Will Coins Continue To Appreciate In Value?

A large driver of "where coin prices will go in the future" depends to a large part on what happens with coins themselves - will they remain a visible, viable part of the economy and in people's daily experiences, or will they become a curious anachronism like swords and oil lamps, relics of a bygone era with little to no practical function in modern society?

Coin collecting is popular because it's super-easy to "get started": all you need to do is sort through your change. That's how many of the "old guys" got their start as kids back in the previous century, and will continue to be the main "recruiting ground" for future coin collectors. A proportion of those fishing-coins-from-change collectors will go on to become those "spend big bucks on rare coins" collectors. But if coins essentially disappear from public view (if everyone goes cashless or if the dollar becomes so worthless that the only "cash" anyone normally uses is notes), that means fewer new collectors to replace those old ones. And that will inevitably lead to lower demand, and lower prices.

I've often said that one of the reasons I like collecting coins is that coins are a tangible continuum of history - they are one of the few ancient inventions that are still in use today. Suppose you were to travel back in time, kidnap a random Roman citizen, and dump them on a 21st century street. They'd be totally confused by everything they saw around them - the culture, the language, the fashion, the technology - but show them a coin, and they'd not only know exactly what it was, but roughly how to use it.

Sadly, unless something drastic happens with our modern culture, I think the 21st century is going to be the last where that first sentence in the above paragraph is going to be true. And "people who become interested in curious anachronisms" are always going to be smaller in number than "people who are interested in everyday objects".

I'm 75 and have collected coins since I was 7. In that entire time I have read countless letters to the editor about the need to get young people intrrested in the hobby, and here we are, still chugging along.
By the way Brandmeister, thanks for the anecdotal evidence about flying. Exactly one month from today I'll be on a 10 1/2 hour flight to Paris. Good luck to me I guess. Au revoir.

Sorry, but at my grade level when I'm spending well into 4 figures for a commodity.....it's an investment.

Brandmeister: You've been listening too much to the anti-mask brigade. My tests using the sprays of the sweet and the bitter solutions show me that masks really do work. Even a lousy mask worn properly provides substantial protection. Even the "lower tier" N95 masks provide substantially more protection than a lousy uncertified mask. Remember that the amount of viral load is the biggest factor behind your risk of infection and the potential severity of infection. A tiny viral load is MUCH less risky than a large viral load.

If I'm not wearing a mask at all, I cough from breathing the spray. The bitter spray is particularly nasty. With a lousy uncertified mask on (such as a cheap dust mask with one little head strap), I can distinctly taste both solutions, especially the bitter one. With a "lower tier" N95 mask on, I can faintly taste the sweet spray and more distinctly taste the bitter spray. With a "middle tier" N95 mask on, I cannot taste the sweet spray at all but can faintly taste the bitter spray. With an "upper tier" N95 mask on (like the 3M Aura), I cannot taste the sweet spray or the bitter spray.

The power of marketing/advertising?

I remember when the publicly available Internet didn't exist. Now, there are dozens of huge coin shops online and possibly hundreds of smaller ones.

Personally speaking I don't care if numismatics grows or not. Coins aren't an 'investment' for me (despite recent gains they perform quite terribly over time TBH), they're a hobby and I couldn't care less how 'popular' my personal hobbies are with the general public.

If anything, I'd personally be much happier if all the competition who showed up after COVID went back to collecting Pokemon cards, or whatever, and all the values went straight back down.

If you collect something for the enjoyment of it and not for dreams of financial gain, popularity decline is quite the good thing. Example, all those brass and rosewood antique hand tools that sold for a fortune 25-30+ years ago are now worth a pittance. The antique tool collection in the man cave came at pennies on the dollar over what it would've cost to assemble in the 1980's or 90s. Same with antique furniture, now a fraction of a fraction of its cost at the peak (truly, stuff that sold for thousands in the 1980s- in 1980s dollars- now sits gathering dust for $150 at an antique store). If you appreciate good furniture, how is this a 'bad' thing?

If that comes for coins in my lifetime, it's a best case scenario for my own interests. As long as there are enough collectors to fill a few shows a year and keep the local coin club going, the 'investment' aspect doesn't matter to me, at all and I'd be totally cool if everyone who showed up to coins after COVID went away.