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CoinWeek Article: "Do Young Coin Collectors Grow Up To Be Successful Adults?"
Goldbully
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Posted by CoinWeek on March 1, 2011 10:55 AM
By Patrick A Heller – Liberty Coin Service
Radio Broadcast transcript from WILS-1320 AM on 02/16/2011. The radio show titled “Things You “Know” That Just Aren’t So, And Important News You Need To Know” , presented by Patrick A. Heller, owner of Liberty Coin Service and Premier Coins & Collectibles in Lansing, Michigan.
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Sociologists have long sought to understand what childhood experiences have positive and negative influences on adulthood. In the absence of hard research, I intuitively think that children who seriously pursue a collection are more likely than average to enjoy successful maturity.
I developed this thesis when I served as a member of the American Numismatic Association Future Of The Hobby Committee from 2003 through 2005. Members of this ANA committee were challenged to visualize how numismatics, the study of money, might evolve in the coming decades.
Naturally I reflected on how coin collecting caught my interest. Then I asked several other coin collectors, young to old, about their initial experiences. In general, coin collectors got their start by one of two different means. Either they were given a group of foreign coins or banknotes or else their curiosity was spurred by a change in US coinage (such as the discontinuation of 90% silver coins after 1964 or the debuts of the Kennedy half dollars, Eisenhower dollars, Statehood quarters, Native American dollars, and the like.
*One thing I noticed was that, on average, the collectors I interviewed were more educated than the general population. At one point a question came to me. Did children who became serious coin collectors generally become more successful adults?
But, what should be considered a “successful adult?” I defined success by two measurable parameters: the extent of educational achievement and income earned. Though neither higher education nor income guarantee success, they tend to pave the way for more options in life and the ability to enjoy more material goods.
When I presented this thesis to the members of the ANA Future Of The Hobby Committee, the quick response was that it made sense. However, none knew of any long-term studies that included whether rare coin collecting generally led to higher educational achievement or higher income as an adult.
When I discussed this idea with a local Scout leader, he agreed that it made sense to him. However, he pointed out that it probably wasn’t the coins or currency that would lead to these results. Instead, he thought that a child who became a serious collector in almost any field would derive the same benefits. His point was that serious collectors learn several skills in the process, such as researching information, evaluating quality, organizing, presenting, tracking market values, and proper caring and storage of the items. This range of skills and habits is also useful in academics and in several segments of the jobs market.
If you research information for any collection, you are bound to be exposed to other areas. Coin collectors might learn things about history, geography, politics, mathematics, finance, economics, sociology, and art. An insect collector could study biology, zoology, geography, and ecology. Antique collectors might immerse themselves in history, technology, geography, and the like.
I think coin collecting, starting by sorting through pocket change, is an easy collection to begin. At least one study has found that the typical age coin collectors enter the hobby is between the ages of seven and twelve, often sharing the experience with their parents. Those who remain coin collectors during their teens will likely continue through life. Of those who stop when they become teenagers, about 10% again take it up in their adult life, often enjoying it with their own children.
So, if you see a child become a serious collector of coins, sports cards, dolls, or something else, don’t necessarily think of it as just a passing interest. The skills he or she may be learning could pay off when they grow up.
Link
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By Patrick A Heller – Liberty Coin Service
Radio Broadcast transcript from WILS-1320 AM on 02/16/2011. The radio show titled “Things You “Know” That Just Aren’t So, And Important News You Need To Know” , presented by Patrick A. Heller, owner of Liberty Coin Service and Premier Coins & Collectibles in Lansing, Michigan.
**************************************************************************************************************
Sociologists have long sought to understand what childhood experiences have positive and negative influences on adulthood. In the absence of hard research, I intuitively think that children who seriously pursue a collection are more likely than average to enjoy successful maturity.
I developed this thesis when I served as a member of the American Numismatic Association Future Of The Hobby Committee from 2003 through 2005. Members of this ANA committee were challenged to visualize how numismatics, the study of money, might evolve in the coming decades.
Naturally I reflected on how coin collecting caught my interest. Then I asked several other coin collectors, young to old, about their initial experiences. In general, coin collectors got their start by one of two different means. Either they were given a group of foreign coins or banknotes or else their curiosity was spurred by a change in US coinage (such as the discontinuation of 90% silver coins after 1964 or the debuts of the Kennedy half dollars, Eisenhower dollars, Statehood quarters, Native American dollars, and the like.
*One thing I noticed was that, on average, the collectors I interviewed were more educated than the general population. At one point a question came to me. Did children who became serious coin collectors generally become more successful adults?
But, what should be considered a “successful adult?” I defined success by two measurable parameters: the extent of educational achievement and income earned. Though neither higher education nor income guarantee success, they tend to pave the way for more options in life and the ability to enjoy more material goods.
