The following articles relate to collecting clubs, club experiences and joining clubs.

• Joining a Club. The Natural Thing to Do
• The New Member that Got Away
• A New Breed of Collector
• Are We Phi-Beta-Collector or Kiwanian-Collecctor?
• Collecting Clubs Have a Bigger Role to Play
• What's so Special About Our Club?
• Paying Attention to New Members Who Join Through the Website
• Collections Should be Fun but Serious from the Start

Joining a Club. The Natural Thing to Do

(from Association of Collecting Clubs)

Collecting clubs in the antiques & collectibles industry are actively seeking new members, particularly since membership for many of them is on a plateau or even dropping.

We hear some people saying that new collectors aren't interested in joining. This may be true with some, yet joining a club is a perfectly natural and rational thing for new collectors to do.

Joining a club. Yes, we do it all the time - all kinds of clubs throughout life. There are health clubs and service clubs, garden clubs, sports clubs, hiking clubs and debate clubs. Everything from youth clubs to senior clubs. There are investment clubs, alumni clubs, book clubs and school clubs. There are neighborhood clubs, dating clubs, country clubs, music clubs, even internet clubs.

Interestingly, all these clubs seem to have something in common, even including our collecting clubs. They serve the purpose of bringing people together who have similar interests. They provide information and services of value to their members. They can add quality to our leisure time activities.

And, perhaps best of all, joining a club seems to be a personal thing. YOU make the decision on whether or not to join and choose how active you want to be within the club. You also can choose to leave the club if it is no longer serving your needs.

How does all this relate to collecting clubs? First of all, we have more people collecting than ever before in history. They may be different types of collectors and have different collecting patterns than we may be used to, but nonetheless, they are still collectors.

Joining a club is not foreign to these new collectors. They have been confronted with clubs their entire lives - probably starting with Scouting or school clubs and moving through the experiences of life. But as a collector do they need to join a collecting club? Do they want to join a collecting club? This may depend upon you.

What is your club offering? Are you reaching these new kinds of collectors? Are you sending them the right message? Do they find your club appealing? ...useful?

If you are in a leadership role of a collecting club and have a hesitancy about answering any of these questions, you can get some help through the "Join a Club" program of the Association of Collecting Clubs. This program assists clubs with club promotion, membership recruitment and member retention. It is available to all ACC member clubs. For more information contact the Association of Collecting Clubs, 18222 Flower Hill Way #299, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 or e-mail: info@collectors.org or visit the www.collectors.org website.

The New Member That Got Away

(from Association of Collecting Clubs)

I was excited to find an organized collecting club in my area of collecting. I've only been collecting two years but never ran into another collector - a fellow colletor!

My specialty area isn't large but the club that serves the area has about 200 members. There is a quarterly newsletter, a couple of shows a year and an annual convention.

I may not be considered a serious collector - my collection doesn't "consume" me, and I certainly don't have a goal of accumulating the "best" collection ever assembled. It's just something I like to do in my leisure time on weekends - going to flea markets or yard sales or on the Internet. I hardly ever visit eBay during the week. I work long days and when I get home I'm too tired.

Anyway, I stumbled upon this club mentioned in some club directory on the Internet. And, it sounded interesting. The annual dues seemed reasonable and hopefully I'd learn something more about my collecting area. So I joined.

Three months passed and I hadn't gotten a newsletter yet, but really wasn't alarmed as perhaps I caught the cycle wrong and just missed a copy. The club has a website so I thought perhaps I should inquire through e-mail. I was surprised that the club's website still was promoting last year's convention which had now been over for seven months. So I called the president of the club - a very pleasant person. He said he had only been president since the convention but would check into when the next newsletter was coming out and why the website was out-of-date, explaining all along that the club functions with volunteers and so things get done at the pace of the volunteer doing it. He did mention that there was an upcoming show in two weeks and if I'd never been to one of their shows, its a real eye-opener for new collectors.

