I am thinking about starting a coin club here in NE Ohio. Does anyone have any tips or advice on getting started. Thanks, Charlie
Yeah, find a sum of coin collectors in your area that dont belong to any coin club that would like to join one and heavily advertise that you would like to create one. Then find a meeting place for the group and hopefully by then you can have a good 25-30 potential members to make a start of a coin club. My experience in coin clubs is something that I love. There is so much knowledge bounced off one person to another and it's just a fun thing to do. I'm Secretary and Editor of the newsletter for the Hillside Coin Club. Good luck and Hope your successful-I'll keep a look out for your name in Coin World or Numismatic News.
I would suggest to have a neutral meeting place for the first meeting. Yes everyone who would come would most likely be coin collectors but they are also strangers and you would not know a thing about them for awhile if ever. So I would not meet in a home and I would not give out my home phone number or use my cell phone never mind give out an address. The library, a diner/coffee shop, The Elks club, etc would be meeting areas that jump into my mind.
Very sound advice that Andy is giving you , never know about stangers. Good luck Charlie a coin club is a great way to share ideas about our hobby. And maybe do some trading also.
I'd suggest running a classified ad in Coin Worl and/or Numismatic News...you never know how many fellow coin collectors in your town subscribe to those. Also, contact the ANA and see if they have any resources available. They might have some great suggestions. If you have any local coin shops, there's likely one that would allow some meetings, until the club can locate a suitable place. They might even be willing to keep some flyers, cards or other info on hand for potential members. Your local newspaper might give you some free press. You can usually put out flyers at coin shows, too. Coin clubs help the hobby in so many ways. Great thing you're doing. Nick
I am a founder and Club Secertary for our Coin Club which is only about a year old. My suggestion is to find about 6 collectors and a dealer or two that would be willing to help form the club. You will need a club Pres., V.P., Secertary, Treasurer, Librarian, or other positions you all feel need managed. These positions including a couple of members should form your Board. The Board will need to create a Charter and Bylaws concerning membership, and activities of the club and its members. Sounds like a lot of work and to some degree it is, but it is worth it. I would not suggest open advertisement about getting new members and meeting places. If you can get a dealer or two involved, word of mouth will draw the membership your looking for "and no riff raff". If you are serious about doing this and what some one on one help, feel free to PM me and I'll be glad to share what I know and what I've learned about starting a Coin Club.
I'll agree that a coin club is a great place to learn, trade, buy and sell coins. However, starting one or joining one is risky in cetain areas. If you don't advertise, it will take a long time to acquire members. If you do advertise you could end up with a few slightly dishonest individuals looking for their next place to rob. In large or near large cities it is often not wise to let the average person know to much about your coin collecting situation. As already noted here don't go around giving out person information at such clubs as real name, address, phone number, etc. Remember that with a minimal amount of information you can track down anyone on People Search on the web. For instance your name spelled correctly, approx age and approx town or city on people search for a few bucks can get you tons of info on anyone. So with a coin club be carefull. YNcoinpro. Is that Hillside Illinois?
