS PR69DAM quarter extras I had (OH and IN) plus a blue box. Now they want to go to the coin shop every weekend

jonesy

State Quarters!!

kamehameha00

A whole classroom,my 6th grade class.I showed a Large Cent(in 2X2)dated 1833 to everyone in my class and they were amazed there were even coins back then.From that day on,they always show me a coin thay got in change, for example, a couple students brought a Lincoln Cent to school and pointed at the little 'o' on 'of' on the back and ask if its an error,when I tell them no,they say something like "I'll keep on looking then" or "Oh well,i'll put it in my collection anyway."Now I pass a coin around,foreign or
U.S.,every Tuesday and I still get a "Wow" out of almost all of them.

Pushkin

<< <i>Have you ever shown coins to a non-collector.. >>



Yes, my wife. I've noticed the subject always gets changed, very quickly.

JrGMan2004

Nice one kamehameha00 Oppurtunity to cherrypick if they actually bring something worthwhile in... My success has been limited, I've had a couple friends look at my web site, one was really fascinated by the awesome 20c Pattern that now resides with boiler, and he has shown me a Bi-Centin Quarter he found in change, but hasn't picked up on it, he's more interested in buying video games and Magic: The Gathering cards...

Colorfulcoins

Hmm.....have tried and ususally it gets the person to admit their father or mother (or grandparents etc) put away some old coins - and somethimes, they actually dig them out and show them to me. Its always nice to see what people put away and the coins always have sentimental value, if not much more. But ya never know........

Lightside

I showed my Dansco State quarter MS+proofs Vol. I (complete) to a lady friend who many years ago had her coin collection stolen and gave up the hobby. She immediately bought a Dansco and hooked up with Ebay and a local coin dealer to start filling her 100 empty holes. (Last time I checked with her, the Vol. I set was complete.

I think the glitter of those clad and silver proofs thrilled her soul and lite a fire.

cladking

There are a lot of coin collectors around me but I'm not so sure how many I got started.

Even if I did get them started it may not have been by showing them coins.

jbsteven

my buddies just laugh when I "Buy money". So the answer is not yet.

clw54

I've never gotten anybody started collecting, but it is fun to show people three cent or twenty cent pieces.

MacCoin

yep they seem bored with me

islemangu

No and I hope I never have to...A whole classroom,my 6th grade class.I showed a Large Cent(in 2X2)dated 1833 to everyone in my class and they were amazed there were even coins back then.From that day on,they always show me a coin thay got in change, for example, a couple students brought a Lincoln Cent to school and pointed at the little 'o' on 'of' on the back and ask if its an error,when I tell them no,they say something like "I'll keep on looking then" or "Oh well,i'll put it in my collection anyway."Now I pass a coin around,foreign or Good techniques, I turned down right greedy evil when I was in school...coaching my non-collecting friends to seek and retrieve for cash
..I got it all out of my system though and now I'm a nice considerate collector

nwcs

Yes, several times. It hasn't gotten them into the hobby but it has made them think about it some. One even found a silver roosevelt in change a few weeks later to reinforce the thought. Since I hop on here during work, they poke gentle fun with me about "being on that coin site again." In the end, I think it's good to use that as a hook to introduce them to cool stuff. I usually learn what interests them and if they notice I'm on a coin site, I sometimes will point out what someone has posted picture-wise and tell them how it connects to their interests. Always gets a positive reaction.

Stuart

Yes, and they usually show interest, especially in the historical significance of 18th century or early 19th century (pre civil war) era coins.

1234567890

Have you ever shown coins to a non-collector...

Yes. Most are very supprised and interested...

...that was so intrigued that he actually started collecting coins?

Errrrr... You could say my little brother... but that didn't last long...

drainbamage

I have tried showing people coins and telling them their value and they used to laugh at me..... then I began waiting for them to laugh and would pull out a couple of copies of the Red Book and let them argue with it.

Why the red book? Because it is simple and I do not want to get into FBL and such and what it all means right off the bat.

They soon stop laughing and begin to see there is real money in this. But my plan has backfired on me.......

Instead of really creating new collectors, I have people thinking of old jars of worn out silver coins that have been kept forever.

LincolnCentMan

my buddies just laugh when I "Buy money". So the answer is not yet.

Yah, my buddies used to do that. Then I showed a few prices realized... Went from laughter to astonishment.

I do have ONE really BIG fish story. My wife was a non-collector when we married. She started to kind-of like the rainbow dollars. I started buying them for her. Now she's a full-blown collector of them.

David

A few highlights from her collection:

1883-O Morgan
1885-O Morgan
1970-S Nickel
1956-D Cent
1960 Dime
1958-D Quarter

Louis

While working a job in Indiana last year I got 4 people interested in coins. We were working nights from 6PM to 6AM 7 days a week for about 4 months and had a lot of idle time at work. They noticed me checking my bids on eBay and showed some interest. After a while they started bidding on some inexpensive items. By the time the job was over they had started bidding on bigger items and had spent about $30,000.00 between the 4 of them on coins and bullion. I created some monsters. The wife of one of the guys won't even talk to me anymore.

jim

Yea, but everyone just laughs at me or smiles. But, at least I can say I collect MONEY!

oldcameoproofsguy

I usually stop showing coins or talking coins with a non-collector when their eyes roll all the way into the back of their heads. That's a pretty good indicator that they don't care.

