From my viewpoint, it might be a good thing for the molluscs to get a
slight break in the action until the next generation discovers them again
(it also leaves more for me to get, ha, ha). For my part, I do not know
many young collectors except a very nice young man in Singapore. All the
rest of the folks I know are my age or older, though it's hard to know the
age of some of the people I've corresponded with via this List.
 
It may be that peer groups (age-wise) tend to stick together and all the
young collectors are wondering where all us older collectors are. However,
more likely, it has to do with lifestyle differences. What I did when I was
in my 20s was collect shells because that was what was easily available to
me (living in South Florida). Today's young people have an incredible
amount of other free time activities available.
 
What is everyone else's perspective?
 
Best regards,
Jim Miller
Tallahassee, Florida
 
>I've been wondering if the hobby of shell collecting is gentrifying.  It seems
>that there are few young collectors and as such the hobby will decline as pre-
>Baby Boomer and Baby Boomer collectors either stop collecting, sell their
>collections, or pass away.  It seems the same may be true for other
>"classical" collecting hobbies such as stamps, coins and currency.  Is my
>perception accurate or am I way off base?
 
Jim Miller
Tallahassee, Florida
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