The Future of Collecting
Fifty years after the Bicentennial, collectors, dealers, and the U.S. Mint are shaping a hobby transformed by new designs, technology, and changing collecting habits.
Fifty years ago, as the United States of America celebrated its Bicentennial, the hobby of coin collecting looked vastly different from what it does today.
Three special circulating coin designs, for the 25-cent, 50-cent, and $1 coins, included the first design change to the Washington quarter since its debut in 1932, and an update of the Kennedy half-dollar design that had been in use since 1964. Only the Eisenhower dollar was a grade schooler in age, metaphorically speaking.
In 2026, on the nation’s semiquincentennial, a surfeit of designs abounds, additional entries to an already crowded field of circulating designs that have proliferated since the State Quarter program launched in 1999, nearly 30 years ago now.
In 1976, the Bicentennial, the U.S. Mint offered a scant few products, chief among them the annual Mint and Proof sets, and with the Bicentennial at play, 40 percent silver versions of the Eisenhower dollar in both Proof and Uncirculated options (similarly, the Mint also released Uncirculated and Proof 40 percent silver versions of the 25-cent and 50-cent coins).
Today, the U.S. Mint has become perhaps the largest coin dealer in the country, issuing dozens of products a year, and generating an abundance of cash and goodwill. And some bad feelings.
Limited-edition products, special drawings, rapid sellouts, and partnerships to auction coins with commercial partners rather than through its mailing list have earned the U.S. Mint some criticism in recent years.
John Brush, president of David Lawrence Rare Coins, noted the excitement in recent years wasn’t always driven by collectors.
“Before the America 250 coinage design changes and the entry of new coinage into circulation, I didn’t view the U.S. Mint’s programs as being the biggest ‘helper’ in the growth of collecting,” he said. “Sure, the new commercial issues that came out under [Mint Director Ventris] Gibson brought a lot of hype, but the excitement was for those that were buying items from the mint and ‘flipping’ them to other dealers for a tidy profit. The coins that were produced and delivered straight to an auction house were also a little odd. Unfortunately, those items weren’t really financially obtainable for the majority of collectors. But they were certainly neat items.”
The launch of semiquincentennial coins this year, especially the July 4 privy mark found on only 250,000 Thomas Jefferson 25-cent coins, “are good for the hobby as it creates a treasure hunt for collectors of all types,” said Brush. “I can only hope that there will be more of these opportunities for future collectors and less of the more expensive promotional-type issues that are focused more on the higher-end buyers.”
Bianca Bart, Chief Executive Officer of Executive Currency, gives the U.S. Mint high marks for some of its organizational efforts to expand the hobby.
“[It] has clearly recognized these changing dynamics and, in my opinion, deserves credit for embracing them,” she said. “Beyond producing coins, the Mint continues to invest in educational resources for schools, clubs, and organizations, helping foster a greater understanding of both the minting process and the products themselves.”
Bart points to the Youth Sports series of 25-cent coins that begins in 2027. Legislation creating the program mandates five different designs across each of four years, continuing into 2030.
“It’s an innovative concept that appeals across generations,” Bart said. “For adults, it evokes memories of athletic achievements and childhood experiences. For younger audiences, it offers an approachable introduction to collecting while providing the opportunity to own precious metals from an early age. A child may begin collecting because they play baseball or soccer, but that first purchase can easily become a gateway to history, artistry, and the broader world of numismatics.”
Curt Gammer operates Sugarloaf Coins and is among a group of younger dealers (25 years old or younger) that have moved into the hobby in a big way this decade. He signaled that the design changes are ripe for bringing new collectors into the fold.
“A lot of older dealers have told me that their first memory of coins was the design change for the bicentennial, akin to the switch for clad and subsequent search for 90 percent (silver), or the state quarter, and later state park quarter program,” said Gammer. “Any time there’s a major design change in our coinage, it seems people take notice.”
The commercialization of the hobby in recent years is the funnel, and not the finish line, according to Bart. She relishes the chance to mentor newer collectors along the collecting journey.
“Every collector begins somewhere,” she said. “It’s my responsibility to help transform that initial curiosity into a deeper appreciation for the history, rarity, craftsmanship, and remarkable stories our coins and paper money preserve.”
Though some longtime collectors may express hesitation about the direction the market has drifted in recent years, Bart said, “if those products introduce someone to numismatics — or simply keep them engaged long enough to discover the depth and richness of the hobby — they have fulfilled an important purpose.”
The hobby has always changed, and will continue to change, she said.
While the rise of date and mint mark collecting arose out of Augustus Heaton’s A Treatise on the Coinage of the United States Branch Mints in 1893, by the 1950s roll collecting dominated. In the late 1980s, investment fund involvement spiked prices for commemorative and other high-end coins, spurred by the revolution spawned by the advent of third-party grading.
In the last two decades, ever more adjectival descriptors of coins have developed, as “slabs” can feature one of more than a half dozen different stickers applied by still other third-party services, attesting to specific qualities and conditions.
“The question of what the next generation of collectors will look like is one of the most exciting conversations in our hobby — and perhaps we’re already witnessing the beginning of that next generation,” said Bart. “Looking ahead another 50 years, I won’t pretend to predict exactly what the hobby will become. But if the next half-century brings the same level of innovation as the last, there is every reason to be optimistic. Technology will undoubtedly continue to reshape how collectors buy, sell, authenticate, and learn, while popular culture will continue introducing new audiences to numismatics in ways we may not yet imagine.”
In the last few years, the debut of live shopping sales portals like Whatnot and eBay Live have transformed the business. This (probably along with the pandemic bubble) has inflated market values for lower-end material like Wheat cents and 10-percent-silver Mexican pesos from the 1960s. Whereas Wheat cents pre-pandemic were routinely available in bulk quantities for $200 to $250 per 5,000-count bag, today that price is $150 to $200 higher. Though, in fairness, the 2025 “death” of the Lincoln cent may also have prompted interest to spike, but other lower-end material is also spiking, as newer collectors are exposed to inventory without a framework of reference for value.
The Whatnot phenomenon has become so large that even the Wall Street Journal noticed, reporting on June 29 about Bjorn Bergstrom of Kearney, Neb., who, in mid-May, commanded a marathon livestream on the sales platform across 177 hours and 10 minutes, selling approximately 20,700 items for a reported $2,047,000. With the username Traderbea (an homage to the middle name of his daughter with wife Jeanene), Bergstrom’s position as one of, if not the biggest, numismatic sellers on the platform ripples over into coin shows, where coins encapsulated by Numismatic Guaranty Co. with his exclusive purple label can sometimes be found.
The live sales format stands in stark contrast to the 1960s, when hobby periodicals were the main venue for collectors across the country to access new inventory. In the 1980s, dealers connected via Teletype and electronic exchanges, before the Internet made way for massive disruption. Also in the 1980s, home shopping networks offered a channel for retail sales to the masses, many of whom may not have had exposure to numismatics before, outside of rooting through their wallets and purses.
Numismatics has always evolved alongside society, Bart said.
“As society changes, so too will the paths that lead new collectors into the hobby,” she said. “Rather than resisting that evolution, I believe we should embrace every genuine opportunity to welcome the next generation. Ultimately, the future of numismatics will not be defined by what we collect, but by who discovers a passion for collecting next.”
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Jeff Starck is the Market Analyst for Numismaster.com and is a lifelong collector and writer. His appreciation for and interest in world coins and writing allows him to share the hobby with others.
