Collecting Friends: The Hobby is Changing

The Hobby is Changing

Dennis: I attended a bunch of interesting talks at the 2024 Central States Numismatic Society convention. In one, the topic of Young Numismatists came up. The speaker was Heritage Auctions president Greg Rohan. He remarked on a trend he’s seen, over the past five years or so, of more and more young coin dealers entering the market. If anyone needed confirmation of the growing visibility of younger hobby professionals, they just had to look around the lecture—one-third of Rohan’s standing-room-only audience were in their twenties (and possibly teens). They listened intently, they took notes, and they asked good questions.

Over the twenty years I worked at Whitman Publishing, I kept an eye on two interesting demographic trends: the average age of Red Book readers decreased, and the percentage of women increased. Regarding the latter: Between 2008 and 2020, female readership of the Red Book rose from 15 to 17 percent. That might seem like a tiny movement of the needle, but it’s significant, representing many thousands of women who have joined the hobby in recent years. 

I’ve seen more and more women taking leadership positions in the hobby/industry, as heads of businesses, within United States Mint management, and as thought leaders and influencers. Racial and ethnic minorities, too, appear to be more broadly represented than in decades past.

Change has been slow. The basic fabric of the numismatic tapestry remains as it always has been—mature (55-plus years old), male (about 80 percent), and Caucasian. That cohort makes up the bulk of dealers, of researchers, and of active, big-dollar collectors. Still, the trends are clearly visible, with the hobby community in America reflecting more and more of the general population. At coin conventions, Greg Rohan noted, you still see a lot of white hair, “but also acne.”

Steve, you’ve been in the hobby since you were a YN. What are your thoughts on recent demographic trends, and have you seen other notable changes?

Collectors can be old (Dennis Tucker) or young (Curt Gammer)—but mostly we’re old. Could that be changing? 

Steve: Dennis! Ah, the good old “future of the hobby” discussion! I’ve been surprised in the past five years, or so, at how many young people are entering the hobby through the dealing side of it. At the advanced coin grading class at the 2024 ANA Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs, the three instructors broke students into three groups to practice consensus grading. Leading each of these three groups as the grading finalizers were young numismatists. Each was a strong grader, and each demonstrated leadership skills when deciding on a single grade that represented the consensus of the eight different collectors in their group.

A young numismatist studies grading at the annual ANA Summer Seminar.

For a lot of these young people entering numismatics through the dealer route, traditional hobby activities like participating in local coin clubs, placing exhibits at coin shows and writing articles for hobby publications rank far behind the actual buying and selling of coins for profit. Perhaps something is lost as these traditional skill-building activities become less popular, but the young numismatists/dealers in the class certainly seemed energized and engaged with coins as they were building a strong peer network. 

Programs like Witter Coin University, intern programs at Stack’s Bowers Galleries and Heritage Auctions, along with the Professional Numismatists Guild’s NexGen mentorship program and the ANA’s Young Numismatists programs all help young collectors gain the skills to have viable careers in coins. For many people starting their careers, these types of professional interactions let them know that a successful career in coins is possible with the right skill set. 

Learn more about the ANA's Young Numismatist programs at coincollecting.org.

Be on the lookout for another installment of Collecting Friends next month or subscribe here and never miss a post! In the meantime, explore beautiful coins from the ANA's Edward C. Rochette Money Museum Virtual Exhibits.

About the Collecting Friends Blog

Hello! And welcome to the ANA’s blog series, “Collecting Friends.”

We decided to approach this much like a conversation between friends. One of us starts with a topic, then the other responds. Simple as that. Along those lines, we’ll keep the tone conversational as much as possible. 

We both write about coins professionally, and will keep our relative style guides in our writing. For Dennis, Publisher at Whitman Publishing, that means capitalizing “Proof” and italicizing Red Book and never saying anything bad about Ken Bressett, who’s awesome anyway. 

For Steve, who’s written with Coin World for 15 years, it means Winged Liberty Head dime instead of “Mercury” dime, and similar nuances and oddities. And, it means writing A Guide Book of United States Coins (better known as the “Red Book”). 

Both of us started collecting when we were little, introduced to coins by a chance encounter with an old coin that sparked our curiosity. One of Steve’s interests is coin valuation, and he gravitates towards the intersection of art and coins. Dennis enjoys medals and world coins, and studying modern U.S. coins in the context of older series, what came before.

We met in 2012 at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia at an event hosted by the Austrian Mint where there was both a Ben Franklin and a Betsy Ross impersonator. We’ve become great friends in the past decade. We even were appointed together to sit on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee starting in 2016, but Steve resigned soon after he was appointed to accept a full-time job at the Treasury Department while Dennis was re-appointed in 2020.

We taught a course together on numismatic publishing and writing a few years ago at the Summer Seminar, and while life has gotten in the way of us teaching another class, we jumped at our friend Caleb’s suggestion that we write a column. We hope you enjoy it! 

About the American Numismatic Association

The American Numismatic Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect coins and related items. The Association serves collectors, the general public, and academic communities with an interest in numismatics.

The ANA helps all people discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of educational programs including its museum, library, publications, conventions and numismatic seminars.