State of Club Coin Shows.

giantsfan20

Was wondering how it is in your area? Here in Northern California SF Bay Atea two coin club shows are no more one in San Jose and another in Vallejo. San Jose had maybe 35 tables and not sure of Vallejo probably about the same have not attended in long time due to traffic .

Guess they could not make a profit SJ is held in a banquet hall and the other in mobile home park building.
Another coin club holds a show in SJ and charges $125 or so for a table and $2 admission at same place.

Yes things are expensive here in Ca like gas upwards of 3.50 a gallon.

Was wondering what do coin clubs do with the money

amwldcoin

Personally I think several coin club shows in the SE are in danger of imploding. More dealers and lower attendance ='s impending doom! Seems all these clubs can do is think ...bigger,bigger show!

Cameonut

We are still doing great in the Carolinas - plenty of club shows to choose from.

I am more concerned about the state of the clubs themselves. It appears to be harder and harder to draw younger people into the hobby.

amwldcoin

And you didn't go to the last NCNA show! I hope for the dealers who attend this year's show there are more customers than dealers this year!

@Cameonut said:
We are still doing great in the Carolinas - plenty of club shows to choose from.

I am more concerned about the state of the clubs themselves. It appears to be harder and harder to draw younger people into the hobby.

ms71

I agree with the comment on the lack of young people coming into the hobby. It bodes ill for the health of clubs, shows, and collecting in general. When today's young person wants something to do, the phone or tablet comes out. A hobby where most interaction is with older people, and in person, is not attractive to the young in today's culture.

Cameonut

@amwldcoin said:
And you didn't go to the last NCNA show! I hope for the dealers who attend this year's show there are more customers than dealers this year!

@Cameonut said:
We are still doing great in the Carolinas - plenty of club shows to choose from.

I am more concerned about the state of the clubs themselves. It appears to be harder and harder to draw younger people into the hobby.

Good point, I was thinking about the local club shows - didn't think about the NCNA.

EagleEye

There is a big difference from the true statement that clubs are having trouble attracting younger collectors to their meetings and the false statement that there is a lack of young people coming into the hobby.

There are tons of young collectors out there. They are not doing the same thing we did in the 1970's like pulling collections out of change and building circ sets of the silver coins. They are buying and selling on eBay and Instagram. They may not even go to a show or club meeting ever.

Kccoin

Our club treasurer says club show two years ago they broke even. This past year they turned a small profit.

I would say they will use the money to continue to operate (monthly meeting hall rents, expense of next years show, etc)

ricko

There is not even a coin club in my area.... No shows, no shops, no clubs....but people keep scooping change out of the coinstar reject bin...must be for candy.... Cheers, RickO

SanctionII

In the East Bay the Mr. Diablo Numismatic Society puts on a yearly coin show (In Concord and more recently in Walnut Creek). These shows have been well attended over the years, mostly with older collector. However I see many dealers and customers at these shows who are in their 40's or younger.

Many other local shows are regularly held all around the SF Bay area and throughout California

savitale

@EagleEye said:
There is a big difference from the true statement that clubs are having trouble attracting younger collectors to their meetings and the false statement that there is a lack of young people coming into the hobby.

There are tons of young collectors out there. They are not doing the same thing we did in the 1970's like pulling collections out of change and building circ sets of the silver coins. They are buying and selling on eBay and Instagram. They may not even go to a show or club meeting ever.

I completely agree with this. Younger people are just not following the same path as previous generations, I think in part because circulating coins have been dreadfully boring for longer than these young collectors have been alive. They don't go to local dealer shops because there are none, and they don't go to coin club meetings because a 20- or 30- something in general won't "click" with a bunch of longtime-friend 60- or 70- somethings. But through the internet they have access to a hundred times more information (and coins) than collectors of previous generations did when they were starting.

Cougar1978

The Bellaire Club show - Houston area has always been a strong show and money maker having set up there over the years. I had one of my best shows ever there one time.

In recent years the 2015 oil price crash has dampened money going into numismatics. Many have not recovered.

StrikeOutXXX

@EagleEye said:
There is a big difference from the true statement that clubs are having trouble attracting younger collectors to their meetings and the false statement that there is a lack of young people coming into the hobby.

There are tons of young collectors out there. They are not doing the same thing we did in the 1970's like pulling collections out of change and building circ sets of the silver coins. They are buying and selling on eBay and Instagram. They may not even go to a show or club meeting ever.

This is so true Rick. I'm in a few dozen Facebook coin groups - most buying/selling ones, some specialized ones to share info on specific subjects.

Although there are a good portion of folks "my" age - ie, 40's/50's there giving great info on errors/varieties/cents, etc - I would have to say at least 1/2 (of the 10s of thousands of sellers) I have met are in their 20's-30's. Some are in their teens. There are plenty of younger folks in and around coins, just not in the traditional sense we may think of. My kids like coins, go to a show now and then with me, but the thought of sitting through our coin club meetings scares them 8-) They weren't too into sitting at a YN meeting at shows either. Seems today's youth aren't all that fond of face to face socialization, but will communicate via social media with no problem.

Back to the OP. In my area (Western NY) we have 3 club shows.

