The Future of coin collecting

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gashmios
gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
edited February 1, 2026 12:21PM in U.S. Coin Forum

I am wonder, as we are moving rapidly to a future with minimal real money, how will this affect future coin collecting and prices. When people don't use coins (or even paper money), won't there interest decline?

So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998

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  • Mr_Spud
    Mr_Spud Posts: 7,272 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Some will like vintage coins more if they stop making new ones. But there might be less entry level newbies if there are no coins received in change to look through.

    Mr_Spud

  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    we've been doing this for almost 2500 years, but if it comes to an end, that feeling of historical connection will be gone.

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    See - we can relate to this

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • numis1652
    numis1652 Posts: 100 ✭✭✭
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    Pride in one’s country and the courts, Congress and the Presidency is a major factor in attracting new collectors and retaining old collectors. Pride in one’s country’’s history, past and current..
    I think that says it all, at least for the next 3 years.

  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    think about how much more expensive Morgans are to Athenean Owls

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • World67
    World67 Posts: 13,098 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @numis1652 said:
    Pride in one’s country and the courts, Congress and the Presidency is a major factor in attracting new collectors and retaining old collectors. Pride in one’s country’’s history, past and current..
    I think that says it all, at least for the next 3 years.

    I know what you mean. Just the other day my 5 year old grandson was watching C-SPAN Congressional Subcommittee hearings and "Papaw, I think I want to collect coins now!".

  • Cranium_Basher73
    Cranium_Basher73 Posts: 3,826 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Mr_Spud said:
    And then there’s this

    Because all those credit cards are stolen. >:)

    Throw a coin enough times, and suppose one day it lands on its edge.

  • Creg
    Creg Posts: 1,734 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @lermish said:

    @Morgan White said:

    @numis1652 said:
    Pride in one’s country and the courts, Congress and the Presidency is a major factor in attracting new collectors and retaining old collectors. Pride in one’s country’’s history, past and current..
    I think that says it all, at least for the next 3 years.

    I know what you mean. Just the other day my 5 year old grandson was watching C-SPAN Congressional Subcommittee hearings and "Papaw, I think I want to collect coins now!".

    That's odd, because just this morning my 10yo daughter had her federal grant for her doctoral research revoked and made me drive her to Walmart to dump all of her wheat cents into the Coinstar.

    That is different. We were watching agility games when our boxer pup told us that she couldn’t wait to collect the youth sports quarters.

  • tonedcoinlover
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    We are experiencing a cataclysmic event with what is happening with gold and silver.

    Having seen this prior with the Hunt Brothers in the 1980's we have now greatly exceeded that.

    The possibility of assembling a circulated set of Roosevelt dimes, Barber quarters, Standing Liberty Liberty quarters, Washington quarters, Walking Liberty Halves, Franklin Halves in albums is disappearing if not gone all together.. The future Numismatics will be left with post 1964 coinage, Lincoln cents (most likely post 1945) and whatever else if remaining.

    How is the next generation going to move into 17th. century coinage with ought first experiencing the joy of collecting 18th. century coinage?

  • TPring
    TPring Posts: 388 ✭✭✭
    edited February 1, 2026 9:03PM
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    @numis1652 said:
    Pride in one’s country and the courts, Congress and the Presidency is a major factor in attracting new collectors and retaining old collectors. Pride in one’s country’’s history, past and current..
    I think that says it all, at least for the next 3 years.

    What?! Are you still all upset about the big storm that just missed the FUN show by 3 weeks?

    What happens in 3 years that will decide the future of coin collecting?

  • Catbert
    Catbert Posts: 8,258 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2, 2026 5:42AM
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    @tonedcoinlover said:

    How is the next generation going to move into 17th. century coinage with ought first experiencing the joy of collecting 18th. century coinage?

    Just for clarity, you are talking about coins from the 1600s and the joy of collecting coins from the 1700s?

    Anyway, the hobby has survived many challenges - economic upheavals, wars, pandemic shutdowns, etc. I think it will survive without our commerce requiring coin exchange.

    (edit to correct misspelling)

    Seated Half Society member #38

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    running like a water color in the rain...."
  • seatedlib3991
    seatedlib3991 Posts: 1,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Coin collecting will go on. To relate coins to coin usage is of little meaning. That would be like saying "We have electricity now; throw out all the candles." They just find a means of coexistence.
    The real survival of coin collecting has much more to do with protecting the hobby's integrity. The real bedrock of coin collecting is appreciating History and the role coins have played in the past. James

  • MEJ7070
    MEJ7070 Posts: 951 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    If I just wanted to plug holes as quickly as possible…..I could complete a set of Roosevelts or Franklins in less than an hour with a laptop and a credit card.

    Barbers and Walkers would be slightly trickier but I think they too could be done in less than a day.

    I’m not here to be argumentative on any level, but I think it’s a bit hyperbolic to state the opportunity to collect material like this is “disappearing”.

    Our hobby has endured ebbs and flows in every direction for centuries. A ridiculous run up in metals in late 2025/early 2026 will be part of the thousands of years old story of numismatics……but it’s not going to kill it. Neither is a US president that many Americans vigorously dislike.

