Will Coin Collecting Die Off?

I think that one big difference between the State Quarters program / Presidential dollars / etc. are that they were very easy for people to just "subscribe" and get the coins in the mail and complete a set, and the coins were very affordable.

A lot of people I know that did these sets get them through various "mail order" type programs including directly from the mint.

Formal "Coin Collecting" requires much more work, knowledge, time, skills, and money....


There was probably a small population of people that became interested and expanded into the hobby, but I would bet a lot just signed-up for the "next series" (America the Beautiful, sacagawea, etc.) or just stopped after they completed the series.

Just a guess.. no real hard facts...

Michael

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Excellent. It is always good to hear this plainly stated!
While everyone has their own set of reasons for collecting, there are surely these commonalities:

(1) Coins are made from an attractive material with great care
(2) They represent our identity and allegiance to a community (both as citizen and collector)
(3) They are a reward for concentrated effort (both as currency and collectible)
(4) We can be transported back to an earlier day by a quality original example. Not sure but I suspect there may be something metaphysical going on with this.

And probably some others that do not immediately spring to mind.

@cladking I agree, collectors shouldn't be judging other collectors based on what are their financial means.

Personally I'm not seeing a reason to worry about numismatics dying out. Obviously once cash is dead fewer people will be interested in coin collecting, but there will always be a few dedicated fans of history who will commit to numismatics.

Currency is present in everyone's everyday life and so there will always be people who will study economics, and some of them might get interested in the actual physical means of currency used in the past.

I don't quite understand the 'we need more collectors' mindset. If someone gets interested then it's important to treat them well, but it's not necessary and not possible to try to get more people interested, as those who don't catch the coin bug by themselves will end up leaving the hobby.

I can't see the market going below where it was in the late 19th century - the coins will still be there and with the expansion of electronic shopping their availability in the years to come will be higher than ever. And while someone might no longer be able to find something in their pocket change, they might just as well be browsing ebay for something they want and then see a cool coin for only a dollar - and they might become a dedicated collector.

No, the hobby's not going to die, and it's not even going to be seriously hit during our lifetimes - cladking mentioned '25 years after the last coin is produced'. In the USA I believe coins will be made for circulation until the 2040s at least - with the ATB program running through 2032 and more programs which will probably be added along the way, I can't see it happening earlier. For Europe, cash could well be used until the 2070s-2080s - in Belgium people are especially slow to change and a lot of places still don't take card payment.

Many people have compared coin collecting to stamp collecting, saying that the first will become as unpopular as the latter did. However, there is one thing we must see - most Post Offices of the world are still making large profits sending parcels - their numbers are steadily increasing with the rise of electronic shopping. And while fewer and fewer people are sending letters, post offices are still profitable and they do not need to sell collectible stamps in order to have profit. We cannot say the same about mints - once cash use is over, mints around the world will heavily advertise their mint set/proof set/NCLT programs to avoid going bankrupt - and this could spark new collectors. Indeed, well-advertised cheap NCLT can work as well luring new people into the hobby as an obsolete design in circulation - as long as it doesn't become excessive (The RCM is a good example of excessive NCLT issuance) - as this could overwhelm collectors and make them leave the hobby.

To sum this up, while the coin market of 2100 will certainly not be that of 1960, it will definitely be way larger than that of 1885.

That is a very cool and significant story, and I'm glad you posted it. Makes me wonder if you would have found a higher percentage who recognized it among those who liked history (which I know is not a popular subject any more)?
And just curious - did it happen to come up that if that dime was a '16-D in decent shape it could be flipped on ebay for two or three iPhone7 Pluses?
I hope you will continue to share your thoughts on these things. Treasures can be unearthed just by asking good questions...

Both are excellent points.

I must disagree wholeheartedly on this. This "rush to riches" is but a new development in numismatics of the last 30 years. I believe it plays upon the natural human greed in all of us at some level. When I was first introduced as a so-called YN in 1959 by my father, it was intriguing, never was mentioned "profit" and rarely "investment", although at the time silver was being phased out, I knew of its value. As most "YNs" of my generation, life intruded, money was tight( you guys have "disposable" income?), and not until later in life did I return to the hobby. This idea of riches has changed numismatics, and not for the better. Just how many have been suckered into collecting through promises that will not be realized by the miriad of books and videos on the subject. Finding disappointment and immense discouragement only guarantees these fledgling collectors will NEVER return to the hobby later in life.

Yes, there will always be collectors, but think about it in this manner. With collectors of any item, "the more IS NOT the merrier". That competition forces the market of value in the wrong direction for any intrinsic value/worth. It is better for us to keep our "tribe" stable, but consistently small!

Back to the original question. My guess is all who are reading this, have never experienced a great depression or have lived or were born in Burundi, Congo or Central African Republic. You don't see many collectors in those places. Only then will collecting die and you'll be selling or melting your collections for food money.

I think as long as cash is still being used, our hobby will continue to be healthy. but as is continues to turn into a cashless one, there will be less and less collectors. More and more people use credit cards, applepay and other methods instead of cash. People just don't carry and use cash like they use to. Thus, no change coming back to the customer to be searched through by them or their kids. That and their being to many other activities these days, its going to get harder to attract new collectors.