I have three adult kids in their thirties, all doing well financially based upon their efforts. They remain uninterested in my coin fascination and I don't see that ever changing.
Seated Half Society member #38 "Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Young folks go grey in time and will have similar motivations we have to collect, along with a strong OCD component. Coins are quite well documented and the hobby orderly. But there is competition from areas more nostalgic personally for them. They tend to be less into accumulation of possessions. OTOH, many of us, Boomers, went through antiestablishment phases and scoffed at similar. We all change and they are not exceptional in that regard. It will come down to competing distractions, economic accommodation, and (for US coins) the future status of world powers.
Stamps and modern mint products made/make too many different ones to satisfy the needs of collectors who like to complete sets. When there are physically too many to collect each year, the collector can’t feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a set. If/when the new additions to the set are/were more finite, then they could complete the set each year anew so even if they completed the set they would continue to do so each year. But when too many are offered then it’s too hard to complete. Once you don’t complete a set because of too many offerings, you can’t enjoy adding to it in the future as much because you know it’s not complete.
I don't think anyone is born with a desire to collect coins, but the right exposures at the right time drive natural coin collectors to pick up the hobby, which I hope defines most of us present here. That exposure is the key to getting people involved.
I said before that we need to do a better job of communicating the hobby to others. Obviously we enjoy it and we think they will or should as well. I know it can be done because of the experiences I've had personally and from those posted here and elsewhere. Think of your favorite teacher in school and how they influenced or impacted you learning the subject that they taught and how that can be applied to sharing your passion for coins.
A couple examples I've had with non-collectors...
Young teenager came into the shop to provide extra muscle for his dad investing in monster boxes. The kid made it clear he would rather be home playing Fortnite on multiple occasions. One day, I put in front of him two 1934 Washington quarters, both MS-65, one with a Medium Motto and the other with a Light Motto. I told him one was worth $115, the other $600, and asked him to figure out why. He spent the next twenty minutes trying to figure it out while I worked with his dad. Next time I saw him, he started asking about other coins and got going with his collection.
A girl attending Harvard visited over the summer with her siblings to get something for her dad's birthday. None of the kids had any interest in coins, but I remembered having a 1936 Silver Medal commemorating Harvard's 300th anniversary and showed them. She bought it immediately and was in the next summer for more.
A guy about my age was visiting with his parent and he was wearing a shirt with a Puffin on it. I showed him a Lundy Half Puffin coin I had on hand, he asked how much and bought it. I told him the history of Lundy Island's coins and he showed interest in getting the One Puffin as well, which I did not have.
Another guy, quite a few years older than me, came in to sell a collection he inherited. Of course, he had no interest in holding onto the pieces, but mentioned growing up in Puerto Rico. I told him if ever he did want to collect that there existed coins made for Puerto Rico in 1896. Piqued his curiosity, showed him one or two pieces I had, and sure enough he got started building that set.
Over the years I ran promotions with Large Cents dated 200 years before the current date, started that in 2018 with 1818 coins and sold them as gifts for anyone that stopped by needing something. A lot of those customers came back the following years to pick up the next issue.
Just in the last 18 months, parents and grandparents brought in the youngest to get him started on the hobby. My coworker tried showing them the Red Book with a brief explanation, and the kid was too unsure to show any drive to pick it up. I took a minute, borrowed the kid's attention for a minute, and showed him an old large cent by letting him hold it and walked him through looking it up in the book. Once he saw the value, how many were made, he lit up, turned around and begged his parents to get him the book.
I've experienced the opposite too, where "collectors" coming in think they have something super valuable when it isn't. Usually I'll show them a related coin that is valuable, explain the basics of what to look for, and they move on without feeling disillusioned, disappointed, or disinterested.
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
Need a personalized album made? Design it on the website below and I'll build it for you. https://www.donahuenumismatics.com/.
Love the anecdotes, but they are just that and apparently hardly representative of younger folks interests for reasons I’ve already repeatedly stated.
This does not mean we don’t have our own love or experience for or with coins as these thoughts and feelings have little to do with younger generations.
A few may be captured by the odd Harvard medal but I doubt many as examples.
Sadly, I do doubt that further discussion will alter perceptions.
Love that Milled British (1830-1960) Well, just Love coins, period.
No.
The lack of brick and mortar coin stores has greatly diminished where can kids go without their parents to spend their allowance on coins. Online websites are impersonal and not sufficient to bring in the younger generations in the same number the local coins stores did. The neighbors and neighborhoods lack the same level of socialization. How many kids can walk or ride their bikes to see coins in a local coin store. Pawn shops have some junk coins, but like bars, are for adults.
