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Question and a challenge to all Numismatists!!
acloco
Posts: 955 ✭✭✭
How many members have helped attend/organize a local coin club?
Challenge - please try to start/organize a new coin club this year.
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I never have, and do not intend to...... I have only met one other collector in this area... and that was at a flea market... Told him about the forum...he did not seem to be an avid collector though. Cheers, RickO
NEVER
What I saw in the "club" when I started out made me never go back.
Politics and predators.
About it. :'(
Unless you have a younger and very interested crowd, IT will be a nightmare!
I joined a club about 6 years ago and soon realized that it was basically a social club where most memebers went there for basically 2 things;
50/50 draw and the auction. A few times I spoke up and suggested that much improvement is needed for the club to survive the next 2 years and that it needs to be moving toward the future. I suggested being stagnant is going backwards.
the club was only known by word of mouth... nothing else. older members passed, junger (50tyisch) left us because it was boring... new members were scarce. management had their way and did what they wanted.
Made myself a few enemies by constantly wanting changes. and bringing other requests forward.
i proposed many venues we could explore and finally found out that really nobody wants to do anything or nobody had the ability to do anything. except about a small handful out of over 50 members. Average age 65 +.
Slowly I managed to get them to accept changes. There was chat of perhaps having a auction night once a year where nothing else is happening except to auction off members items to other members. Great idea!!! but when I suggested that members should be able to get a auction list with pictures of the respective lots..being online, it nearly went dead.
finally I said, if one other person will help, I will take all pictures for the auction.....it became a roaring success despite all the neeeee sayers.
Then I suggested a web site,,,,,,a long story and 2 years later the site is up..how it became is another controlled story... but MGMt wants to have a lid on everything that happens... so, NOTHING happens on the site, except the monthly journal. I have 2 posts there.....check out the site please...send them an email and see if you get an answer. (http://www.midislandcoinclub.com) . the site could be THE tool for communication amongst members... but it is not.
So if you want to start a club, I suggest you have at least 20 members to start with and have a small forward looking management team in place with a 2 year term. Make sure you have a mission ands stick to it.
if you wish, you can PM me and we can chat there some more.
Maybe it would be better to do what you can for a club that already exists. I am the treasurer and vice president in charge of education for my local club. I also put the auction together and usually write an essay every month for the newsletter.
We lost a key member last month when she passed away. She did a lot for the club, and replacing her is going to be hard. If just a few members could pick up one or two of things she did, we will be find, but it will be a challenge.
THANKS to EACH of you!
All took the bait.......exactly what I wanted.
Anybody else have any experience(s)??
Just helping to keep an old lady going.
The Cincinnati Numismatic Association established 1930.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
The age of the coin club is long over.
I was a member of a tropical fish club in Detroit. That was enough excitement for a lifetime.
We already have one, but you have to be 80 to join.
Good luck. The younger set does not care about coin collecting. That's just the way it is. Accept it.
You should have seen the Surf Club......that was the sh*t. Longboard Louie Lupinski is still a legend to this day.
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Didn't you mean sh*thole?
The new Fairfax County CC in Reston, VA seems to be starting off well.
All that coin club I mentioned did was look for fish.
I guess it all depends on the club. The Tampa Bay coin club is thriving.
Some guy would always come back from S America with about 600 slides of his expedition.
At least you don't find your coins floating upside down in the morning.
I attended a local well-established coin club some years ago. Every meeting was controlled by a few elite and knowledgeable "coin professors" and there was very little interest in nurturing new members or expanding the clubs membership. It felt like I had invaded a private club by mistake.
Those chickens have come home to roost as the clubs are vanishing in the suburbs of NYC now.
Commems and Early Type
We have a 105-year-old club - ANA Club #2 - that has met continuously since 1912. You want me to start a new one!
Coin clubs have value (and politics!) as a social club, educational forum, swap meet, etc. But the need for a LOCAL coin club is less compelling in the Internet age. You can belong to as many "local" coin clubs as you want.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Interesting comments.
Coin Clubs are dead.
Coin Clubs are controlled by few.
I AM asking those that have commented (THANK YOU, by the way), to get off the keyboard, and START or JOIN a coin club. Otherwise, your hobby and livelihood will die. Yes, we are AT THAT POINT!
If you do not like how the current club is ran, than start a NEW club with club members who would like an environment that would allow a club to prosper!!!
I doubt the future of the hobby likes with local coin clubs. That's not to say nothing can be done to contribute to the growth of the community. You could contribute material to, or start your own version of, the Newman Numismatic Portal for example.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
To me, viewing coin "in hand", is a BIG difference in learning the series/date/mm.
Ability to see more coins, at one time, "in hand", provides more choices to pick from as well.
As a member of the newly established club I can say that the Board members are doing a fantastic job. One of the focus areas is education. So far - the presentations have been very good and there is plenty of variety regarding collecting interests to keep us entertained.
Very positive experience.
I think it would be a good challenge for a YN but us old folks just don't have the steam to do that LOL
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
The one thing that gets more collectors to attend club meetings more than any other activity is opportunities for collectors to add coins to their collections. All of the clubs with large memberships to which I have belonged had a bourse and an auction. Sadly some people don't really want to learn anything. They more interested in filling holes.
Some clubs are so old and hidebound that they won't change anything. Some of the older guys really look down on anything "commercial." Others are only concerned with ancient coins or foreign pieces and look down on U.S. collectors. I have seen all of these things over the 40+ years that I have belonged to clubs.
I have to admit that the drawings and 50-50 stuff is boring to me. I also get concerned that people who might be going through a rough patch fianancially might feel obligated to pony up money for a drawing or a 50-50. I don't want anyone to stay home for a meeting simply because they feel they can't afford to be there.
Please, keep replying.
ALL of your experience, insight, and observations are priceless experience that I will be sharing with the new club members.
I'm speaking at their March meeting - but not sure what I will talk about, yet.