Net54 age distribution
 

Dear all,

I am curious to try and loosely quantify the age distribution among pre-war collectors, and I figure Net 54 members would be a good sample. If you don't mind, please take a minute and place a vote for your age group above!

I am especially interested if we collectively resemble e.g. a "youthful", "mature", or "post-mature" distribution, which will become more clear when the distribution curve begins to take shape.

Comments, opinions, and discussion on the likely effect of the pre-war collector age distribution on future demand (and hence prices!) are most welcome.

Thanks for voting.

Cheers,
David

i see frank and ted have not responded yet!!!:)

Pete--
 

Me & 2 others have now!;)

Excellent Poll
 

I have been thinking of posting this exact thing for a few weeks.

We have had these polls over the years and it's always fun to see a new one. Our average age used to be about 44 yrs old, last poll I think I figured it to be around 42 yrs old. Seems about right.... It's always good to see the "younger than 40yr old guys" collecting pre-war and vintage. Most know but I just turned 53 (not that it matters).

29 here. Clinging to the "20s" range as long as I can.

Happy Birthday Leon. I've 2 months and 3 days to catch up with you.

I would guess the ages reported hear might be a little on the young side as older folks might not be into the Internet? I mean there must be some 8 year old collectors.

What do people who set up at shows say? Is mid 40s a good average age?

thanks

Bob

I meant to say 80 year old collectors. I'm sure all the 8 year olds are on the internet

17 :d

22

Interesting as it plays into the longevity of the hobby. I was trying to convince my brother to invest in a card the other day and his argument was that baseball card collecting will die out with this generation as the popularity of the sport fades over time and cedes fans to Football, Basketball, Soccer etc. I of course told him to jump in a lake, that young fans will continue to find the hobby and the finite nature of the cards creates a real supply and demand marketplace.

Fourteen years old trapped in a sixty-four year old body.

Proud to be one of the few under 20

33 going on 16 here

Hang in there, I just moved into "50's" 2 weeks ago

Well, I am shocked Leon is just 53. I assumed he was much older...<ducks>:D

15 years old !

56 coming up!;)

Same here 55 and counting .

39 for another month.

I totally agree, and gaining some insight on this issue is actually my main motivation behind the poll.

After a 24 hour sampling period has passed, I will report some statistics about the distribution...

Keep in mind that it might be tough for folks in the last 3 or 4 categories to understand how to use their computers, so their numbers may end up being lower than reality. :D

turned 40 6 months ago

Poll results (24 hr sample period)
 

Thank you all so much for the great voter turnout!

After an "official" 24 hour sampling period, here are some results for the Net54 age distribution poll:

Total population sampled: 289
mean age: 45.4 years
median age: 44.5 years
standard deviation: 11.6 years
skewness: 0.132

For the mean and other statistics, I just assumed a mean value for each age group i.e. 14.5, 24.5, 34.5, etc.. While not perfect, this is easier than compiling the nearly 300 values by hand! (and also gets to within a few years of the mean values Leon mentioned previously in the thread, as a gut check.)

More than the mean, I am personally actually most interested in the skewness, which is a measure of how asymmetric the distribution is about the mean. The slightly positive skewness means that the distribution is actually "leftward leaning" compared to a perfectly symmetric normal distribution i.e. leaning towards the younger population (e.g. the 30s outweigh the 50s; also the "most likely" median age is less than the mean). I was actually expecting the opposite, so this is a pleasant surprise. This in particular would seem to point to a rather healthy, possibly growing, active Net54 population. In fact, given that many potential collectors won't have much disposable income until around say 30 (at least I know I didn't), this may create an artificial lower age barrier to entering the hobby, hence the leftward lean might be even more pronounced than indicated by the raw statistics (I am only speculating here). On the other hand, as many of you noted, the online sampling might also skew young compared to the pre-war collecting population as a whole. In any event, a graph of the 24-hour sampling results is attached as a JPEG file, in case anybody is interested.

If it doesn't annoy you guys too much, I would like to repeat this "census survey" at approximately annual periods, and continually add the new yearly results onto the chart below. I don't expect much difference year to year necessarily, but over say 5 or 10 years, I am curious if any noticeable and consistent drifts can be observed. (Sorry, I am an engineer / scientist, and just like doing these sorts of things! Also, anybody who has actual expertise in statistics, polling, etc. is very welcome to weight in!)

Thank you all again for participating (the poll remains open).

Cheers,
David

Nice work

17. Part of the 1%!

I'm 57 and feel old. :(

Feeling good at 56.

age
 

40 folks in their 60s!!!
I feel better already. :)

all the best,
barry

62 and counting.:)

Thanks. Physically I feel much older, mentally, like a kid...... but with the responsibilities of the older guy. The poll confirms the norm......nice job too.

