Coin club programs - ideas - counterfeits and a show and tell.

jmcu12

Hello all!

I have decided to go with a brief presentation on counterfeits. I have a 3-ring binder from a dealer friend of mine that is full of different types of counterfeits.

Then we will have a show and tell session.

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With my dad passing away I have had zero time to work on a program. And in general our coin club has become a bit stale lately.

In the past we have done the following programs

Coin pricing
Coin grading
Auctions
Videos
Error coin talk
Talk on flying eagle and IHC

As the president, and since no one else has come up with anything, I have to come up with something....anything.


So - I know that there is a lot to talk about but I am currently blocked. Please offer tons of suggestions as the meeting is in a couple of weeks!

Thanks for any ideas!

BarberFanatic

How about discussing counterfeit SLAB detection? With all of the fakes coming out of China this is certainly a relevant topic and one that should give ample opportunity for education.

magikbilly

Perhaps color, AT/toning patterns, luster, Pr manufacture...

Eric

Steve27

I did a presentation, for one of the clubs I'm a member of, on the GSA Carson City and other silver dollar sales. I found one of the original pieces of advertizing literature, which showed miners working the Comstock Lode and provided pricing information. I also showed the number and type of CC Morgans sold. Plus I had examples from my collection of the "Uncirculated," circulated, and flat-pack holders.

ScarsdaleCoin

some ideas for you...

Invite the local locksmith/safe dealer to talk about safes

Invite the local town/village/county Historian to give a talk on the area

Invite a estate planner to explain about passing on collections to the kids

Check with visiting dealers passing thru the area when you have larger coin shows in town and see if they will speak on their favorite coins

Members "other" collections/hobbies

Organize a club coin show or a club auction night

We did several "coin" theme movie nights.... even brought popcorn....you can find some great coin stuff on youtube

Hope these idea's help

bigjpst

I did a guess the coin contest for our club last year that was pretty fun. Basically I just took photos from Coinfacts, cropped them to show only a small detail and ran it through my ipad to a projector. Everyone got a sheet of paper to guess, and we gave prizes to the top 3. It was easy, and you can make it as difficult as you want if you throw commems into the mix. Problem is you need a projector or some way to display all the images. I guess it could be done if you just print them out onto a sheet of paper large enough for everyone to see, or pass around the room. I still have mine saved in my ipad on keynote, but have tried to send it to others in the past with no luck. But if you have a mac or ipad, and could give me the info on how to send it PM me and I will try.

edited to correct ipad app name

CoinZip

I have talked to a couple small clubs on technology, some of the topics are:

online bidding safety
photography for insurance purposes
Macro and Micro photography
Marketing for coin shows, the younger generation uses digital advertising

Tibor

Why not have each member bring a favorite piece for a show and tell.
Discuss at what price level is slabbing a coin important.
What markers to look for on coins that help with authentication.

coinkat

Coins from another country- pick one or two depending on the time available

RedTiger

A couple of weeks? That brings it into range of the 70th anniversary of D-Day (Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944) and Father's Day. Either would be a nice theme.

For Father's Day, the first thought is the father of our country, coins and currency featuring George Washington. Easy, tons of material, get a couple of anecdotes about the man from the Internet and it is a program that is entertaining, and can be done with minimal preparation. There are other ways a person can go with Father's Day. Coins passed down from dad, coins from dad's birth year.

For D-Day, the first thought is all the World War II U.S. special issues, from the War Nickels with the big mintmarks, to Steel and then Shell-cased cents, to the Hawaii and North Africa stamped currency. If a person has a deeper collection, coins from the other countries in the conflict may be of interest.

As with any club presentation have something for all levels of collectors, from the youngest beginner with the short attention span, to the veteran collector that has heard and seen almost everything, to the people in between. If doing a World War II presentation, think about donating a steel cent, or war nickel for a YN giveaway (if the club has any YNs).

cmerlo1

A few times a year we have 'grading night'. Each member can bring up to 3 coins, and a panel of 3 graders and a finalizer grade them. We've been fortunate to have Tim Hargis, formerly the head grader at ANACS, as our finalizer. We then select 8-10 of the coins and discuss why we graded them the way we did, and talk about coins that were cleaned or fake altogether.

Rollerman

Someone on the forum gave me some trivia questions and answers. We devided the room in half and played trivia at coin club. I don't remember who it was as it was a few years ago. Here's a link that offers some trivia questions. You can also enter "coin trivia" in the search engine and see what it produces.

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=306246&highlight_key=y&keyword1=coin trivia

We (our coin club) will soon try an experiment, have members talk about another collecting interest they have besides coins.

Good luck and hope these suggestions help!
Pete

Flash

Is it a club for collectors of coins only, or does the membership include collectors of currency as well? If the latter, how about a talk on Military Payment Certificates. That would tie in nicely to the approaching D-Day anniversary.

illini420

In addition to what others have already said, the ANA Library has lots of videos that you can borrow, many of them are too long for a club meeting probably, but not all are. There are some good ones though.

NCViking

At a recent meeting we had a Secret Service agent present a talk on counterfeit currency. It was a very interesting program as he passed around actual counterfeit bills found in our area.

BillJones

Pick a series that few people consider that often like, Two or Three cent pieces, do some research about them, and talk about them. Many collectors don't know that much about 19th century U.S. coins.

I write and essay and give a Power Point presentation to my local club every month.

CoinMan1012

<< <i>At a recent meeting we had a Secret Service agent present a talk on counterfeit currency. It was a very interesting program as he passed around actual counterfeit bills found in our area. >>


How the hell did you manage to get him?

BLUEJAYWAY

Don't know how practical/effective this idea would be, but how about an unsearched roll contest? Go to the bank and pick up some 1 cent through 10 cent rolls. Winner can be one who finds the most wheat cents, S cents etc. And on 5 cent who finds an S or warnick. Or who finds a silver dime. Or go by who finds the oldest date for the denomination. Or an error. Hope this is of use to you.

Zoins

How about a talk on the HOF coins and the manufacturing challenges / innovations that had to be done to make them?

Cameonut

As President, you shouldn't have to come up with topics for every meeting - IMHO. Doing this will mean that nobody else will ever want to be President - you now have a job for life.

Our coin club folded because most of the members didn't want to take any time to prepare a topic to share. So it ended up being the same two or three people struggling to find something of interest after a few years. Most of the members came to the meeting to be entertained - not to contribute. After 5 years, the membership dwindled to 6 active people and we decided we didn't need the hassle anymore.

If I had it to do over again, I'd try the following: Every member is expected to contribute some type of topic. Draw the names out of a hat to set up a schedule so each member knows when they have to present. It doesn't have to be fancy. In this way everyone gets to participate in the educational portion of the meeting.

jmcu12

Thanks everyone. I have decided to go with a presentation on the different types of counterfeits. Then we will have a quick show and tell of some of our favorite coins.