Millennials: Will They Be The Next Generation Of Collectors?

I don't think there are going to be many collectors from the millennial demographic in the future. Coins just don't interest them as much. There are other things they are going to be into.

I believe the hobby is going to be entering its dark era. Why? Simply, it is for the fact that China and its counterfeiters are going to destroy the market in the future. What does a NGC or PCGS slab mean if they both can be counterfeited quite well by the Chinese. As technology becomes better, they will be able to make better copies of coins and slabs that may not be able to be spotted by the most advanced collector.

In the future, you won't be able to trust the coin, the slab or the anything. There will be safer investments in other areas. Goodbye coin collecting. It will take some time for this to happen, but it will.

Will Millennials be the next generation of collectors? IMO, yes.

Maybe a better question is; what and how will they collect and how many will there be?

I have two sons. They are both Millennials and they both collect. My oldest son collects Mr Potatohead, he has one of the top five largest collections in the world it numbers in the thousands. He also collects coins. My youngest son collects books but has no interest in coins. My granddaughter has a small collection of coins, she is 7. Will she continue to collect? I don't know yet but if she does then she will be the fourth generation of coin collectors in my family.

I do believe there will always be coin collectors as long as there are coins to collect. I do not believe that they will collect in the same way we do. I do not collect in the same way my parents did, my son does not collect the same way I do and my granddaughter will have ways to collect that we cannot imagine yet. My parents could have never dreamed of something like ebay. I also believe there are far more collectors out there than we imagine and there will be more collectors in the future.

Viva Numismatic!

Since writing the opening post of this thread over two years ago I've become considerably more hopeful that there are indeed young collectors ready to continue the hobby in the future. What they may lack in number they make up for in passion. This forum has many young members that will hopefully continue to cultivate the hobby in future generations.

This is the same reason I love coins. Frankly I kindda prefer the modern "disposable" coins but only because so many have been disposed. The other thing that I love about coins is their ability to have a "random walk". Again I prefer moderns because it is more random.

Then again though, what isn't to love about coins? ;)