Two million or two hundred million? How many Americans are coin collectors? The following numbers, from an online article at Coincollector.org, indicate a huge growth in this hobby.
"About 2 million Americans collected coins before the State Quarter program began, according to a 2001 survey for the Mint.
By 2001, as many as 125 million American adults, many of them seniors, were collecting the State Quarters for themselves, their children or their grandchildren, according to the survey by Washington, D.C.-based Peter D. Hart Research."But how do we define "coin collectors?" Is pulling
State Quarters out of circulation enough to make one a coin collector, or are there other, more critical criteria that must be met? I don't have the answer...but there is little doubt that the
State Quarters, the Journey of Discovery nickels, and the
Presidential dollars are nurturing a fresh and growing interest in U.S. coins and coinage.
If we consider the casual accumulator of coins from circulation as coin collectors, and agree that the number of collectors in the late 1990's was about 2 million, then we've seen at least a
62-fold increase in the number of people involved in this hobby over a five year period. I certainly wish I could see that rate of growth in my 401 K!
In recent years, we've seen a dramatic increase in the value of many coins, especially key dates and high quality common date coins. This increase implies an imbalance in supply and demand favoring the seller. It is likely that demand is up because (1) baby boomers are getting older (I'll come back to that in a moment) and (2) some of those
State Quarter collectors have branched out into other series.
What do baby boomers have to do with the price of coins? I would suggest that as this population demographic ages they have more disposable income and time to devote to the hobby. They are getting a bit older, fatter, and less inclined to go surfing, hiking, rock climbing, or dancing at the local disco! Their interests are returning to some of their earliest passtimes...and coin collecting is one such activity.
In the late 50's and early 60's, when many boomers were young and first becoming aware of the differences in coins, it was possible to still get the occasional
Buffalo nickel or
Standing Liberty quarter in change from the local A&W. If you had more than a couple of nickels to rub together,
Walking Liberty halves were common, and silver dollars were available from the local bank. Wheat cents were only just beginning to be replaced in circulation by memorial cents, and Indian Head pennies were sometimes found in pocket change, and often found in grandpa's dresser drawer.
It was a halcyon time for young collectors, because you could find coins of so many varieties in circulation. It was difficult to build complete sets, naturally, but you didn't need a neighborhood coin store and deep pockets to get coins for your collection.
The advent of clad coinage killed the hobby for awhile, just as boomers were on the verge of college and the draft. Boomers had other interests just as silver coins of all sorts were drained from circulation in a matter of months or a few years at most. Even wheat cents disappeared almost entirely. And the exotic buffaloes, indian heads, standing liberties and walking liberties were gone. Many boomers set aside their nascent collections and set their sights on other goals.
With the onset of empty nests, retirement, maturity, and disposable income, boomers are buying the coins (the key dates) that they always hoped to find in their pocket change as kids.
What does this mean for the short term and long term collector? First, we really need to know more about who is seriously collecting coins...just who is buying those key date and high grade common date coins and when will those coins be coming back onto the market?
Supply and demand are the immutable determiners of value. How long will demand outstrip supply of collectible coins? At what point will boomers, or their heirs, be selling off those collections, and will the demand be there to support current prices or even increase them?
Is the U.S. Mint the friend of the coin investor? Will the
Presidential dollar series continue to increase the number of collectors once the
State Quarter series has come to an end? Or is there the possibility of a backlash of sorts in the world of numismatics?
Ponder for a moment, all those folks hoping that their
State Quarter collections, so carefully built, will return a nice profit on their investment. Will their hopes come true, or will they be dashed by a supply that outstrips demand for decades to come? If the latter, will their interest in coin collecting be dampened and their enthusiasm wain? Or will they turn to nineteenth and early twentieth century series to continue collecting?
It may be that only time will tell.
Posted 07/12/2007 5:34 pm