Since the show was only about 80 miles away, I thought I would attend. I was a little disappointed that the show was on Friday and Saturday. As I said earlier, I work long hours Monday through Friday and can't take Friday's off. So I started out Saturday morning and got to the hotel where the show was being held around 10 a.m. I paid my admission and walked in. There were almost 30 tables set up but not many people. Some of the dealers were already packing up to leave. I walked around and found two or three things to add to my collection. I remarked to one of the dealers I was buying from that I was surprised there wasn't more activity. He responded, "Oh, Fridays are always the day to come to get the good stuff." I guess these people don't have Monday-Friday jobs! I didn't strike up a conversation with anyone and since I had seen most everything, I then left.

That was six months ago. I just got my club renewal notice, but don't think I'll join again. I like the hobby and will continue to add to my collection from the flea markets and eBay. That's fine with me.

TO CLUB LEADERSHIP - Was this your club? If you're having problems keeping your newer members, you need to find out why by asking them. The Association of Collecting Clubs can help with some suggestions and programs gleened from the leadership of other clubs. The ACC "Join a Club" program assists all kinds of collecting groups with club promotion and membership recruitment and retention. Write: ACC, 18222 Flower Hill Way #299, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 or e-mail info@collectors.org or visit the ACC website at: http://collectors.org

A New Breed of Collector

(from Association of Collecting Clubs)

Recently I have had the pleasure of meeting three young collectors - all in their 20s - who have been bitten by the "collecting but." None of the three know each other, yet they have very similar characteristics. They are excited about going to flea markets and stopping by antique malls and shops. They have learned to drive slowly past the weekend yard sales, occasionally stopping if one piques their interest. They get excited talking about their experiences at their first auction and first antiques show.

But, one one thing these collectors all have in common - none of them have a collection - at least not yet. They are just having fun becoming totally emersed in the whole life of a collector without becoming one. Yes, they buy items, and they are really excited over their purchases and enjoy showing them off to their friends and family. But the items are not in a particular collecting area; only things that "caught their fancy" at a given moment.

You have to really look upon this type of collector with envy. The innocence, the thrill and enjoyment, no pressure whatsoever.

I haven't heard any of them ask the question "What is it worth?" about their items, even though I'm sure they don't know the answer. I guess more importantly, they don't really care. They don't ask "How rare or how unique is my item?" Again, they don't care. The thought hasn't even occurred to them to ask the question.

If it is an interesting old item this new "collector" is more apt to ask "Why was it made?" and "Who used it?" and, "Why are there so many different varieties?"

I know, this collector may never ever belong to a collecting club or have row upon row of similar items in a collection on shelves that they can proudly show their collecting peers and "talk the trade" so to speak. But, I kind of like this new breed of collector. They may well be enjoying some of the real pleasures of collecting that the more aggressive, advanced collector has either overlooked or perhaps forgotten.

And, yes, there should be ways that a collecting club can serve this type of collector, but we have to be more creative in determining just how to go about it.

Are We Phi-Beta-Collector or Kiwanian-Collector?

(from Association of Collecting Clubs)

In our discussions within the antiques, art and collectibles industry, it often seems as if collecting clubs are getting a bit of a "bum rap". However, in giving this some further analysis, perhaps we've brought a lot of these observations and opinions on ourselves by the way we operate our collecting club or society.

First off, we need to determine if we are a "sorority" or a "service organization". Do we exist to serve the collecting area our club is all about? ...and inform and educate both our members and others who may have an interest in our collecting area? Or, are we an exclusive group of snobs, elitists, or 'good-old boys' who would prefer to be left alone and really feel uneasy with newcomers, i.e. new collectors?

We know, you feel there certainly aren't any collecting clubs out there that fit this latter description. But in truth there are - or at least elements of it - in many clubs.

When we hear over and over again from club leaders that their membership is down, that they can't pull people into their shows, that their annual convention - their annual showcase event - is totally "closed" to outsiders, perhaps its time to take a good look in the mirror.

Statistics show that most club members who leave the club, i.e. do not renew their membership, are those who have joined within the past year or two. Why can't we get them to stay? Do we know why they are leaving? Have we asked?

Well, the Association of Collecting Clubs has asked. The main reason is that they didn't seem to feel that they "fit in". The element of exclusion to these "strangers" who have joined our club, although perhaps subtle, nonetheless remains a problem in many clubs. A new collector joining a club should not be expected to know everything, nor for that matter to have an impressive collection. They are usually just starting out! Help them...mentor them...become their friend. They are much more likely to stay in the club.

