Ted Turner has great idea!!

[true_grade]

Perusing through my Numismatist mag and noticed a note sent to the editor about Turner's passion for the 1901 $10 "Buffalo bill".

 

He (Turner) even suggests we reissue it to commemorate the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark Expedition in 2004.

 

I like the idea!! The writer of the note even goes on to quickly compromise that we could even do it on the lonely $2 note issue.

 

Unfortunately, it is the lawmakers/takers that have the say so. Well, like most good ideas in Washington, it will just be ignored.

 

What do you think?

 

 

[Wihlborg]

I think this would be a great idea.

 

IMO this is the type of thing that needs to be done to get the average person thinking about our coins and currency and maybe interested in collecting. It started with the state quarters, and soon we will be getting new nickels that hopefully will get even more people looking at their change and generating interest in collecting. I feel that if we can get more people to pay attention to their change, more people will become interested in collecting, which will be a good thing for the hobby overall.

 

John

 

 

[Leothelion]

Perusing through my Numismatist mag and noticed a note sent to the editor about Turner's passion for the 1901 $10 "Buffalo bill".

 

He (Turner) even suggests we reissue it to commemorate the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark Expedition in 2004.

 

I like the idea!! The writer of the note even goes on to quickly compromise that we could even do it on the lonely $2 note issue.

 

Unfortunately, it is the lawmakers/takers that have the say so. Well, like most good ideas in Washington, it will just be ignored.

 

What do you think?

 

Well......so far, 48 lurkers don't know what to think. It would be a great idea but Pres. Bush has already signed to an idea for the Lewis & Clark Expedition, it's called a circulating commemorative nickel. But that doesn't rule out the possibility for currency, to say the least. It would take forever, it seems, for them to get it done.

 

Leo

[Coinosaurus]

Is having more collectors in the hobby really such a great thing? Obviously it is great for the dealers...........but what about all the kewl coins you could get if there were LESS collectors.......

[gmarguli]

Is having more collectors in the hobby really such a great thing? Obviously it is great for the dealers...........but what about all the kewl coins you could get if there were LESS collectors.......

 

We need as few collectors as possible when we are buying our coins, but as many as possible when we go to sell them.

 

What we really need is young collectors in the hobby. Most major coin shows look like an AARP convention.

[chrisfuccione]

 

Is having more collectors in the hobby really such a great thing? Obviously it is great for the dealers...........but what about all the kewl coins you could get if there were LESS collectors.......

 

WHAT?!? I DON'T BELIVE I JUST READ THAT!!!! If we don't get new blood in the hobby some things will happen1) When it is time to sell your collection there will not be a market. 2) If there is not a market for it do you think the government would even think what is on our coinage? 3) "If you don't give it away you can't keep it." A lot of the times helping newbies with their questions keep me on my toes and help me remember how it was just starting to collect. Other wise I might get stagnate and lose interest in collecting. 4) If there was fewer collectors do you think companies like PCGS, NGC, Krause Publications, COIN WORLD, and all the other companies that we depend on would be able to stay in business? 5) The coin clubs that you belong to from the local to the ANA would become useless and disappear.

 

Just my two cents. CHRIS

 

 

[BankNote1]

It would take the BEP years to design a completely new note! They could however reissue the 1901 Bison. It might be large size but it wouldn't matter it wouldn't circulate anyway. Could you imagine trying to pass one at McDonalds!!!!

[Coinosaurus]

I was being a bit facetious. Most hobby publications seems to take it as a foregone conclusion that "more collectors is better". No one ever seemed to ask if, just maybe, they could finish off their proof $20 date set if all the other collectors would only go away. So, I asked

 

I do get scared walking through shows, especially local shows. The average age is darn high. I think it is a safe bet that a certain portion of the population will continue to be collectors (the acquisitive instinct being rather inherent to our nature), the only question is, collectors of what? 70 years ago collecting birds eggs was quite the thing. At some point in the future I expect vintage PCs to skyrocket in value (some of them are on quite a curve already). A couple good signs I see on the coin front are the explosion of specialty clubs, the availability of market info, and yes even set registries - all of these give newcomers more places to "plug-in" and get involved.

[chrisfuccione]

Good points. The only thing I have to question is the remark on the registry sets. I still think it may be a fad. I am afraid that after the fad ends the new collectors have nothing to show for it except for high priced modern coins that they will take a bath on and that might turn people off from collecting. (Yes I know that in five or tens years if it is still popular I will be eating my words. CHRIS

[Conder101]

If we don't get new blood in the hobby some things will happen

1) When it is time to sell your collection there will not be a market. I really don't see this as being a problem. There will always be a market, it may just be lower.

 

2) If there is not a market for it do you think the government would even think what is on our coinage?

I don't think they think about it now when there IS a market.

 

4) If there was fewer collectors do you think companies like PCGS, NGC, Krause Publications, COIN WORLD, and all the other companies that we depend on would be able to stay in business? No, No, Yes, and Yes although at a lower level than currently.

 

5) The coin clubs that you belong to from the local to the ANA would become useless and disappear. No I don't think that would be true, they would be smaller and more likely populated with more serious numismatists. After all say sixty years ago there was a much smaller number of collectors around and there were still publications and clubs around.

[cladking]

It has gotten to the point that there is no choice but to recruit new collectors. As has been pointed out hobbyists are aging. Many are approaching normal retirement age and collectors historically have quit adding to their collections and begun selling coins at this point. While rarities would always have a market, most collector coins exist in far too large of numbers for prices to be maintained if a new generation is not recruited. Coins with populations of a few hundred will crash in price if the demand is only several dozen. This would be a field day for buyers but owners of coins could face many severe losses. There are many rare world coins which sell for only a few dollars because demand is so poor. The same would happen to US coins were demand to fall sharply.

 

This is not to say that all is doom and gloom. I believe that the needed collectors will be coming around, that there will be a way to interest people in collecting coins and that there will be more than enough total wealth to not only maintain prices but to also increase them. Obviously this can't be a sure thing until after the fact, and to date, we have not done as well with encouraging the newbies as we could have. But we will find a way because there is no alternative.