At the ANA World's Fair of Money last week, we took a few minutes to chat with longtime dealer John Highfill, who is as colorful a character as you will ever meet on the bourse. John has justpublished a two-volume update to his 1992 omnibus The Comprehensive U.S. Silver Dollar Encyclopedia. A lot has changed since that "yearbook of the hobby" was published.

John spoke of the old days. He is just as passionate about silver dollars today as he always was. But even he took a look at the bourse floor and knew that today's hobby was much differentthan it was years ago.

One bright point of our conversation came when he wanted to introduce Charles to an ANA page. "This kid is brilliant," he said, "and you should get to know him. He came to my tableand talked about 1893-S Morgan dollars..."

Imagine the sight: Charles with a giant camera rig, scurrying across the bourse to catch up to a 13-year-old page that wanted nothing to do with talking to either of them.

The moment was innocent but awkward, and it really made us think about whether all of this effort and discussion about how to attract young collectors to the hobby is misguided. Not that youngpeople shouldn't be part of our community, but that we put undue (and unfair) weight and attention on them.

Instead of letting them be and grow into themselves, we give them the moniker "young numismatist" and place all of *our* hopes and aspirations for the future of the hobby on theirshoulders.

Imagine how off-putting that would be if you were a teenager. By avoiding us, that 13-year-old kid made his point as eloquently as we deserved.

To read the complete article, see:
At the ANA, Many Attempts to Bridge the Coin Collecting Divide(http://www.coinweek.com/opinion/at-the-ana-many-attempts-to-bridge-the-coin-collecting-divide/)

At this meeting, the discussion centered around two young numismatists in attendance.

The senior members of the club wanted to learn from the two YNs how their club could better reach out to young people and their friends.

At any rate, the one thing absent from this discussion and the earlier symposium at the NLG was how we can better communicate to collectors already in the hobby that don't feel like they arepart of our community - that is, the community of collectors that would join organizations like the EAC or take up the challenge of writing the next great numismatic article or book, replenishing ourranks with new blood and new ideas.

It is our belief that some collectors drop in and out of the hobby over the course of their lives. Others may collect for years--their whole lives, in fact--and never advance their knowledge tothe point where they would feel comfortable calling themselves "numismatists". Still others see the hobby as having great potential. If we are lucky, these people are provided theopportunity to grow and mature as true numismatists and future leaders. It is on us to always present a welcoming environment, a call to participate, and a community worthy of their talent and time.If anything, what we have failed to do in recent years is to offer a compelling alternative to self-directed collecting, detached from the social ties that have long bound the hobby together.

Coins are interesting things collected by interesting people. Our website's focus is discussing coins and the lifestyle of collecting. It is our belief that the industry is best served bytaking this to heart and leaving the gimmicks at the door. Prices do not dictate the viability of the coin market. The fascination of coins and related objects does.

Even our youngest "numismatists" know that.