Went to my first ever Coin Club Meeting.....Questions for the community

Funny. I thought the same thing. Too bad these clubs are all typical. Be nice if they had more quality and less of a place for strange people to congregate. Oh well.

 

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Darn shame these clubs aren't better places to attend. Some say it's the new collectors who bring down the hobby yet most of these clubs represent such similar experiences. Seems to indicate something different something else I'd say. The idea of clubs itself holds so much promise and yet it's usually nothing more than what was represented here. Darn shame.

 

Thanks, Folks, you all have given me some great ideas!
As I mentioned earlier, depending on how the stars line up and the possibility of a new job, I may not be in Charleston much longer.

With THAT being said, I have already checked to see if there are coin clubs in the new location(s). If they fall flat, I have been known to start a new entity/club/society of one kind or another from scratch.

I just might end up starting a new thread asking, if you were going to a new coin club meeting, WHAT would you like to see happen at it?
Then cherry-pick the best/most responses an include those.

 

I hope you are moving to SE Texas. We need a good club here.

 

Maybe the other people at the club feel the same way so ask to start an info part 5 min on any subject and sigh up others. Get the ball rolling. Be the man or woman that gets things done.

 

VERY good possibility(ish)
Would you consider Williamson County SE Texas?

 

I am the treasurer (Because no one else will volunteer) and the vice president in charge of education at my local club.

I give an educational presentation at every meeting, with a Power Point program. I publish an essay almost every month for the club meeting notice paper. I have posted some of those essays here. Sometimes we have a show and tell instead, and when I twist someone's arm, other people speak.

My presentations are well received but educational presentations are not of interest to a fair number of coin collectors. They are more interested in filling holes in their albums. One of the factors that gets collectors to come to coin show meetings are opportunities to add to their collection. That is the most important thing to them. The large clubs to which I have belonged had meetings that were almost like mini coin shows.

I don't how to fix that. To me a coin does not mean very much unless there is a story behind it, but I also understand the mentality that has people yearning to fill holes in an album.

There are clubs that are based around education. One of the largest ones is the Early American Coppers club, but they are notional, not local. Others include the Colonial Coin Collectors Club and the Civil War Token Society.

I've found that local clubs have a hard time holding people's interest when education is their main thrust. I wish that was not so, but it's the way it is.

 

About 30 minutes North of Austin would make it about 1 and 1/2 hours from me. But, that might not be bad for a worthwhile meeting about once a month. I am about an hour SE of Austin.

 

At the Watching Hills Coin Club in New Jersey, aside from the typical minutes reading, treasures report, new/old business, etc., we do have educational sessions. These sessions typically are presented by a guest speaker or club member. When a speaker is not available, a video that has been taken out of the ANA or other orginization's library is shown. Every meeting also includes a show-and-tell from the members. Once a year we hold a coin and book auction. Overall, a well balanced meeting with lots of participation. Also, once a year we have a club coin show that tends to be one of the best in the area with about 30+ vendors.

 

I belong to a coin club in my mid-sized town. After attending the meetings for about a year, my arm got twisted and I was “volunteered” to be Vice President. My main responsibilities are to send out the meeting notice and, oh yeah, program chairman for our monthly meetings, lol. Our goal is to have one or two presentations / show and tells with a focus on education. Two dealers belong to our club and they often give presentations that are very interesting.

This month, the President and I did a Metal Detecting demonstration in the grass area around the pool outside of the clubhouse where we meet. We found coins easily enough, and encouraged members to find some using our gear. About half of the 15 people there were engaged, the other half couldn’t wait to go back inside to search the Dealers’ many boxes of old coins. Members buying and trading (mostly buying) from the dealers at the end of the meeting seems to be the highlight for everyone. We have some high end collectors who regularly spend several hundred dollars after every meeting buying from the dealers. The emphasis among the members is buying old silver and gold coins or bullion vs CRH.

We also have a door prize at the end of the meeting ($10-$20 value) that is purchased by the club from one of the dealers or donated by them. With the exception of the President, everyone is over 60 years old. All in all, I enjoy the meetings, but it is difficult to find members who will volunteer to give a presentation, sigh.

 

I think it is hard to find people to give presentations because public speaking is one of the greatest fears people have. I'm not sure why, because it has never been a problem for me.

 

If you were to have a club in that area and try to encourage collectors to join, you might want to get a meeting location close to Austin. If you are moving to that area you might check for clubs in the Austin area first. In any case, I would consider driving to that area.

 

Our club offers Free membership to all junior members (under 18). They have full membership. We do programs in neighboring school districts to encourage younger members. Most club members are older than 45, but we have 10 members under 18 out of 54 members in a smaller rural area. The junior members get free coins monthly from other members to attend the meetings.

 

It's very sad that those times are gone.

 

When collecting turns into a business it tends to take some of the fun out of it. I collected coins and sports cards when I was a tyke with no interest whatsoever in value or rarity. I just collected them, sorted them and looked at them every now and then because I enjoyed it. Some of my favorite cards or coins no one else wanted, but I thought they were cool. They still aren't worth anything, actually. But I was collecting, I wasn't trying to find quick riches or rarities. I just wanted the stuff. Those days do seem to have vanished for both coins and cards. Oh well.

 

Most clubs are dying to have members do the educational programs.

Do it... very few of the club members bite and if they do, smack them - it's entertainment value.

Seriously, you will find it quite rewarding.

 

Seriously I learn much more from Youtube than I ever could at my local. Questions is, are there ANY good clubs? Doesn't sound like it. People rag on Youtube though for some odd reason. Lot more information there, good and bad. Easy enough to figure out.

 

To be honest, I learn much more from CoinTalk than my Club. But I do enjoy being around other collectors as well.

 

True also.

 

So far I've been to one coin club meeting, but I intend to go back to it and another one or two I've learned about. I do like the auction part of it. A list was passed around of coins put up by members for auction, and if you bought anything, you paid the person who brought the coins.

But what i want to know is, what are the chances of a member bringing coins that are just ones they want to get rid of and not very good ones at that? I understand they wouldn't give away their best coins, but would they use these auctions as a dumping ground for their least desirable coins? I guess if you were just filling holes it would be okay, but wouldn't it be better just to go to a dealer if you were looking to upgrade?