Reviving this thread from 2014. Thanks for the link Pete

I just qualify as a pre-war baseball card collector as I focus primarily as a Ted Williams-era (1939-1960) collector. At 72+ years, I have been called (and categorized) many things, but never as "post-mature!" What does that mean? By the way, I called my 17 year-old granddaughter and she helped me to turn on my computer. Thank God for kids and grandkids. Still enjoy collecting, but am at that crossroads mentioned in other threads about is it time to start selling off one's collection. Not quite ready and still enjoy the thrill of the chase.

I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now.

I'd be curious to see a parallel poll indicating how long we have been collecting, too, but setting up such a poll is beyond my computer literacy, I'm afraid!

I'm 56 years old and won my first baseball card when I was flipping against a brick wall in Kindergarten when I was 6. It was a 1968 Topps Rookie Stars with Lou Piniella...

Been collecting ever since...sometimes more active than others, but NEVER quit the Hobby!

Would it not be possible to extract DOB from the user database? That might give a good answer

Since this thread was first concocted, I have slid further down the vintage collecting bell curve toward the inevitable oblivion.

Brian

If this thread was revived from 4 years ago, then aren't the #'s skewed?
As many of us have slid into the next bracket

Agreed with above. I'm slipping into another bracket on Ground Hog's Day.

The mean
 

There are actually more nice than mean, but there are certainly a few mean.

"Given the choice between being right or kind, - choose kind."

New-ish to the site
 

29

Huh, look at that. I'm equal to two Gregs!

I'm 47 so at least I haven't changed brackets since this poll came out. :) I've been collecting on and off since late 1979.

Just turned 52.

Yep:)

45. Collected during the junk era, but mostly concentrated on post-war HOF players. Renewed collecting 2 years ago, mostly pre-war HOF now.

When are we doing the weight poll, maybe using BMI to account for height?

I'm guessing sorting sports cards doesn't keep us very lean.

hehehehe. J\K

I'm in the same bracket I was 4 years ago and have 3 years till I hit the next one. :eek:

Well, not quite 8.....
 

My son is 11 and VERY into the prewar cards!

You have to start it!!!
 

That is too good - Please start that one - BMI poll!!

70. Heading toward obsolescence.

I'll be 42 in Feb. Collecting has had several phases:

* Ages 9 - 14: Intro and pretty much hardcore. Bought new wax constantly with any money I had, and got into vintage.

* Ages 15 - 20: Gee collecting cards sure is nerdy. Everything sat in boxes and on shelves at mom and dad's while I did high school, college, and attempted to be cool and get girls.

* Age 21: Holy crap you can buy old baseball cards in online auctions! Spent my last year in college being a total nerd again, participating in random auctions that don't even exist anymore, and found eBay for the first time.

* Ages 22 - 24: Dabbled, but not much. Was busy getting engaged and married.

* Ages 26 - 28: Grad school. No time for baseball cards.

* Ages 29 - 32: Kids being born. What's sleep? Baseball, what's that?

* Roughly 32 -37: Probably should pay attention to this CAREER...

* Age 38: Dammit, this has to stop. You love baseball and cards too much. Joined Net54 and have been back fairly active (if not totally consistent with a collecting focus...) ever since. :)

I actually started collecting vintage (1886-1960) when I was 15 when the 1994 Baseball Strike happened. I think I only got my drivers license so I could go to card shows.

what happened from 28-38??

LOL Go back and look, I edited it. This was not an exact science.

Older Group
 

88 and increasingly dismayed by the greed and fraud in the hobby.

TPA may have been a "sufficient" reason to eliminate the "wild west" of
authentiction, but it was never a "necessary" reason.

TPA is a "necessary" reason to establish an illusion of independent
authentication where a very few individuals can control the pricing.

But so was the "wild west," except that collectors could pick and choose
among dealers who built their reputations on integrity, accurate grading and
fair pricing, and those who did not. It would appear that the latter may still
be among us.

A huge +!. It is tremendous for me to see that nearly 62% of all who responded by the time of this post were in their 40's or younger! Technically, I'm 66 (how in the world did THAT happen?), but that's really just my disguise. Inside, I remain 27! On the other hand, having been doing this since about 1989 often lends perspective and the experience necessary to spot trends.

Way to go guys,

Larry

22 in 4 days...still the maturity of a 12 year old...

I'll be 55 next May and fully retired in July. :)

Since I'll turn 70 this coming September I'm able to play senior softball on the best 70+ Major Plus softball team in the nation! Still loving it!:D

I support the original ages in this poll. Bob Dylan is with me in this effort as I listen to him sing “Forever Young”. In my case most would consider forever old more appropriate, but at least for the time being I sort of like the “forever” part.
;)

I quoted Dylan's "My Back Pages" at post #34. Coping with aging is a recurrent theme in his music. And I am dealing with it myself.:(

very great info
 

pretty even distributiom

A number of us are!!

I'm 37 but somedays fell like I'm 60

57 and still love the hobby.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

At present, it appears that about 63% of our members are in their 40's or younger, which bodes quite well for the future of our hobby and its' continued growth.

Happy holidays,

Larry

53

I started collecting prewar in 1986 at 10 yrs old. My net54 was Lew Lipset. Thanks Lew! Those catalogs were like Christmas.