XpipedreamR

No, and I've given up showing non-collectors stuff. They always either mock me or obviously don't care.

Actually, I do have one friend that I can show stuff to. I think he's at least interested in looking at them, or he's been putting on a really good show for the past number of years.

BillJones

I have spoken to non-collector groups such as historical societies and church clubs. I don't know if I created any new collectors, but I did get a lot of questions from them, and a good number of the questions went well beyond, "What's this worth?"

Lakesammman

No - See below

Your either born a collector or your not - there is no conversion.

RGL

Always trying to seed new collectors ... sent my daughter to show and tell, in third grade several years ago now, with a F-VF common Buffalo for every child in class. I also walk around coin shows with a pocket full of Buffs, Wheats and Indians to hand out to the kids, with parents' permission, of course. As far as adult converts, do not know of any. My daughter, now 16, still thrills to finding all the Statehood quarters for her Whitmans ...

hookedoncoins

My friends think I'm insane the way I collect "money." I remember I was showing one of my friends my St. Gaudens $20... and they asked why I don't go spend it.

I actually do have one friend that collects. He collected before I knew him, although he laughs at the premiums I pay for certified stuff for my type set.

-Jarrett Roberts

ARCO

Everyone I show my "old" coins to, coos with delight at the very strange and old coins they are looking at. They stare at them. They always rub their fingers all over the surfaces as I squirm and my face contorts in agony.

After a minute or two and the inevitable question of, "dude, what is your most expensive coin", interest wanes and the next question sounds something like, "so dude, did you see the patriots game"?

That is my queue to pack up my coins and get back into normal stuff. LOL

Tyler

photog

Well, as a kid, every National Coin Week my father would come into my grade school class and give a talk on coins. Every student would design a coin based on that week's theme, and at the end of the lecture we would all get a Buffalo nickel or something along those lines. One year after the talk, a day later actually, my father went to buy a paper at a local store and go back a Buffalo nickel in change. Coincidence? I think not! Some people just don't get it.
I know when I tell people what I do for a living I get two reactions:
1) A blank stare followed by, "No offense, but that sounds remarkably boring." No new collectors in that spectrum of people.
2) A big smile and "I used to collect coins when I was a kid!" And they don't anymore, but wonder what their old collection is worth.

The only time I feel I ever truly reached someone was at last year's May/June Long Beach Convention. That convention was before our first auction, and we were still building our retail inventory, so we were there showing highlights from the Luther A. Breck Collection, including a Pan Pac set (with round and octagonal $50s) and there was a Central America ingot in the case. A father stopped by with two kids, both under the age of ten, and told us that it was their first ever coin show. So although we didn't have a goodie for the kids as many dealers do, I asked the kids if they had ever held a piece of treasure in their hands. The shook their heads and seemed to think there was no such thing. So I took out the ingot and asked them to hold out their hands and told them to take turns. I put the ingot in the first kids hands and he nearly dropped it- he wasn't ready for it to weigh so much. They took turns oohing and aahing over it while I told them it had been on a ship full of gold and it was on the bottom of the ocean for a long time (all very watered down so they wouldn't lose interest in the story) and even their dad asked to hold it. Other kids gathered around the table and took turns passing around the "treasure bar." It was such a great moment to see all those faces stunned at what they had in their little hands. Maybe one will grow up to own some ship wreck treasure of their own, and even if they don't, they had a great story to tell all their friends. And their parents all really appreciated it, too.

Jenna

Neptune

Actually, had the opposite effect on my son. I just bought his small collection from him because he wanted the money to add to his 401K, and wanted me to list them on eBay. He had a few nice coins, but then I would give him and his family more for birthday Christmas, etc. I made him keep the ones I had given my grandchildren and threatened him into oblivion if he put them on eBay. My husband shows no interest in collecting coins or learning, but he does let me know if he hears about coins for sale, which is pretty cool. Sometimes if I get bored, I'll say "you wanna play with coins" - and his answer is always NO. My grandson is interested now, and demands his book first thing upon entering the door, so all is not lost.

coinlieutenant

Only one and he fizzled.

MadMonk

only a few times, and my wife was one of them....she likes any cameo proof, especially with animals.
Canadian coins make that easier.

baccaruda

I never bring up the subject - they think I'm an idiot.

baccaruda

One friend was at my house and picked up one of my Danscos and started looking through it. He said "This looks like the most boring hobby in the world". I took the Dansco out of his hand and put it away and said "That's why I never show them to you".

SethChandler

Back in the day, my grandfather showed a roll of 1955-D Quarters to a Texas businessman and told him how he had just got them from the bank and to coin collectors the roll was worth three times face value. The man was quite intrigued to say the least. He started to collect gold coins....I think his name was something Bass.