Learning experience...

[SkyMan]

Last week a person from my local coin club, who is the president of another coin club about 20 miles north of here, asked me to give a talk on coins and toning at "his" coin club. This is a talk I've given a couple of times at my local club over the years. I've also given a variety of coin talks to kids at multiple schools, so I was happy to say yes.

 

Last night I went to the other coin club. I brought ~ 20 slabbed coins and ~ 20 raw coins (in 2" X 2"s) and laid them out on a table so that people could look at the coins at the break after I had finished giving my talk. I laid them out in six groups of toning types; bag, mint set, album, envelope, end of roll and artificially toned. I also used a 7th group of coins as coins that people could try and determine which were NT and which were AT. After my talk I mentioned one thing that I would appreciate the members doing. Like many coin collectors, we all have OCD about something, and one of my pet peeves is people grinding slabbed coins together (raw coins too for that matter), so I asked the members to please only pick up one coin at a time. I figured that other than that they were all adults and pretty well aware of basic coin etiquette. I was appalled to see some of them handling glazed donuts and then picking up the coins, while others were leaning over the coins with open drinking cups. I finally had to ask people to put their drinks down on other tables after some chowderhead spilled Coke on some of my coins.

 

I'll be the first to admit that at coin shows I often have a drink with me (generally just water), but I always try and put it down to the side of a dealers case so that if it spills it won't get on his/her coins, and I try to be situationally aware of it. Knock on wood, I haven't spilled anything yet at over two decades of shows. If I have eaten food at a show (in the eating areas) I will certainly clean my hands before handling coins. In a like manner I try and be respectful of coins at my local coin club meetings.

 

Like all coin geeks I love the hobby and am happy to pass on whatever pitiful knowledge I have. Needless to say, the events of last night left a bad taste in my mouth. The members of my coin club are generally pretty good about handling coins. At this point in time I have zero interest in doing any more talks at other coin clubs, as I don't want to have to say, "If you've been eating food with your fingers please clean your hands before you pick up a coin, and please keep your drinks away from the coins". I don't want to have to treat them all as brain dead insufficiently_thoughtful_persons even if some of them are. I'll still give talks at schools... the kids are better behaved.

[123cents]

All I can say that in every hobby there are people that are inconsiderate and just plain aces.

 

When I was in the classic car hobby, at a car show, there was always the people who wanted to put their hands all over my car or lean against it.

 

You just have to lay down the law to protect your investments are quit doing what you are doing.

[Walkerfan]

I'm afraid that I have to agree with you-----the people at my local coin club are bunch of yahoos. I stopped going to the meetings about a year ago. It was boring and they would just auction off supposed 'collector coins' that were just JUNK and not worth more than their silver content and many of them were harshly cleaned, too. Maybe it's just me but I just can't get excited about whizzed cull Morgans and Franklins. Some of those insufficiently_thoughtful_persons had bad attitudes to match. I don't have time for those hillbillies. I would never let those handle my coins, either. I always practice really good coin etiquette, while at shows, but I guess that asking the same in return is too much for some people. Most of these people aren't real serious collectors, anyway, so what do they care? It's not their investment that is getting mishandled. They are too dumb to really know any better IMO. In summary----I UNDERSTAND your frustration.

[jom]

The next time you have a speech I'll bring a bag of Cheetos for everyone to share.

 

I agree with you on your situation. And don't be shy about having pet peeves. Mine at coins shows are the knuckleheads who put their price guides all over the table to block your view.

 

jom

[bsshog40]

It's a shame when you have to teach about etiquette at a coin club. I would believe that most people would not join a club without knowing something about what the club is about.

[johnny9434]

The next time you have a speech I'll bring a bag of Cheetos for everyone to share.

 

I agree with you on your situation. And don't be shy about having pet peeves. Mine at coins shows are the knuckleheads who put their price guides all over the table to block your view.

 

jom

or the hog whos gotta take up 3/4 of the table. yeah to what he said.

[coinsarefun]

I agree with you 100%

I once brought a very expensive toned ancient coin to a show to see if

I can sell it. It was raw but in a PCGS coin flip. The dealer proceeded to

take it out without my permission and have his grubby fingers all over it.

 

I bit my tonge so hard as not to reach across and grab him by the neck

it was sore for the rest of the day!!

 

Never.....never....never again!

 

 

 

[Deerefan8420]

I think all serious collectors are very particular about their coins, as they should be. I mean, who wants someone else's fingerprints or hamburger/French fry grease soaked hands on their coins? Even if those coins are low value, common date coins I still would not anyone handling them improperly. I don't have very many high $$ coins in my collection and most of what I have is common date stuff, but I treat all my coins as if they were the last of their kind and were not able to be replaced.

[Buffalo Head]

I was at a coin show and a "dealer" was eating fried chicken and handling his "raw" coins to show to some folks. I moved on....

[DaveG]

I feel your pain!

 

Fear of improper handling is one of the reasons that most of the presentations at my coin club are done as a slide show instead of presenting live coins.

[AstroTrain]

I can relate...sometimes you just want to scream WAKE UUUUUUUPPPPP!!!!!

[BillJones]

I am the VP for education at my local club. That means I give nine or ten presentations per year with Power Point as an aid. Maybe you would think they would get bored with me, but that has not happened so far. I have not repeated a topic in three years.

 

So far as handling you sample coins goes, I am not worried about coins in slabs and Eagle holders an albums. Raw coins and especially medals are another story. Some of these guys do not know about coin etiquette, and I have to keep an eye on them. My worst fear is someone will drop a medal an put a rim ding on the edge followed by finger prints.

[Conder101]

Sounds to me like the next presentation should be lessons in coin handling etiquette.

 

I would believe that most people would not join a club without knowing something about what the club is about.

My experience is that most people come to or join a coin club because they DON'T know much about the subject. They are there to learn more about it. They often don't know the simple basic stuff and since everyone there just assumes that they do know it the new people never get properly taught.

 

I once brought a very expensive toned ancient coin to a show to see if

I can sell it. It was raw but in a PCGS coin flip. The dealer proceeded to

take it out without my permission and have his grubby fingers all over it.

What I would do in a case like that is ask to see one of HIS more expensive raw coins and then proceed to take it out and put my grubby fingers all over it and maybe even rub it a bit. When he screams, explain "well it's what you did to my coin so I assumed it would be OK for yours.