I joined a coin club last night...
Meltdown
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There's a local group of coin collectors who get together once a month and discuss, share, buy & sell coins. I've known about the club for a couple years, but have never attended until last month. A friend of mine invited me and I went and had a great time meeting people and genuinely enjoyed myself for the 2 hour meeting.
There's a lot of longtime coin collectors and a bunch of specialized knowledge in the room.
They sell 6 raffle tickets for 5 bucks and at the end of the meeting, draw 5 of them from a bucket and the winner gets to go up front and pick out a coin from a nice assortment of stuff... moderns, ancients, morgans, etc. The raffle tickets are good for 3 months so you need to keep them and bring them back. I did not win anything last month but decided at that time I would buy myself a year membership and try to attend regularly. I managed to hang on to my tickets all month and had them with me last night. I paid my $15 annual membership and I bought $5 worth of new tickets.
So sure enough, my number from last month gets called and I get to go up and choose a free coin. I picked this 1854 Large cent rather quickly because it was a nice looking VF at a glance and I was a bit embarrased to be up in front of the crowd for whatever reason.
So after the 5 drawings, they announce it's also time for the "quarterly membership" drawing. Everyone who had paid their $15 for the annual membership gets a chance at 3 more drawings. They had some nicer stuff in this batch. 1878 CC morgan in 63, 1891 CC morgan (raw but UNC) and an assortment of other ancient stuff, tokens and such.
Wouldn't you know it, they called my name the very first pick. I'm thinking... no way, I just signed up tonight... that's cool.
I get up there again and there's a really nice BU war nickel set with flashy luster and seriously pretty golden toning. They were really nice. I picked those up first and the guy was like "are you sure now, maybe you should look through it all and take a minute to decide."
So I did. I looked at some ancient hammered silver pieces, a beautiful UNC ship token and then spotted this condor piece. I've always thought it was an awesome looking coin. I haven't looked up how much it might be worth, I don't really care. This is a keeper for me and a strong reminder of what a fulfilling hobby this coin collecting really is. There's just a bunch of good people, an enormous amount of history that comes with it and never enough to learn.
There's a lot of longtime coin collectors and a bunch of specialized knowledge in the room.
They sell 6 raffle tickets for 5 bucks and at the end of the meeting, draw 5 of them from a bucket and the winner gets to go up front and pick out a coin from a nice assortment of stuff... moderns, ancients, morgans, etc. The raffle tickets are good for 3 months so you need to keep them and bring them back. I did not win anything last month but decided at that time I would buy myself a year membership and try to attend regularly. I managed to hang on to my tickets all month and had them with me last night. I paid my $15 annual membership and I bought $5 worth of new tickets.
So sure enough, my number from last month gets called and I get to go up and choose a free coin. I picked this 1854 Large cent rather quickly because it was a nice looking VF at a glance and I was a bit embarrased to be up in front of the crowd for whatever reason.
So after the 5 drawings, they announce it's also time for the "quarterly membership" drawing. Everyone who had paid their $15 for the annual membership gets a chance at 3 more drawings. They had some nicer stuff in this batch. 1878 CC morgan in 63, 1891 CC morgan (raw but UNC) and an assortment of other ancient stuff, tokens and such.
Wouldn't you know it, they called my name the very first pick. I'm thinking... no way, I just signed up tonight... that's cool.
I get up there again and there's a really nice BU war nickel set with flashy luster and seriously pretty golden toning. They were really nice. I picked those up first and the guy was like "are you sure now, maybe you should look through it all and take a minute to decide."
So I did. I looked at some ancient hammered silver pieces, a beautiful UNC ship token and then spotted this condor piece. I've always thought it was an awesome looking coin. I haven't looked up how much it might be worth, I don't really care. This is a keeper for me and a strong reminder of what a fulfilling hobby this coin collecting really is. There's just a bunch of good people, an enormous amount of history that comes with it and never enough to learn.
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Comments
Great report, and really cool coins too!!
~
"America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
Larry L.
<< <i>Congratulations. I always look forward to our monthly club meetings. We have a 60 lot auction where every member can put two lots in the auction at a cost of 25c per lot. Some months I buy more than I sell but I always have a good time and always learn something. >>
That's a good idea and sounds pretty entertaining. I might suggest that one for my new club down the road.
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
We have a door prize of $5 for anyone and everyone in attendance (some people bring guests). We have a drawing using the membership numbers for $25. If that person isn't at the meeting, it grows by $5 each month. We also have a 50/50 drawing where cash and a nice coin(s) are also given away (last nights winner got a nice BU Morgan and $26). The coin is donated by one of several area dealers each month as I remember, or sold to the club very reasonably for the drawing.
We had the usual business meeting, followed by a member presentation about what to look for when buying coins followed by a "coin trivia" contest among the three rows of tables (10 to 12 people per row) just for fun. We will be having our annual coin show next month which is always a good one.
Several of us come early and have a little "show and tell" with our new purchases which is always fun also.
Pete
Louis Armstrong
"Ain't None of Them play like him (Bix Beiderbecke) Yet."
Louis Armstrong
Cool quote.
I knew it would happen.