Are you a member of your local coin club?

And that can be the single most reason why new members can be turned off of a club or why a club can have a bad name, too many cliques and too few members favored

 

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I've not joined or been to a meeting as of yet, but have been invited, even given a card to get in free for the meal. I work 75 miles from where I live and that is pretty close to where the meetings are. I could make the meetings but that hour and a half drive home afterwards is a killer. I have spent several hours talking to a couple of the members in person and they really seem like some nice guys. I have no clue how many members they have though, but the ones who have invited me have said that the food is worth more than the cost of membership.
I still have one kid at home who is a senior this year and when he is done with football, I am definitely going to go. I want to brag a little here, which I rarely do, he is the quarterback of our local school. They won the outright conference title Friday night and are the number one seed in the playoffs that begin this coming Friday. Quite proud of those boys.

 

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That would be nice instead of trying to get rid of us!!

 

Markus, the rules are there, I can't force anyone to read and follow them, and if they don't , for various reasons, then problems may occur. If some people would read and think ( maybe twice) what they write before sending it to the forum, I would have little work to do

 

Jim - you know you give me points for 6/8 weeks while everybody else that steps before you throw the hammer down only gives me points for 7-10 days! Now why is that?

 

Come on Marcus, If someone breaks the speed limit for the first time, a warning by a judge is often all that is needed. However if someone doesn't learn from it and continues doing it , the judge is not going to do the same. If a person really wanted to change, they wouldn't be concerned how long. I kept this very general so PM if you want to be direct.

 

The two clubs I belong to are very different.

One is an old club (Ft Worth, 1954) and still tries to follow the old rules, including voting on memberships. They have formal meeting minutes, officers sit at the front, etc.

But they are a warm and welcoming bunch, the members remember who is who and what your interests are. They're also very interested in learning, to the point where I was shanghaied to do a preso by about my 3rd month as a member. So I go even though it's 45m to an hour each way.

The other is a newer club (NetCC, 2002?), founded because the people started informally meeting to fill a spatial vacuum between the two big established clubs. The original founders are still active. But it too is a warm and welcoming bunch (a fair bit of cross-over in membership). It's a little closer, on a different Thursday and fun.

There are two other clubs (Dallas and Colin County) I would attend except for the drive and because they meet on the 3rd Thursday which conflicts with other meetings I should be attending. And I'd have to pick one or the other. I've attended one meeting of each (dueling Mexican restaurants, both pretty good) and felt welcomed at all.

There's a 3rd club that also meets on this day and I've thought about it, but can't find out any info (they have joint meetings with the Colin County club apparently a couple times a year).

When I was up in Washington State, the Olympia coin club was also very welcoming.


So I'm sorry for your bad experiences - I hope they are uncommon!

 

I'm a member of several Coin Clubs, every time I go to a show that is sponsored by a club, I join.

Most clubs even the larger organizations operate on a shoestring budget and struggle to make money, I like to help them as much as I can. We started a fundraising auction for the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists (PAN) that has been a huge success. We charge a 10% buyer's premium that goes to the club and pay 100% of the strike price to the consignor.



Recently the North Carolina Numismatic Association started working on their first fundraising auction. Currently we are in negotiations with SCNA & VNA to provide the same service.

 

Yes, seven of them although "local" is kind of a vague term. The closest one is about 35 miles away and the farthest is almost 300. Three of them are over 200 miles. Only one of them has any real interest in education (That one has produced three ANA Presidents) Another is only focused on their auction (typically 150+ lots at each meeting) and has no interest in education. (Which I feel is pretty bad for the largest club in the state.)

 

I'm not a member of any, but I should look into joining one or two.

 

I am a member of the only coin club in my state. We start our monthly meetings at 6:00pm with socializing and members buying, selling, and trading coins and currency. At 7:00pm the monthly presentation is presented, and as a coincidence, I'm doing U.S. Error Coins this month. We them go over old business, then new business, and just before the break, we have a member do the ten question ANA Quiz. After the break we have our monthly auction of members coins and currency. I think our club meeting is a good combination of friendship and education. We also have the only two Coin Shows in the state in April and October.

 

In 2007 and 2008 I attended the coin show in El Paso. Good people. Fun show.

 

Was a memeber in 2007 and 2008. Lived it. The president at the time was a super tall and very nice guy. Great annual coin show.

 

Idaho falls Idaho. 2nd Thursday of every month. Great club!