    (As an aside…..those who like to compare our hobby to stamps usually fail to acknowledge that postage came around less than 200 years ago while coins have circulated for 2500 years+)

  • lordmarcovan
    lordmarcovan Posts: 45,335 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2, 2026 6:08AM
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    I don't think the decline or even end of coin use in commerce need be that relevant.

    I mean, think about it- people don't use flintlock firearms anymore, yet plenty of folks still like to collect those, for just one example. There aren't a lot of Ford Model T cars being driven daily, but plenty are in the hands of collectors. You get what I'm sayin'.

    If anything, people's interest might even increase a little bit when coins become a thing of the past.

    Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.

  • Creg
    Creg Posts: 1,734 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    When something goes away more people start collecting (and flipping) it .

  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,044 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @MEJ7070 said:
    If I just wanted to plug holes as quickly as possible…..I could complete a set of Roosevelts or Franklins in less than an hour with a laptop and a credit card.

    Barbers and Walkers would be slightly trickier but I think they too could be done in less than a day.

    I’m not here to be argumentative on any level, but I think it’s a bit hyperbolic to state the opportunity to collect material like this is “disappearing”.

    Our hobby has endured ebbs and flows in every direction for centuries. A ridiculous run up in metals in late 2025/early 2026 will be part of the thousands of years old story of numismatics……but it’s not going to kill it. Neither is a US president that many Americans vigorously dislike.

    (As an aside…..those who like to compare our hobby to stamps usually fail to acknowledge that postage came around less than 200 years ago while coins have circulated for 2500 years+)

    There is no difference between something 200 years old and 2500 years old when the human lifespan is 80 years.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • lkenefic
    lkenefic Posts: 9,518 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    The concept of value, in whatever form it takes, isn't going away. Combine that with a human's propensity to gather stuff and I doubt coin collecting is going away. What constitutes "a set" might change, but I think we'll see coin collecting around for quite some time...

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  • messydesk
    messydesk Posts: 20,814 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Some people have the personality that requires them to collect things. This will not change, although what they collect will evolve. Coins are fairly well entrenched in the Pantheon of collectibles, while things like beanie babies, phone cards, and pogs lived a short life as minor demigods.

  • DesertCoin
    DesertCoin Posts: 479 ✭✭✭
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    @jmlanzaf said:

    @MEJ7070 said:
    If I just wanted to plug holes as quickly as possible…..I could complete a set of Roosevelts or Franklins in less than an hour with a laptop and a credit card.

    Barbers and Walkers would be slightly trickier but I think they too could be done in less than a day.

    I’m not here to be argumentative on any level, but I think it’s a bit hyperbolic to state the opportunity to collect material like this is “disappearing”.

    Our hobby has endured ebbs and flows in every direction for centuries. A ridiculous run up in metals in late 2025/early 2026 will be part of the thousands of years old story of numismatics……but it’s not going to kill it. Neither is a US president that many Americans vigorously dislike.

    (As an aside…..those who like to compare our hobby to stamps usually fail to acknowledge that postage came around less than 200 years ago while coins have circulated for 2500 years+)

    There is no difference between something 200 years old and 2500 years old when the human lifespan is 80 years.

    Coins have made sense to more lifespans than stamps.

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  • DesertCoin
    DesertCoin Posts: 479 ✭✭✭
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    We don’t exactly have to worry about this just yet. I fully expect circulating coinage to outlive even the youngest members of this forum.

    “Land of the free because of the brave”
    “Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone”
    In Deo solo confidimus
    ΙΧΘΥΣ
    ΙϹ ΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΝΙΚΑ)


    Member since 2026
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  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
    edited March 6, 2026 3:04AM
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    @DesertCoin said:
    We don’t exactly have to worry about this just yet. I fully expect circulating coinage to outlive even the youngest members of this forum.

    I would not think that is a certainty. I have grandchildren reaching their teens who have never handled physical money except to give for Tzadkah in the morning and for other religious rituals.

    I had another child ask me how they can put the 20 sheckel note into the credit card machine.

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • safari_dude
    safari_dude Posts: 698 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    My stepson and stepdaughter (29 and 30 years old) LOVE my collection and the cool coins they get each year for Christmas and their birthdays. I started giving them bits and pieces about 10 years ago…. My stepson (finance major) firmly believes physical coinage will all but disappear in the not too distant future as crypto and credit cards take over our monetary system completely. The government hasn’t thought this crypto stuff out very well as a few of the trading platforms are just money laundering in disguise. Hard to collect taxes on money that can’t be seen or traced. 🤨

  • dcarr
    dcarr Posts: 10,255 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 6, 2026 3:23AM
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    @lermish said:

    @Morgan White said:

    @numis1652 said:
    Pride in one’s country and the courts, Congress and the Presidency is a major factor in attracting new collectors and retaining old collectors. Pride in one’s country’’s history, past and current..
    I think that says it all, at least for the next 3 years.

