WEST SPRINGFIELD – The members of the West Springfield Coin Club are getting ready for their fall coin show and will welcome numismatically inclined visitors to the Dante Club in West Springfield on Sunday, Oct. 30.
The club sponsors coins shows semi-annually, in the spring and fall, and invites members of the public with an interest in coins and other collectibles to the social club located at 1198 Memorial Drive where coin dealers will gather to buy, sell and appraise coins and some other collectible items.
The show will open at 9:30 a.m. and will continue until about 3 p.m.
According to club president Peter Setian, the show has been a local tradition of more than 25 years and has been sited at its current venue since 1988.
Setian has said that the shows serve two purposes. Not only do they raise much of the operating funds for the club they also serve as a resource for local coin collectors and hobbyists.
Setian said that there are usually 10-15 vendors at the club’s shows.
Visitors to the club’s previous shows have been sent postcards to notify them of the upcoming show, Setian said, and those postcards will offer them an added benefit.
Those who bring the postcards to the Oct. 30 show will be offered a free opportunity to make a random choice among a group of vintage U.S. coins which will be given away to the returning participants.
There will also be a raffle offered at the show with a gold coin as the first prize.
Setian said that, as the value of gold has risen, the size of the gold raffle prize has shrunk but still a gold coin will be offered.
The club meets monthly, with a summer hiatus of July and August, at the Church of the Good Shepard at 214 Elm S., in West Springfield. The meetings are generally staged on the second Sunday of the month and the remaining meetings of 2011 will be on Nov. 13 and Dec. 11.
At each meeting, a program about a specific aspect of coin collecting is offered after the club’s business is conducted.
Following a social break, a small number of coins are offered to the members and guests at an auction.
