Coin Collectors - Are We Growing As A Community?

Zohar444- I will say that in the view of most kids & teens, numismatics is one of the most uncool things to be interested in. When I was back in high school, I had to keep it a top secret from my friends that I was a numismatist. When I did reveal it to a couple of closer friends, they acted as though I had just admitted to some sort of crime or other atrocity. A lot of young people don't get the concept that there is an organized community of numismatists in the sense that there are coin conventions, and journals, and forums, and etc. Many teenagers would think that a coin collector is some sort of obsessive person with serious emotional problems, which drives them to fill an entire room of their house with loose, common circulating coins.

I was kinda the same in high school, but I did stop collecting around sophomore year.




I've told a few people and they've reacted positively. I still tend to keep it a secret because I don't want them to start telling others and before you know it my collection is gone. So I mainly keep quite because of that.




It's like you know me!


I think that major reason is that lack of money aspect. While you could collect coins from circulation, they were never too exciting for me and I would always go towards to older stuff (which was almost always expensive).

I think most people aren't exposed to coin collecting until they're older and that's probably part of it.

Important things to talk about before having kids: "They HAVE to be coin collectors! Or I'm walking."

You don't need to be a mod to get the forum stats... just click on "My CCF", then "CCF members". When the list comes up, click on "Member since", then count 'em up. I've found it easiest to copy the lists and paste them into excel, and let the spreadsheet count for you.

My count, for new members joining the forum:

So far for June 2008: 106
May 2008: 236
April 2008: 211
March 2008: 242
February 2008: 261
January 2008: 305

Now, this doesn't take into account spammers, scammers, and folks who aren't at all interested in coins but just want to ask questions about a coin they've got. But it's worth mentioning that these numbers are twice what they were last year.

I think it indicates a growing interest in numismatics among the worldwide Internet population.

As for the hobby offline: the two coin clubs I'm involved with haven't seen too many "young people" in recent decades - I can't recall the last time we had a "junior member" - but the numbers of kids attending at this year's annual coin (and stamp) show here seemed to me to be higher than at previous years... this in spite of rather large increases in entry ticket prices, etc. Those kids wouldn't be there unless they (or their parents) were keen.

This site is great.

I don't think you can tell anything about the popularity of the hobby based on new members.

You hit on one reason; false signups. But there are a myriad of other reasons why legitimate signups occoured other than the hobby expanding.

The sites PageRank may have increased. The site may be better indexed by the search engines now than it was a year ago. Other similar sites may have shut down, been abandoned, changed owners, layout, whatever, with the end effect of more people showing up here. Old members lose interest in the hobby but aren't removed from the memberlist. Duplicate logins. etc...

That said the increase in memberships is an indicator that the hobby MAY be experiencing an increase in interest.

I know I found it almost completely by accident....I'd never "joined a forum"...nor was I seeking to......just browsing through some topics ....and there it was !......it was like seeing Pamela Anderson in church......(?)

Worldwide.......hard to say. But in this country I'd say it's going really strong with young people.......you know, they're seeing these "new quarters" and these gold colored " Presidential dollars", in their pocket change. And whether they're history buffs or not.......I think these "new coins" are bringing in many to the hobby.

At every place I've ever worked or places I've visited due to work, I've never met another coin collector. At one time I worked in an Engineering organization of well over 5,000. I was on the companies newspaper so got to get around the place frequently. Never met another coin collector there. I've taught at junior colleges and never met a coin collector there either. No one in my neighborhood collects coins that I know of. No friends or relatives collect coins. I go to about 2 to 4 coin shows a month and have always noted that possibly 90% appear to be retired or just look that way. At coin shows anyone there under 30 yesars old must have their computer games broken.
I suspect that with our population now at well over 300,000,000 in the USA that there are many new coin collectors due to the State Quarters and the Presidential dollars. Sorry to say but soon the Mint will overdue these types of come ons and the hobby will fade much as with stamps.
This hobby of coin collecting is at it's peak now as so many other hobbies have been. Coin collecting has been around for possibly thousands of years but only now is it in full swing. Just rememberthe Beanie Babies, Hot Wheel Cars, Baseball/football cards, etc. Hopefully, the same will not happen with coins.
Today it is just not the thing for younger people with all the computer games, web sites, DVD's, CD's and on and on with modernasation. No younger people want to sit around staring at a little round, not always, piece of metal.