Coin Collecting: Kids

Both of my daughters are budding numismatists.

My philosophy is: Start them young and teach them not only the *value* of a dollar, but the *history* of the dollar as well. :-)

Besides, at least the US Mint has all sorts of awesome learning material for kids these days: http://www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/

So much depends on the age too. To young and interests change almost daily. If at the computer game age and parents give them all those, coins just don't make the grade in households like that. It takes parents that will help, educate, participate with the kids to make them intersted. I tried coins with my kid a long time ago and it lasted about a week then never again. Just no interest at all. It is always worth a try anyway.

My grandson age 11 is into coins. He reminds me of myself as a kid with a paper route when I was that age. One of my customers would go through my change and got me interested. And I have been an off-on collector for 60 yrs.
He has most of the modern coins and proof sets.
I gave him a 2nd set of Lincolns from 09-69 that I had plus some tax tokens etc for his b-day.
We need this hobby to keep it alive and it gives them the start on saving for the future.

I think kids should be encouraged to do it if they show an interest in it. With a parent that collects its likely that at least some of their kids will follow in their foot steps.

Here's my take on kids and coins. Note: I don't have any kids myself, so feel free to treat this advice as on par with advice from an unmarried marriage counselor.

Kids should be encouraged, but only at first. If you're passionate about coins, don't hide that passion, but only show it briefly; restrain yourself from being too passionate for too long or too often. Kids have to be interested in coins themselves if they're going to grow up to be coin collectors. Such passion cannot be force-fed into others. It's all too easy for passionate people to accidentally teach their kids to hate the very things their parents love.

Another thing to remember: your kids may not like the same kinds of coins that you like. Be open-minded and non-judgemental; if they're showing any kind of collecting interest in any kind of coin at all, it can only be a good thing for the hobby. Even if it's State Quarters, elongated pennies or other gimmicky things you might be tempted to think aren't really worthy of collecting. And on the plus side, if they end up collecting something which you do not collect, then at least you haven't created further competition for yourself.

Remember there are two basic kinds of coin collectors, and they get their start in coin collecting in two different ways. First, and most common, are the "litesiders" - people who collect their own country's coins. These usually get their start by finding an old, now-obsolete coin in change, or are given one by a family member; in America, that might be a Mercury dime or Buffalo nickel. It's the concept of history, that "coins used to be different once", that gets them.

Second, there's the "darksiders" minority - people who collect foreign coins. They usually get their start by finding a foreign coin in change, or by going on an overseas holiday, or by being given the bag of loose change by a friend or relative that went overseas. For these kids, it's the geography that's of interest: the strange and exotic places and foreign languages they find, the hints of countries and cultures that are radically, or maybe just slightly, different from their own.

Finally, be realistic. Coin collectors make up less than 10% of the population, and the testimony of coin collectors worldwide indicates that it does not seem to be a genetically inheritable trait. So, on the basis of probability alone, your chances of encouraging any one particular child into becoming a coin collector are not good. And in the end, all the advice given here does not really help you improve those odds by very much. If so, then accept it, find what that child really is interested in and do what you can to foster that instead.

So many things compete for kids interests... As a collector for 46 years, I'm grateful to my Dad for introducing me to coin collecting. He didn't have an expansive collection and didn't really get into too much of the history. He did provide the spark. I was unable to impart that spark to my own kids, but I'm amazed at my 5 year old grandson and his interest. I've gotten him his own magnifying glass and he will spend an hour with me sorting through rolls of coins. Nothing (not even television of games on the computer) get so much of his attention. I think I've hooked one.... :)

When I was 8 my neighbor got me into collecting by giving me his WHOLE collection. :D coin and currency

Start them off with pennies, nickels, and dimes and see if they're interested. Perhaps teach them about wheat pennies and search bank rolls to fill holes in whitman folders. Relatively inexpensive considering video games for kids cost $60. At least get them used to looking at their pocket change to spot occasional rarities that pop up.