How Many Girl/Lady Collectors Are There?

That might explain why I have never settled on any one singular collection.. so collect everything from Canada large cents to US State Tax tokens.

While I feed, bathe, and raise the children, of course. Oh, and shop. For coins!

While it is true a lions share of my coin buying customers are male I have been pleased in seeing more female customers lately. For those of us who are dealers we need to do more to encourage woman to join our hobby.

One way to do this is to encourage young folks (both boys and girls) who come into my antique mall to collect coins. I do this by giving away common wheat pennies and old redbooks to young people who show a real interest in coins. Age 11 is a good starting point for coin collectors. Girls mature faster than boys so at the early stages of a collectors life females are more apt to stick with it if they catch the bug early. Additionally many women are tellers at banks and stores so they handle a lot more change. If they find a few old coins in the course of doing their job this may also convince them to get into the hobby.

As far as what people are buying right now this is what I see. The "old men" lizzyjo talks about are buying gold and silver. Gee, you think they remember 1980? Additionally they are buying antique paper currency and Morgan silver dollars. They don't do much with the wheat pennies or Mercury dimes or stuff from circa 1900 forward. I suspect it is because they have already built their personal set. This group is also NOT in the mood to sell their collections. Most are "saving it for their grandkids".

The younger crowd on the other hand is buying a much wider variety of coins. Anything 1850 to present is popular (except for more modern pennies) and of course the mint and proof sets. They also seem to like the common circulated paper silver certificates. I suspect this is because they are still building their sets from scratch and are in desperate need of lots of coins.

While some may despise the State Quarter program I have been one of it's greatest supporters. This is simply because American coins have been so "plain" for so long. The only thing "interesting" that came out in my youth was the 1976 quarter and half dollars. Every other design was so old and worn out. As an example we are SOOOO overdue to change the Roosevelt dime.....

Now a majority of modern coins are neat and interesting. Add to that modern coins help create new collectors which the coin dealing side of me really loves. I use hard to find modern coins as gifts to people who have bought other coins from me. I also use them as gifts to children who show an interest in coin collecting. I buy the coins at face value and put them in a 5 cent flip. I now have something cheap to give away to a casual (not serious) collector who has not been able to find a particular coin in circulation. These coins are usually State Quarters and 2009 cents. I also use them as cheap gifts to a child to excite their interest in searching their pocket change. Remember these children will not always be on a small budget. Many will become our regular customers years down the road as long as we get them interested NOW.

I realize I got off on a tangent as this forum is talking about ladies. So now I want to take a moment to get this thread back on track. Ladies if you don't mind I would like to ask you a question. What was it that caused you to start collecting coins? How can we dealers help encourage other women to join the hobby? Please tell us your story.... Sincerely, John Leckrone

I'm trying my best to see that my near future step-daughter (5 years old) becomes a coin collector......she'll inherit a good bit of "my" collection, so I have a vested interest to see that she DOES.
She likes to sit with me and pick out the "keepers".......and she loves to open the rolls when I'm roll searching. She knows how to handle a coin (by the edges) She knows not to "help" when I have my white gloves on (working with Proof & Silver Proof coins)
She LOVES to put each new President in the hole....but doesn't understand yet why she has to wait so long to put the next one in there !
She loves looking at coins through my different Loupes and various magnifiers.
She has some "favorite" designs already of various coins....and some favorite "types".
She liked completing the State Qtr. Map folder.
She has a Memorial cent folder half full....
She LOVES to sit on my knee while I Silver Hunt.....and help me look & discard the ones that go back to the bank.
A decent overall "small" collection of different things...

Let's see.......there's probably some things I'm forgetting....but yeah......I'm doing "MY" part to add another female into the future of this sport ! .....
I hope that 30 years from now she'll look back and remember these times with a smile.... ...... And, I hope she has a collection that puts mine to S.H.A.M.E. ! ...

Hey !........ SHE COULD BE A FUTURE DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. MINT IN THE YEAR 2060 ----- 50 YEARS FROM NOW ! ......

"How many girl/lady collectors are there?"

Answer: I have only collected one and she says that is all for me!! LOL

If you look at other types of collectibles women are very involved. My wife collects miniature perfume bottles. The Beanie Baby craze of a few years ago was mostly women collectors. Precious Moments and other types of figurines, Hummels for instance, women were the driving force with those types of collectibles. I could go on but you get the point.

I didn't say that either gender could not do one thing or the other. Please don't read it that way.

There is just no absolute with human capabilities of either gender. The best the science types can do in analysis is say "a certain percentage lean towards" this or that or the other thing.

I have been collecting for over 50 years because my school bus had a 30 minute lay-over in front of a coin shop. I spent a lot of time there and got the basics of my numismatics education before eventually getting a few degrees afterwards as well as my ANA numismatic credentials. Yes, there seems to be some increase in the number of women collectors as evidenced by the traffic in my shop. However, I have a big bone to pic with NGC. In spite of the fact I meet every qualification they print, I have been denied the opportunity to be an authorized dealer three times. I am collecting research to see what the ratio of women dealers is to men dealers who hold NGC Dealer Authorization. From what I have seen so far, it appears to be a good ole boy's club.

lizzyjo- I definitely know what you mean by sticking out at coin shows & such. But someone has to be the exception to the rule and/ or stereotypes of any given body of people. So you just get to be one of the cool ones who stands out!