    I know what you mean. Just the other day my 5 year old grandson was watching C-SPAN Congressional Subcommittee hearings and "Papaw, I think I want to collect coins now!".

    That's odd because just this morning my 10yo daughter had her federal grant for her doctoral research revoked and made me drive her to Walmart to dump all of her wheat cents into the Coinstar.

    .

    A local coin shop near me pays 4x times face value for wheat cent lots.

    .

  • dcarr
    dcarr Posts: 10,255 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I have followed the market for vintage silver ingots over the past ten years or so.
    It is apparent that new collectors are not coming from people finding coins in circulation.
    The new collectors are "stackers" who have been branching out into collectible forms of bullion and coins.

    .

  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    @dcarr said:
    I have followed the market for vintage silver ingots over the past ten years or so.
    It is apparent that new collectors are not coming from people finding coins in circulation.
    The new collectors are "stackers" who have been branching out into collectible forms of bullion and coins.

    .

    That would be interesting because that is a completely different group of collectors than the historical Keenes Steakhouse coin collectors. And yet, NZ just announced they are ending the commerative silver programs.

    Many of the Worldwide silver bullion collectables are desirable, artistic, and fun to have in the hand.

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • DesertCoin
    DesertCoin Posts: 479 ✭✭✭
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    @mrbrklyn said:

    @DesertCoin said:
    We don’t exactly have to worry about this just yet. I fully expect circulating coinage to outlive even the youngest members of this forum.

    I would not think that is a certainty. I have grandchildren reaching their teens who have never handled physical money except to give for Tzadkah in the morning and for other religious rituals.

    I had another child ask me how they can put the 20 sheckel note into the credit card machine.

    Definitely a large portion of the younger generations are lacking in the use of physical money. I’m 20 myself, but I’m a hardcore physical money user. I’ll use a card where it’s reasonably better to do so, but “cash is king” in circulation. Technically coins for me. I have observed a subset of my own generation who prefers cash vastly over cards. These are mostly also the silver/gold stacker type.

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    “Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone”
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  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • World67
    World67 Posts: 13,098 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @mrbrklyn said:
    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    Brooklyn?

  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
    edited March 7, 2026 12:40PM
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    @Morgan White said:

    @mrbrklyn said:
    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    Brooklyn?

    Amsterdam, among others. Only cabs and hookers will take your Euros in Amsterdam.

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • Overdate
    Overdate Posts: 7,318 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @mrbrklyn said:
    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    >
    Just about every store I visit takes cash, but some of them ask to see my cash card first.

  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
    edited March 8, 2026 2:24AM
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    @Overdate said:

    @mrbrklyn said:
    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    >
    Just about every store I visit takes cash, but some of them ask to see my cash card first.

    No - Amsterdam does not take cash.. period. I've been stranded there with 700 Euros and no way to spend them - niether at the hotel or any of the museums or resturants. Not on the railroad or the public transport. It is all card only. This is not even worth debate or discussion

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    In Copenhagen it was impossilbe to either get cash or spend it

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    Also, venues like Citifield in NYC will not take any cash in the stadium. I can't speak for Yankee stadium or the Garden

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • johnny9434
    johnny9434 Posts: 34,049 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @mrbrklyn said:
    Also, venues like Citifield in NYC will not take any cash in the stadium. I can't speak for Yankee stadium or the Garden

    Indeed We're seeing more and more of it, welcome to the future

  • oldglorycoins
    oldglorycoins Posts: 305 ✭✭✭
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    Why don't you ask this question on the world coin forum? Since the examples that you are giving us are mostly outside the U.S.

  • Creg
    Creg Posts: 1,734 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @mrbrklyn said:

    @Morgan White said:

    @mrbrklyn said:
    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    Brooklyn?

    Amsterdam, among others. Only cabs and hookers will take your Euros in Amsterdam.

    Did they have correct change?

  • gashmios
    gashmios Posts: 504 ✭✭✭
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    @Creg said:

    @mrbrklyn said:

    @Morgan White said:

    @mrbrklyn said:
    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    Brooklyn?

    Amsterdam, among others. Only cabs and hookers will take your Euros in Amsterdam.

    Did they have correct change?

    thecabs yes - the hookers, you've have to try yourself

    So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
  • johnny9434
    johnny9434 Posts: 34,049 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Creg said:

    @mrbrklyn said:

    @Morgan White said:

    @mrbrklyn said:
    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    Brooklyn?

    Amsterdam, among others. Only cabs and hookers will take your Euros in Amsterdam.

    Did they have correct change?

    And if your not happy, hmmmm?

  • Creg
    Creg Posts: 1,734 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @mrbrklyn said:

    @Creg said:

    @mrbrklyn said:

    @Morgan White said:

    @mrbrklyn said:
    There are places and cities I've travelled to that will no longer take cash

    Brooklyn?

    Amsterdam, among others. Only cabs and hookers will take your Euros in Amsterdam.

    Did they have correct change?

    thecabs yes - the hookers, you've have to try yourself

    That’s no ripost!
    I would have said, “Yeah, but we could never work out the exchange rate.”

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