How do you see this hobby/business in 20 years?

[coinsarefun]

What do you see happening in 20 years?

A few examples being:

grading company's........technology getting better for them?.
Also do you see less or more third party grading companies?

counterfeiting........getting worse or technology getting better to help eliminate or reduce the amount

toning trends..........or blast white coins.

more new collectors coming in vs, older leaving?.


any other forethought?




Keys, will always be keys but lets discuss the basics of coin collecting



Thoughts on World Coins..........stronger, weaker, same?


Stefanie

[Scottishmoney]

World coins rock, no flipping overpriced plastic, just loverly mouth watering numismatic artistry in miniature.

I think there will continue to be a purist minority of collectors like myself that tend to buck the fashionable trends in the hobby, slabs, AT and toned coins, all the state quarter, presidential garbage and go for historically significant, rare and unusual coins.

[Rigos_Place]

What I see from grading companies whithin the toned coins is bad IMO. This being because there is no real way of telling 100% if a coin is AT or NT. Yes, there are certain ways on telling the differences on some toned coins but toned coin doctors are getting better which will further limit the toned coin collecting community including the trust of grading companies.

Counterfeiting I see it going down the hill and this is because we collectors do not like them and we always stribe to put a stop to it. Counterfeiting is one of those thing where all coin collectors alike join forces and make better ways (technology) to stop it before it goes to wild.

Because of so many toned coin doctors looking for a quick buck, the white coins are always going to be ahead of the collecting game IMO. This is because it is easier to produce those kind of AT junks and there are so many newbies that buy them with out the knowledge or experience on toned coins. Unfortunatly, as long as there are auctioneers such as ebay that allows this AT coin doctors to sell the junk, there is not much future for the real toned coins within the new toned coin collectors. Ebay simply sucks when protecting collectors and newbies to the hobby by letting this to keep on going. Also top grading companies do not help as much as they should by not looking for not investing in a better way to chemistry identify and teach how to identify between both AT and NT IMO.

There is always going to be new collectors for this hobby if you ask me. As long as the mints keep it more interesting and are capable of satisfying collectors not just by making over the limit coins for circulation. Of course the "real" value doesn't come until many, many years after the coins have stopped been made and smart generatins kept them as "collectibles".


I say the basics of coin collecting is to collect coins which have history, quality as best as possible, and what your eyes like (design wise) or color toning in my case. It is always good to save whatever coin is key, rarer, error etc.... but collecting is really on the eye of the beholder. Some people collect what I call "everything coin" while others collect, key dates, sets, toned, silver, copper, etc... Which ever it is you want to collect, I say go for it. This is why we collectors with many years of experience don't see coins as just monetary future/investment but as a fun and very knowledgable hobby.


Thanks for posting this blog Stefanie.

I really enjoyed it and this is what I think.


-Rigo

[coinsarefun]

Ok, I guess its time for me to give my 2 cents worth.

I see in the next 20 years technology getting better at detecting fakes and AT'd coins.
Third part grading companies will use this and will probably be investing their own dollars to keep ahead of the game as they do now.
I also do not see any new grading companies coming in the next 20 years or so. At least none that are trusted like the PCGS, NGC and ANACS.
PCGS is here to stay and they will always be tops........yes, kool Aid is ok............. I call it as I see it  :grin:


Counterfeiting will get worse but the technology will help out the big grading companies. The new collectors will soon get burned
more than ever and become very wary of buying raw coins and will seek out graded ones. But they will need to learn
how to judge what a real slabbed coin is!


Toning has really become even more powerful in recent years and will continue to be popular among new collectors and people
who are in the 30-40's. I think toning adds interest to a coin and will attract new collectors.There will always be die hard toning fans.
But, again their will always be discussions and doubts regarding AT and NT coins.


I really believe that there will be an increasing amount of new collectors.

The internet will do a huge job and will play a key role because the younger generation buys, sells and does just about all types of business via the net.
They may come across coin collecting simply because of the networking that goes on via Facebook, Twitter and who knows what will be out there in 20 years time
Yes, the mint will continue producing the modern day catoonish coins but they will see other images of great coins and get interested.

I do think that the coin collecting/business will become that of middle and upper middle classes simply because of good coins will continue to raise in price.
These are the people that will be internet savvy and research coins and join forums to learn more.





And finally, to touch on a subject that was in another thread  Across the street.   regarding women and coin collecting. I choose not to answer there because the thread  became silly.
There was a few good points though.

