Women Collectors

I voted less than 10% but I think it is only a little bit below that threshold. There are a few show circuit dealers who are women- Joan Miller(Miller's Mint), Liz Coggan(JJ Teaparty), and Laura Sperber(Legend Numismatics) are a few that I can think of off the top of my head. Locally in St. Louis, Scotsman Auction Co has several Woodside women actively involved in the family coin auction business.

I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside every time I see someone with their young daughter in a shop or at a show and the girl is taking an active interest in coins That will probably be me in a few years if I ever have a daughter(no kids yet but planned in the near future). I think alot of dads think that coin collecting is more for the boys so the girls just do not get the exposure to the hobby that they probably could get. If you do not have that exposure as a child, odds are that you will probably not just pick it up as an adult.

Well, so far it's looking like the poll is supporting my suspicions. I know that doesn't necessarily make it true but I guess it's the perception among most folks. My two kids (one boy, one girl) are both grown and neither had any interest in collecting when they were young despite equal opportunity to engage with the hobby. Like I said back in my first post, most of my contact with collectors (buyers, sellers, horders...whatever) is electronically. I can't tell you how many times I've either bought or sold something on ebay where it seemed like I might be dealing with a woman, but it turned out to be a man. It's like I'd sell something to an eBayer with an ID like Lori_333@providername.com and then through the course of events I'd find out that I was REALLY dealing with her husband, Bob, who was just using her ebay ID to buy coins. Funny story: About a year ago I made a few ebay sales to a person in Georgia who had an address that definitely contained the name of a woman. The PayPal account had the same obviously female name attached to it. But whenever this person sent me some correspondence they always signed off as "Buffalo Rider". Time went by and I pressed them on this a little and they sent me a black and white photo of an individual sitting on top of an American Bison and a note stating the bison's name and when he died. The individual had long hair and looked a little heavy and I thought it was a woman. The note also contained a clue that said, "I'm sort of famous." I wrote back in jest and asked "are you some relation of Annie Oakley?" The person wrote back that HE had been in some movies and that... "I ain't no girl!!" It turns out that there were some "B" western movies back in the '70's and this GUY "starred" in them, and one of them was named "The Buffalo Rider", where he goes riding about on a huge bison exacting revenge for the senseless slaughter of the bison and Indians and all those other bad things our forefathers did out in the old west. Needless to say, however, that was him on top of the buffalo in the photo, and I guess that he didn't like that I thought that he looked like a woman because he never bought anything from me again after that!

There is a difference between "collecting" and "hording" as was the case for older generations. Their change jars were all silver

My fiance and I go to all the major shows together. Although not an avid collector or coin nut like myself (I eat,sleep, and breathe coins) she still has a pretty substantial collection, a loupe, and basic interest. I would put her in that 10%. Let's put it this way. If I past away tomorrow, I am confident I have given her the knowledge to deal with my collection appropriately.

Possibly very true. We should all try to remember that although so many women claim they are really the same as men or basically work wise, that many differences are in what they discuss. Men like to talk about their cars, guns, knives, coins, stamps and on and on and on about items that are really hobbies. Women tend to discuss what to them is a little more important. And if a female does collect coins, possibly not the thing she would bring up with others. Same with guns and cars.
OK so everyone bring a date, your wife, daughter, etc to a coin show.

I'd like to collect them, but I can barely afford the one.