Does anyone here belong to the Medal Collectors of America group?

Longacre

I was reading the Coin Corner section of the Stack's site, and QDB mentioned the Medal Collectors of America group. I did a search and checked out their website. It seems like it has a decent amount of information, and medals generally interest me. Does anyone belong to this group? How active is it? Here is the link:

MCA

CaptHenway

I belong.
They do a good newsletter.
TD

SeattleSlammer

I do not. But I sure would love to have this medal in my box of 20.

4 Sale

ipmman

Membership in the MCA is an absolute must if you collect medals. It is one of the best kept secrets in numismatics.

Most of the members collect US Mint medals, Indian Peace medals, Betts (colonial American) Medals, and Comitia Americana medals , which I guess fit into the general category of historic and historical medals. There are also political collectors, Society of medalsists, Columbian Medals, and other areas. Technically, MCA covers all of these medals, and more, but these seem to be the main areas of collecting.

Let me say this much. If you collect coins, and love history, buy these books and references:

"Medals of the United States Mint 1792-1892" by R.W. Julian (a forum member btw)

"Comitia Americana" By John Adams/ Anne Bentley - One of the best numismatic books ever written! There is a huge buzz about it, and rightfully so. At $135.00 per copy, I have 2 copies, and will never part with them! Buy one before they sell out.

"John J. Ford Collection, Stacks" Part 13 & 14

plus the new QDB book on the 100 top medals and tokens.

I guarantee you will get the Medal collecting "bug" and begin collecting medals, and consequently join the MCA. So why not join now!

As far as I am concerned it is the best group in Numismatics, and I have belonged to TAMS, CWTS, EAC, Fly-IN, and CONECA (plus, of course the ANA and ANS). I have nothing bad to say about any of the other groups at all, but again, MCA is my favorite. The group has an incredible fraternity, and most of the "activity" is informal, but there is a lot of it, and everyone seems to be more than willing to help out new collectors in this area.

Their newsletter is excellent, edited by John Adams, arguably one of the most knowledgeable collectors /researchers /authors in numismatics. Those of you who are familiar with me know I am no slouch when it comes to medals, plus I am always happy to share my knowledge. Medal collectors do buy and sell medals, but are true collectors, and are usually only selling their medals to buy more expensive ones! (I guess lots of coin collectors do this as well)

If you have questions, PM me, because I usually steer clear of posting at CU!

By the way, both Stacks Ford catalogs are availiable online as well as many others, but the hard copy versions have much more info:

Stacks Archive