When I presented this thesis to the members of the ANA Future Of The Hobby Committee, the quick response was that it made sense. However, none knew of any long-term studies that included whether rare coin collecting generally led to higher educational achievement or higher income as an adult.
When I discussed this idea with a local Scout leader, he agreed that it made sense to him. However, he pointed out that it probably wasn’t the coins or currency that would lead to these results. Instead, he thought that a child who became a serious collector in almost any field would derive the same benefits. His point was that serious collectors learn several skills in the process, such as researching information, evaluating quality, organizing, presenting, tracking market values, and proper caring and storage of the items. This range of skills and habits is also useful in academics and in several segments of the jobs market.
If you research information for any collection, you are bound to be exposed to other areas. Coin collectors might learn things about history, geography, politics, mathematics, finance, economics, sociology, and art. An insect collector could study biology, zoology, geography, and ecology. Antique collectors might immerse themselves in history, technology, geography, and the like.
I think coin collecting, starting by sorting through pocket change, is an easy collection to begin. At least one study has found that the typical age coin collectors enter the hobby is between the ages of seven and twelve, often sharing the experience with their parents. Those who remain coin collectors during their teens will likely continue through life. Of those who stop when they become teenagers, about 10% again take it up in their adult life, often enjoying it with their own children.
So, if you see a child become a serious collector of coins, sports cards, dolls, or something else, don’t necessarily think of it as just a passing interest. The skills he or she may be learning could pay off when they grow up.
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Comments
Empty Nest Collection
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
As an aside, I recently saw "the King's Speech." I found it interesting that Edward was king for less than a year, which then made me wonder if he appeared on any coins. Turns out that British coins with Edward are valuable! Nice history/coin history lesson.
<< <i>More likely the collectors were just innately smart to begin with. Collecting perhaps lent a framework, or vehicle, but in itself had little to do with the success of the collector. >>
I agree with this, though I suppose collecting may promote those talents.
Lance.
<< <i>Considering that most coin collectors are white males form middle to upper class families. Yes young upperly mobile white males do tend have the deck stacked in their favor and tend to integrate successfully into society. >>
I tend to vote this way too. Much of the adult success is likely due to having above average incomes and relatively stable family situations. People that move a lot as kids probably don't collect as much as those that stay in one home. Kids of well to do parents have a lot more opportunity to collect than middle income kids or poor kids. Those collector kids are much more likely to be educated than the other kids, because their parents have money and are there for the kids. Filter out the income and family stability factors, and I'd guess the collector factor in isolation doesn't mean all that much.
Like a lot of things, I believe that moderation is better, that too much obsessiveness about coins might hamper future success. An obsessed young collector will likely be a successful adult, but probably could have done much better in terms of financial standing and status, had they spread their wings more instead of going whole hog into the coin hobby.
One aside, the richest man in America, Warren Buffett, collected coins as a kid, from circulation. Buffett owned and ran several businesses such as pinball machines, paper route manager, selling recycled golf balls, where large quantities of change flowed through his hands and he looked at the dates and filled coin folders.
<< <i>More likely the collectors were just innately smart to begin with. Collecting perhaps lent a framework, or vehicle, but in itself had little to do with the success of the collector. >>
I agree. I think collecting and career success probably correlate well, but both are driven by the innate intelligence/aptitude/interests of the individual. I'm an insect taxonomist by trade and collect coins as a hobby. Similar skills are used in both activities (though I'm a much better entomologist than I am at collecting coins).
Upon meeting my future PhD advisor for the first time and showing him that I was a serious student of the diverse insect group which he studied, he asked me if I collected coins or stamps as a kid. Of course, I told him I collected coins and dabbled with stamps for awhile. He then told me that he has never met a serious student of this insect group who wasn't a serious collector of something as a youngster. We used to pose that question of our colleagues and they all were avid collectors of something (coins, stamps, cards, etc.) as a child.
Like many here on this board, I've started and stopped collecting coins several times since I started collecting as a 7-year old. In the meantime, I became interested in insect taxonomy. When I rekindled my interest in coins several years ago, I was amazed to learn of the kind of fine-tuned research numismatists have made on the groups that they study. Researching die combinations and varieties was exactly the same sort of research I had been doing with insect taxonomy.
You can't collect coins if you need them for food let alone go to a museum if your parents work on the weekends or inherent a collection from a well to-do family member. My point is let's not confuse potential for intelligence for developed intellect. BNB is a good example of the trend( not the rule) that with enough backing even a socially awkward young RWM can futz around till they find a revenue stream that will support a comfortable lifestyle that has enough disposable income to lock it into trinkets. I doubt any of us would even remember(wish we didn't now but...) him if he was just a poor kid who wondered on here rambling about some worthless worn Lincolns without a nice computer his mom bought him to post on YouTube. There is just a larger margin for error and when you can make a few mistakes it's easier to succeed and rich people have rich hobbies and "rich" people tend to propagate their success to their kid. My 2c