1) My little local coin club. We only have maybe 30-40 active members, and we have a club show once a year in October in our tiny village. ~20 tables maybe, not what I would call a ton of traffic, and most of the tables are taken up by club members. We have it at our Moose Club, who donates the space. Tables are cheap, only $20 (members) $25 (non-members). Our raffle prize tickets makes 95% of our revenue. The table fees cover the raffle ticket printing, the advertising, the dealer lunch, etc. As long as we make a little or break even, we're fine. We don't rely on the show to keep the club running, it's very solvent from club dues and 5% of monthly auctions. Admission is free.

2) Our sister club in the larger city 45 minutes to the East of us has a show 2x a year (Mar/Sep) in the Legion hall. Little bit bigger, maybe 40 tables. It's well attended, decent show. I'm not as involved in that club, but the raffle tickets do well, the tables are $45, but they pay for the space, so the table fees cover that. They also aim to break even, but end up making a little bit each show. Admission is free.

3) Our area's biggest club, the Buffalo Numismatist Association has a monthly bourse. 50 or so tables. We have a police officer present for this one. We have 1-day shows in our "Normal" location in Jan/Feb/MarMay/June/Sep/Nov/Dec which is the Knights of Columbus banquet hall. Our April show is a 3-day (fri/sat/sun) 200+ table one held at the Hamburg Fair Grounds, and our October show is a 2-day (sat/sun) one held in our normal location. We do not have shows in July/August. Admission is basically free for all of them (except the 3-day show) which charges $1.00 but with that $1.00 you fill out a self-addressed post card, which gets mailed to you next year for free admission. I have a yearly table here, and the fees are a bit more, but covers the mailings, newsletter, once a year dealer appreciation lunch and banquet, etc. The club is quite solvent.

thefinn

We (Utah) have 4 shows - a coin show in SLC in January, one in Ogden in April, a token/coin show the weekend before the 4th of July (I don't setup for this one - just shop), and one in October in SLC. All of the SLC shows are in a branch bldg of a Community College. They are well attended, and generally have 60 to 85 tables sold at around $175/table. Lunch is inexpensive and catered (dealers say it's the best at any show). Admission is $3, and hasn't diminished attendance since we started charging. Always two off-duty police officers (one is plain clothes). Club meetings have 60+ at them with descent youth presence.

ajaan

@StrikeOutXXX said:

@EagleEye said:
There is a big difference from the true statement that clubs are having trouble attracting younger collectors to their meetings and the false statement that there is a lack of young people coming into the hobby.

There are tons of young collectors out there. They are not doing the same thing we did in the 1970's like pulling collections out of change and building circ sets of the silver coins. They are buying and selling on eBay and Instagram. They may not even go to a show or club meeting ever.

This is so true Rick. I'm in a few dozen Facebook coin groups - most buying/selling ones, some specialized ones to share info on specific subjects.

Although there are a good portion of folks "my" age - ie, 40's/50's there giving great info on errors/varieties/cents, etc - I would have to say at least 1/2 (of the 10s of thousands of sellers) I have met are in their 20's-30's. Some are in their teens. There are plenty of younger folks in and around coins, just not in the traditional sense we may think of. My kids like coins, go to a show now and then with me, but the thought of sitting through our coin club meetings scares them 8-) They weren't too into sitting at a YN meeting at shows either. Seems today's youth aren't all that fond of face to face socialization, but will communicate via social media with no problem.

Back to the OP. In my area (Western NY) we have 3 club shows.

1) My little local coin club. We only have maybe 30-40 active members, and we have a club show once a year in October in our tiny village. ~20 tables maybe, not what I would call a ton of traffic, and most of the tables are taken up by club members. We have it at our Moose Club, who donates the space. Tables are cheap, only $20 (members) $25 (non-members). Our raffle prize tickets makes 95% of our revenue. The table fees cover the raffle ticket printing, the advertising, the dealer lunch, etc. As long as we make a little or break even, we're fine. We don't rely on the show to keep the club running, it's very solvent from club dues and 5% of monthly auctions. Admission is free.

2) Our sister club in the larger city 45 minutes to the East of us has a show 2x a year (Mar/Sep) in the Legion hall. Little bit bigger, maybe 40 tables. It's well attended, decent show. I'm not as involved in that club, but the raffle tickets do well, the tables are $45, but they pay for the space, so the table fees cover that. They also aim to break even, but end up making a little bit each show. Admission is free.

3) Our area's biggest club, the Buffalo Numismatist Association has a monthly bourse. 50 or so tables. We have a police officer present for this one. We have 1-day shows in our "Normal" location in Jan/Feb/MarMay/June/Sep/Nov/Dec which is the Knights of Columbus banquet hall. Our April show is a 3-day (fri/sat/sun) 200+ table one held at the Hamburg Fair Grounds, and our October show is a 2-day (sat/sun) one held in our normal location. We do not have shows in July/August. Admission is basically free for all of them (except the 3-day show) which charges $1.00 but with that $1.00 you fill out a self-addressed post card, which gets mailed to you next year for free admission. I have a yearly table here, and the fees are a bit more, but covers the mailings, newsletter, once a year dealer appreciation lunch and banquet, etc. The club is quite solvent.

The Buffalo Numismatic Association show also has a very active Kid's Corner that is well attended.