Hobby Show: Bringing People Together

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Hobby show brings people together in Aberdeen

By Calvin Men, calvinmen@aberdeennews.com
American News
11:52 p.m. CST, February 17, 2013

At age 13, John Koler knows the value of silver.

As a collector of coins, John's knowledge of the price of silver helps him to determine the potential price of a coin.

John, of Eureka, is a fledgling coin collector and one of many who perused the wares at the 45th Annual All Hobby Show at the Eagles Club on Sunday. Put on by the Ringneck Coin and Stamp Club of Aberdeen, the event marked a day where collectors gathered to buy, sell and barter their wares. The event really aims to help people with their hobbies, said Jim Appl, president of the club and an organizer for the event.

"Some people are collectors, or acquire or inherit them," Appl said, referencing things like collector's coins or stamps. "You know it's not everywhere you can find a place to sell, buy or trade them."

While a majority of the vendors dealt with coins, there were a few jewelers and even one vendor selling war memorabilia. It's hard to find a stamp vendor, though.

"Stamp dealers are hard to come by now, probably because of the Internet," Appl said.

Appl estimated the show once had around 70 regular vendors who would come to the annual event. But the number of vendors has dropped to around 20 for the last few years. This year, only 12 vendors were able to make it to the show.

"A lot of our club are getting up in age, and there's always talk of maybe this will be the last one," he said, referring to the hobby show. "But we're going to try and see what we can do to keep this going on."

Still, Appl said it's not always about how many come to the show.

"The people that we talked to (Saturday) are very pleased with what they picked up," he said. He also added that the quality of the items and relationships built with other collectors go along way.

Greg Sanders, 62, of Aberdeen has been collecting since he was a young boy and was perusing the coins Sunday. Sanders said he usually buys coins from shops or dealers he's familiar with.

"I've known one of the guys here many years and bought from him many times," he said.

Although he has bought coins off the Internet in the past, Sanders said he doesn't anymore because he doesn't trust online dealers.

Accompanying him was his 22-year-old grandson, Landon Quenzer, who recently got into the hobby of collecting coins.

There is no right or wrong way to start collecting coins, said John McGraham, 67, who has been collecting for 57 years.

"You just got to make up your mind about what you want to collect," he said.

As for the reason McGraham has to collect coins, he cites the potential history behind each coin.

"You look at the quarters from 1941. There may be young kids that were 17 or 18 years old who went and bought a pop from the grocery store with this coin and then three years later, were dead on Normandy beach. It's a lot of history behind these coins."

Source: Aberdeen News

Image Caption: Greg Sander, left, and his grandson Landon Quenzer survey a display case with coins at the 45th Annual All Hobby Show at the Eagles Club on Sunday. (American News Photo by Calvin Men / February 17, 2013)