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 Replies: 51 / Views: 6,567 |
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Valued Member
Spain
134 Posts |
I've been collecting since the crisis began, and I'm under the impression that at least during the past couple of years, and until last year's gold/silver price drops, there had been more people looking for coins. I guess everyone would agree that this is true for gold and silver coins -since the prices don't lie- but I also think a lot of people began with bullion coins and then continued with numismatic items -as it was my case-.
On the other hand, every time I ask sellers they are always moaning about how the numismatic business is over. This is also true, at least here; we had only 1 coin shop and it closed years ago -there's still a sort of small numismatic and philatelic shop but they don't even sell coins-. So, there's nothing left around here...
What do you think; how do you see it in your area? Edited by silvermaniac
06/09/2013 4:57 pm
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Valued Member
United States
90 Posts |
Shrinking, - or at least coin store customers are shrinking. 8 years ago there were line ups on pay day to get some coins because my LCS brought new inventory in on Fridays now - he closed down and does all selling on ebay |
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Valued Member
 Spain
134 Posts |
That's the sort of answer I give sellers when they say the business is over; I tell them that a large part of it now happens online, and not on physical coin shops. But that's just my impression from my very limited experience in this; that's why I'm interested in your opinions.
Edited by silvermaniac
06/09/2013 5:15 pm
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Valued Member
Spain
134 Posts |
Something else I forgot to ask: did the crisis had a positive, negative, or neutral effect on the numismatic business (regardless of price changes)?
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
I would imagine that a percentage of people that started with the precious metals during the run up have gotten the collecting bug. Those new numbers may be offset by some people dropping out for now because they cant afford too.
But bullion hit it on the head. More people buy online now. The selection is much better and a lot of times the prices are as well. A lot of coin stores have realized this and now sell online, but some will go out of business because of this especially if their prices were high to begin with
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
856 Posts |
Here in the UK my impression is that most collectors are older. And that not so many young people are interested in the hobby.
However the market for coins is still fairly strong. In fact, some areas (better grades and particularly hammered coins) seem to be suffering from a lack of stock and prices for the nicer pieces continue to rise.
Interestingly the nearest coin shop to me is about 25 miles away. Whereas when I went for a short holiday in Lille (France) there were at least six coin shops around what is (compared to where I live) a relatively small town.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2180 Posts |
I've only been into it for a short time, but I don't think it's shrinking (at least visibly).
There's still three coin shops where I am and as far as I'm aware they've been around for a while. I don't think any have closed (or at least not that I know of).
Coin shows that I go to seem to pull reasonable crowds too.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
I don't really know the answer to the question posed in the title of this thread, but I have noticed one very conspicuous thing that's probably related.
There's a monthly coin show (55-ish dealers on 85-ish tables) not far from where I live, I'm there every month and the show attendee age profile interests me.
The attendees are an old crowd, and when I say old I mean it. My kids are in their late 40's, so I view people under 45 as kids. Very few attendees at the
show are under 60. Canes aren't uncommon, the occasional walker is there and every now and then you'll even see an oxygen bottle on a wheeled dolly.
If the age demographic of coin collectors overall parallels this show attendee profile, I figure the size of the coin collecting community has to be shrinking.
Edit... On a brighter note, the few bullion hounds at the show aren't anywhere near as old as the typical attendees. I believe the stackers are a lot younger
than the proper numismatic collectors..
Edited by Fat Freddy
06/09/2013 7:54 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1006 Posts |
Unfortunately it is exactly as fat freddy said most of the coin collecting population are quite old even the last coin show I went to I only saw one other person who was around my age (17) and the high end pieces aren't a great way to tell how numismatics is going because quite a few of those will end up in an high end investors portfolio also when was the last time any off us heard that rare coins were not "performing well" while the lower ones which aren't quite at that point will not generally be bought by investors so they experience a slow down in price appreciation
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
OMF---You're 17...WOW! The average age at my show is a LOT closer to the opposite of your age--71--and that's not a joke or an unrealistic estimate!
That show is one of the few places I can go where I look young again, which may be half of why I go there every month! I don't believe I've seen one
teenager at my show in a year of going there every month.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1006 Posts |
Haha that's a very good reason to go and the sad thing about it is that the main reason the hobby is shrinking is because a lot of the older collectors are dyeing much faster than the younger crowd are joining to be absolutely honest about it  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
To coin store owners, yes it appears that there are less and less coin collectors. And too at coin shows, not as much of a crowd as in the past. HOWEVER, what people are forgetting is the massive on line coin deals going on every day. 10 or more years ago, people had to rely on coin shows or stores or flea markets for coins and coin supplies. Today, so many more people do their shopping on line. Between ebay and the possible zillions of on line dealers, people just do the computer thing more and more. I was at a coin show today where it usually is from 80 to 100 dealers. Only about 50 today. One dealer told me he had to leave early due to his kids baseball games. He mentioned several other dealers he knows also, have to give up buisness for their kids games. It is Summer and so many things to do rather than play with coins. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Im in my late 20s and the last show I went too while it mostly was an older crowd there were some younger people there and a decent number of kids with their dads. Theres no doubt that the typical collector is an older male, though I do think theres another factor at work for coin shows. What I mean is that the older collectors are the ones most likely to go to the shows. Younger collectors arent opposed to LCS or shows by any means, but they seem to be more likely to buy online or from ebay so a show may not be the great opportunity to them that older collectors see. Im sure some of it just depends on the demographics of the area as well. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
592 Posts |
Indeed. The last coin show I went to, there were some middle aged people, a goodly number of older collectors, a tiny handful of people around my age (24), and a slightly larger number of kids (with parents). I was glad to see that the kids were excited to be there, and saw one kid who was very proud to buy her very first coin with her own money (she was maybe seven years old).
I think a number of collectors have shifted their purchasing to online due to a number of factors, whether it be because they can acquire things that their local sources cannot provide or even not having local sources. For instance, I don't have local sources for one of my main interests (UK proof sets) so I have to go online for those.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
BB---You positively have a sound and valid point with the online thing, but I find it to be like the difference between TV and live theatre.
There's nothing quite like going to a show--whatever kind of show it is. It's really too bad (for them) that the onliners seem to have not yet caught onto that. Online shopping gives access
to worlds of stuff you'll never find locally, but shows have the element of surprise. You never know what you'll find and prices always have the possibility of being a pleasant surprise.
All that philosophical baloney having been honestly said, I still have to admit that the biggest surprises and best deals I've ever found have almost all been in the LCS generic silver tub.
If I had to give up either the shows or the generic tub, I'd give up the shows without hesitation.
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Valued Member
United States
216 Posts |
I feel like it has grown, but having just found this site certainly skews my perception!
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Replies: 51 / Views: 6,567 |
Posted 06/09/2013 5:13 pm