The absence of gold and silver coinage in everyday commerce has debased modern coinage. Card and online transactions reduce the need for coinage.
Also coin stores are where kids and teens get to learn ethics of the hobby. One story from when I was in my late teens is there was another hobbyist in the coin store going through coins while I was trying to sell coins, that other hobbyist offered me more money for an uncirculated Washington Quarter I had, I took the money. While there are coin dealers who would throw people out for that stuff, the dealer said that if the owner of the store saw that, he would not appreciate it and did not throw me out, I apologized for it and he replied to me "don't even mention this again" and he realized that I did not know the ethics surrounding the hobby. Now I know to tread very carefully and that has stayed with me as an adult.
A lot of the ones I see now on different sites post heavily circulated coins thinking they have errors. Everything they have has some sort of error. YouTube, Etsy, Pinterest and eBay are influencing new collectors to quick, get rich quick scams by showing them errors to look for which aren’t errors or very minor errors.
@robec said:
A lot of the ones I see now on different sites post heavily circulated coins thinking they have errors. Everything they have has some sort of error. YouTube, Etsy, Pinterest and eBay are influencing new collectors to quick, get rich quick scams by showing them errors to look for which aren’t errors or very minor errors.
Yep, I see a lot of that too. Maybe somebody should put together a category listing of the different types of PMD and mint Anomolies like machine doubling, die deterioration doubling, etc. and create a coin album where people can collect the different categories of PMD and people can collect one of each category. It could be a cheap way for people to collect from circulation and/or off of the parking lots that would give newbies the thrill of the chase/hunt and the satisfaction of completing a set. The end result would be an album of coins worth at least face value just like state quarters and would still be a better return on investment than Beanie Babies. But it would also be an educational tool that would motivate Newbies to learn about the minting process, coins, properties of different metals etc.. People could start competing for who has the most dramatic or unusual of each PMD and you’d end up with modest premiums for ones that look extra cool for whatever reason. Even have the dealer who markets the PMD albums be a market maker for dramatic/cool looking PMD just like Wayte Raymond did to get people to start collecting every date/mintmark. That dealer could come up with price guides and everything. I’m not being facetious either, on every coin forum or coin social media site there seems to be a plethora of newbies hyper focused on PMD.
Who knows, it isn’t a far stretch for someone who finds a die deterioration doubled coin to become interested in learning about Longacre doubling 🧐
Comments
I have three adult kids in their thirties, all doing well financially based upon their efforts. They remain uninterested in my coin fascination and I don't see that ever changing.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Young folks go grey in time and will have similar motivations we have to collect, along with a strong OCD component. Coins are quite well documented and the hobby orderly. But there is competition from areas more nostalgic personally for them. They tend to be less into accumulation of possessions. OTOH, many of us, Boomers, went through antiestablishment phases and scoffed at similar. We all change and they are not exceptional in that regard. It will come down to competing distractions, economic accommodation, and (for US coins) the future status of world powers.
Stamps and modern mint products made/make too many different ones to satisfy the needs of collectors who like to complete sets. When there are physically too many to collect each year, the collector can’t feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a set. If/when the new additions to the set are/were more finite, then they could complete the set each year anew so even if they completed the set they would continue to do so each year. But when too many are offered then it’s too hard to complete. Once you don’t complete a set because of too many offerings, you can’t enjoy adding to it in the future as much because you know it’s not complete.
Mr_Spud
I don't think anyone is born with a desire to collect coins, but the right exposures at the right time drive natural coin collectors to pick up the hobby, which I hope defines most of us present here. That exposure is the key to getting people involved.
I said before that we need to do a better job of communicating the hobby to others. Obviously we enjoy it and we think they will or should as well. I know it can be done because of the experiences I've had personally and from those posted here and elsewhere. Think of your favorite teacher in school and how they influenced or impacted you learning the subject that they taught and how that can be applied to sharing your passion for coins.
A couple examples I've had with non-collectors...
Young teenager came into the shop to provide extra muscle for his dad investing in monster boxes. The kid made it clear he would rather be home playing Fortnite on multiple occasions. One day, I put in front of him two 1934 Washington quarters, both MS-65, one with a Medium Motto and the other with a Light Motto. I told him one was worth $115, the other $600, and asked him to figure out why. He spent the next twenty minutes trying to figure it out while I worked with his dad. Next time I saw him, he started asking about other coins and got going with his collection.
A girl attending Harvard visited over the summer with her siblings to get something for her dad's birthday. None of the kids had any interest in coins, but I remembered having a 1936 Silver Medal commemorating Harvard's 300th anniversary and showed them. She bought it immediately and was in the next summer for more.
