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Creating New Numismatists

The goal of any hobby, and organization, is to bring in new members. Without an influx of new blood, any organization, any hobby, withers and dies. So how difficult is it to create a coin collector? How expensive is it? This is my experience from today:

I am involved with a local Boy Scout Troop -- about 20 boys between the ages of 12 and 16. I drove into town today and purchased twenty Whitman penny folders from Chuck Avery at Avery and Brooke here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I then went to the bank and purchased 40 rolls of pennies. At tonight's Boy Scout meeting I lined up the boys and handed them each a Whitman folder and two rolls of pennies. They all rushed back to their tables to open the rolls and began filling in the folders. "Cool!" was the most exciting word I heard. I told them to bring the albums back next week and whoever had theirs filled in the most would receive a prize. I'll certainly return to this post next week and let everyone know how this project has fared.

Cost? Chuck gave me a discount on the folders and I was able to purchase them in bulk for $2.50 each. Add to that the price of the two rolls of pennies -- $1.00. Total cost per kid -- $3.50. I paid for this out of my own pocket. If it's successful, I'm going to approach our local coin club with a plan to dramatically expand on this idea. There are all sorts of groups of youths (Scouts, Church, Sports, &c) who would be very receptive to this approach. The cost of nickels wouldn't be that much more if you wanted to "upgrade" depending on the ages of the youth.

So, let's say we have a long term success of 10%. Imagine how this hobby could grow!!

If everyone on this forum, if every coin club in the USA spent a couple hundred dollars a couple of times a year THINK of the number of new collectors. The bourse at the shows might not be so overpopulated with graying old men if this approach is successful and if it's copied. It is critical that each of us, on our own way, work to expand the number of collectors!

I'm eager to hear of similar experiences!
IN GOD WE TRUST

Comments

  • bidaskbidask Posts: 14,017 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Actually I don't remember what I did to earn my coin collecting merit badge ( I was collector by then anyway) but these days I enjoy giving indian head pennies, wheaties , buff nickels , merc dimes and slq quarters away FREE to any numismatist ( or young person) under age 16 who might walk by at any show I might set up. A real blast!
    I manage money. I earn money. I save money .
    I give away money. I collect money.
    I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.




  • WoodenJeffersonWoodenJefferson Posts: 6,491 ✭✭✭✭
    Young Numismatic Link

    Nintendo, Wii, GameBoy, X-Box, I-Pod, MySpaces.com, U-Tube...there is no way Numismatics of today can compete with these....but if just 1 in 100 turns to coin collecting it is worth the time, money and effort.

    Kudos!
    Chat Board Lingo

    "Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
  • commoncents05commoncents05 Posts: 10,096 ✭✭✭
    2cent, turn on your pm's. i'm an eagle scout from down the road in lowell and a coin collecting merit badge counselor. let me know if you want any help.

    -Paul


    edited to add: i'm one of the few people at coin shows that a) has hair or b) has hair and is a color other than grey. also, to turn on your pm, go to your profile and check the little box that says "accept pm's or private messages" or something like that.
    Many Quality coins for sale at http://www.CommonCentsRareCoins.com
  • RichieURichRichieURich Posts: 8,533 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good job, 2Cent! image We all need to figure out ways to reach the youth and see if we can develop YN's. As for my part, I give out Indian cents or Buffalo nickels to YN's who stop by my table, and I co-sponsor gift certificates for YN's who visit our local coin club's annual show. Our club is also donating Red Books to local school libraries. And we always like new ideas, so we will be looking into doing something with the Scouts.

    An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.

  • csanotescsanotes Posts: 471 ✭✭✭✭
    Hey commoncents-I'm an eagle scout also. Nice to see I'm not the only one on here. Funny enough I never got the coin collecting merit badge. I had been collecting coins and confederate currency since middle school but always looked at the requirements for the badge and just couldn't be bothered-think I always thought it would just be a waste of time to shuffle around my collection and put it all together. I got started with coin collecting by each year for my birthday and christmas since I was in like elementary school my grandparents would give me a pill bottle or two full of silver coins. Piqued my interest once when I found about 10 or 12 of em in a drawer and started categorizing all of them.

    Chance favors the prepared mind.

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