So How Many Of US Are Out There?

The above numbers seem reasonable. Again it's a matter of definitions. Those 3 million "collectors" I'm not sure about. For example 4 of my siblings and cousins _have_ coin collections, but I would not consider them to be "collectors." Certainly there is a large number of people like them who inherited coins, kept them, but haven't given it a second thought for decades. I think perhaps with any surveys that are done, they ask "do you have a coin collection" and then automatically class those responses as collectors, because bigger numbers look better.

Then there's a crossover group that just has a lot of money and throw it at coins (among all sorts of other things). They probably might define themselves as "avid coin collector" and yet know very little about it. They just do it because their friends do it. Perhaps I would call them "investors" more than numismatists.

I'm an avid hoarder :) I simply wait and watch ... then pounce