A guy about my age was visiting with his parent and he was wearing a shirt with a Puffin on it. I showed him a Lundy Half Puffin coin I had on hand, he asked how much and bought it. I told him the history of Lundy Island's coins and he showed interest in getting the One Puffin as well, which I did not have.
Another guy, quite a few years older than me, came in to sell a collection he inherited. Of course, he had no interest in holding onto the pieces, but mentioned growing up in Puerto Rico. I told him if ever he did want to collect that there existed coins made for Puerto Rico in 1896. Piqued his curiosity, showed him one or two pieces I had, and sure enough he got started building that set.
Over the years I ran promotions with Large Cents dated 200 years before the current date, started that in 2018 with 1818 coins and sold them as gifts for anyone that stopped by needing something. A lot of those customers came back the following years to pick up the next issue.
Just in the last 18 months, parents and grandparents brought in the youngest to get him started on the hobby. My coworker tried showing them the Red Book with a brief explanation, and the kid was too unsure to show any drive to pick it up. I took a minute, borrowed the kid's attention for a minute, and showed him an old large cent by letting him hold it and walked him through looking it up in the book. Once he saw the value, how many were made, he lit up, turned around and begged his parents to get him the book.
I've experienced the opposite too, where "collectors" coming in think they have something super valuable when it isn't. Usually I'll show them a related coin that is valuable, explain the basics of what to look for, and they move on without feeling disillusioned, disappointed, or disinterested.
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
Need a personalized album made? Design it on the website below and I'll build it for you.
https://www.donahuenumismatics.com/.
Love the anecdotes, but they are just that and apparently hardly representative of younger folks interests for reasons I’ve already repeatedly stated.
This does not mean we don’t have our own love or experience for or with coins as these thoughts and feelings have little to do with younger generations.
A few may be captured by the odd Harvard medal but I doubt many as examples.
Sadly, I do doubt that further discussion will alter perceptions.
Well, just Love coins, period.
No.
The lack of brick and mortar coin stores has greatly diminished where can kids go without their parents to spend their allowance on coins. Online websites are impersonal and not sufficient to bring in the younger generations in the same number the local coins stores did. The neighbors and neighborhoods lack the same level of socialization. How many kids can walk or ride their bikes to see coins in a local coin store. Pawn shops have some junk coins, but like bars, are for adults.
The absence of gold and silver coinage in everyday commerce has debased modern coinage. Card and online transactions reduce the need for coinage.
Also coin stores are where kids and teens get to learn ethics of the hobby. One story from when I was in my late teens is there was another hobbyist in the coin store going through coins while I was trying to sell coins, that other hobbyist offered me more money for an uncirculated Washington Quarter I had, I took the money. While there are coin dealers who would throw people out for that stuff, the dealer said that if the owner of the store saw that, he would not appreciate it and did not throw me out, I apologized for it and he replied to me "don't even mention this again" and he realized that I did not know the ethics surrounding the hobby. Now I know to tread very carefully and that has stayed with me as an adult.
A lot of the ones I see now on different sites post heavily circulated coins thinking they have errors. Everything they have has some sort of error. YouTube, Etsy, Pinterest and eBay are influencing new collectors to quick, get rich quick scams by showing them errors to look for which aren’t errors or very minor errors.
- Bob -
MPL's - Lincolns of Color
Central Valley Roosevelts
Yep, I see a lot of that too. Maybe somebody should put together a category listing of the different types of PMD and mint Anomolies like machine doubling, die deterioration doubling, etc. and create a coin album where people can collect the different categories of PMD and people can collect one of each category. It could be a cheap way for people to collect from circulation and/or off of the parking lots that would give newbies the thrill of the chase/hunt and the satisfaction of completing a set. The end result would be an album of coins worth at least face value just like state quarters and would still be a better return on investment than Beanie Babies. But it would also be an educational tool that would motivate Newbies to learn about the minting process, coins, properties of different metals etc.. People could start competing for who has the most dramatic or unusual of each PMD and you’d end up with modest premiums for ones that look extra cool for whatever reason. Even have the dealer who markets the PMD albums be a market maker for dramatic/cool looking PMD just like Wayte Raymond did to get people to start collecting every date/mintmark. That dealer could come up with price guides and everything. I’m not being facetious either, on every coin forum or coin social media site there seems to be a plethora of newbies hyper focused on PMD.
Who knows, it isn’t a far stretch for someone who finds a die deterioration doubled coin to become interested in learning about Longacre doubling 🧐
Mr_Spud
Agreed there will always be a market for both! But dependent on your luck in timing, it may or may not be to your advantage individually.
Great posts everyone!
https://www.ebay.com/mys/active