I feel that there are plenty of women collectors out there now but are just keeping a low profile for whatever reason( to many too mention)
They will eventually show up at shows and on forums but they will show up in groups, that's just what girls do:)
And, I think that is a good thing because it will eventually turn most of the introverted collectors into extroverts.

So, that's my 2 cents and I stickin to it!




Stefanie


 

[Larry]

In 20 years, you will know how to tell the difference between and AT and a naturally toned coin.  Artificial toning rests on the surface.  Natural toning, like patina and luster, is part of the surface.  But sometimes you'll have to look closely to tell the difference.  : )

20 years from now, it will be the same, that nobody will take a $1,000 coin and try to doctor it.  That would be insanity, and they'd get 1 decent result out of 100 attempts.  I believe that most folks that buy $1,000 toners know the difference right now.  ; )

I've heard that NGC has passed PCGS as the best TPG, just to get a word in for them.

Blast white coins will hold their own, and independent of white or toned, beautiful examples of either will soar in value, if folks keep taking photos.

[coinsarefun]

Does anyone else want to share their opinion




Stefanie

[walmann]

In truth I do not have a vision of what the hobby will look like in twenty years.

All I know for sure is that the hobby will continue and in comparison to other hobbies such as stamp collecting will have far greater numbers of collectors. This in part is due to coins being money and older coins often containing precious metals. This alone will ensure some enduring interest, if not in part for some of the, in my eyes, lesser reasons for collecting coins.

The two factors that will impact the hobby as far as it health and collector base are the use of coins in commerce and counterfeiting not so much of the coins but the certified holders.

Many collectors become collectors due to the interest they develop via coins that pass through their hands in daily transactions. Sometimes it from coming across a shiny attractive coin or it may be an old beat up obsolete coin. In the last few decades the average person encounters coins on a daily far less often. Electronic transactions have replaced coin and currency. I believe,aside from the issue of too many offerings and overwhelming collectors, that the demise of the stamp hobby is in great part due to people using stamps far less than previous generations. People become interested and collect items they encounter. If they don't encounter something they can't develop and interest in it.

I remember using stamps as  a kid for pen pal correspondence and letters to family members, this generation uses email and the first use of a stamp comes at a much later age now for most and far less frequently. This has happened to coins to a lesser extent, but it has occurred. The plus side is there will most likely be a demand for non electronic financial transactions for decades to come.

The third party grading industry may well become a shadow of itself if the issue of counterfeit slabs are not effectively dealt with in such a manner that the average collector can easily identify an authentic slab versus a fake. If an easily accessible and effective means of buyer/collector authentication is not developed, then the fake slabs can and will uncut one of the main core purposes of third party holdering of coins.

In some ways that may not be a bad thing, but for some it would be devastating.

[RHM22]

I don't know what will happen, but I'd bet quite a bit that the coins of India, Brazil, Russia and China will continue to climb in value. I also think that collectors will tire of looking for coins with pretty colors, and they will realize that toning is damage. I know a lot of people collect it and like it, but I really consider it damage. I know that's controversial, but I think that mindset might attract more collectors in the future.

[bear]

In 20 years we will be dealing with good and bad changes. The general

population will average an older age. On the bad side, the wealth of the

retired will be under severs stress and may not allow the retired to indulge

in the coin hobby as much as they would like. Toned vrs snow white coins

will continue to fallin and out of favor. Origonal coins with that honest to

 goodness look of 100 year old silver will be selling for premium prices. As

 prices of older American coins continue to increase, many collectors may

 well turn to European dollar size coins for their beauty, availability and

lower price. Of course, if the American worker continues to be under financial

stress, we may all be collecting food to eat, rather then coins to keep.To say the

least, the future looks..........very mysterious, interesting, as well as fraught with

danger of many kinds.

[mmarotta]

Twenty years is not really along time.  What changes have we seen since 1990?  Today's news seldom becomes tomorrow's trend. 

20 years from now, those Boomers will be selling off or passing on their inventories into new markets.  As a result, I see "meta collecting" -- the collecting of collections.  People will buy and package whole sets into sets of sets.  Rather than buy coins one at a time and build a Whitman, they will buy Whitmans and resort them into complete sets so that there is one all Unc, one all XF and so on.  And do that for Cents, Nickels, Dimes, etc.  Or just do Dimes.  But do it for whole sets, not individual items.

I think that early ATM receipts will become collectible.