This obviously was not an issue years ago when your club was first started as everyone more or less was on the same footing. But as clubs mature, there appears to be a growing chasm between established, long-time members and new or beginning members. The leadership of clubs need to recognize this and deal with it. When this happens, much of the problem of member retention may disappear.

Regarding recruiting new members, this is an entirely different issue. We know within the antiques & collectibles industry there are far more collectors today than ever before in history. Yet, the membership numbers of many of our collecting clubs is going down. This is because we have millions of new, young collectors out there that are collecting much differently than what we are traditionally used to. This does not mean we should automatically write them off as potential candidates for club membership...nor try to dhange them to collect just like we collect because THAT'S THE WAY YOU DO IT!

No, we need to make a greater effort in getting to better understand these new collectors, how they collect, what they collect, and more importantly, how we can help them.

What we are inferring here is that the collecting world has made some drastic changes. Our collecting clubs have not.

How are we seen by these new collectors? Do they see us as the little closed "sorority" that prefers operating in a vacuum and feels comfortable only with those others who are just like themselves? Or do they see us more like the "Kiwanian-service organization" that is there to help and to educate?

We don't feel that there can be much debate that the knowledge base for many collecting areas rests within the memberships of those collecting clubs servicing those collecting areas. If this is true - and we believe it is true - then we have a major role to play, an obligation to play a major leadership role within the collecting community. This certainly does not mean that clubs shouldn't have fun, nor foster lasting friendships, but we as club leaders must decide the balance between "sorority" and "service".

The Association of Collecting Clubs is in the process of surveying collecting groups to determine what activities clubs are currently involved in regarding club promotion, membership recruitment and membership retention. We are also gathering information on various examples of club networking with one another and the promotion of "cross-over" collecting.

Our goal is to be able to help all clubs by suggesting some ideas and plans which can be considered in giving your group broader visibility, reaching new audiences and providing new messages and images about your club. ACC cannot do this for you, but we can certainly provide the tools for you to use if you're so inclined to use them.

We want your ideas, as well. If you feel your club has been successful in trying something new in these areas, let us hear from you. Or, if you've tried something and it didn't work, we would be interested in hearing about that, too. And, we're always interested in seeing your promotion brochures or other tools and having them here in our office as examples. Write to: info@collectors.org or via postal: ACC, 18222 Flower Hill Way 3299, Gaithersburg, MD 20879.

Collecting Clubs Have a Bigger Role to Play

(from Association of Collecting Clubs)

Looking back to the 1960s, 1970s, even the early 1980s when many of our collecting clubs got their start, things seemed a lot simpler. The primary goal of collecting clubs in those days was to establish a way for collectors in a given collecting area to communicate with one another, get toknow each other, and to perhaps buy, sell and trade among the members. A newsletter got started, and usually some form of "gathering" which for many clubs developed into an annual convention. Later some clubs started local chapters and perhaps doing projects or offering other resources for their members. Often a member or two started a mail auction or sales list which provided additional opportunities.

The evolution in the antiques & collectibles industry has made major changes during the past decade or more, and particularly since 1990. In fact, most everything has changed...except collecting clubs which often times seem to be resistant to change.

Yes, the Internet has a major role in this change. The way we buy and sell and trade has been influenced big time by the Internet. But collecting, itself, has changed. We have new types of collectors who are far from being traditionalists. And, for sure, they do not understand collecting clubs...and collecting clubs do not understand them.

This is why so many collecting clubs today are fretting over a decline in membership and an aging membership, while at the same time we have more collectors than ever, and more younger collectors.

Collecting clubs still have a significant role to play in the collecting industry, perhaps more so than ever. As clubs mature, there seems to be an evolution that takes place within the club, itself. Whereas it may have started out simply as a way for fellow collectors to get to know one another and to foster this communication, over the years the knowledge base of many of our collecting areas comes to rest within the membership of these collecting clubs. Hence, clubs now have an additional area the club serves - and not only to their own members, but to anyone who has a need for information relating to their particular collecting area, i.e. the entire collecting community.

Bottom line, many of our collecting clubs need to start thinking differently and doing things differently. As an important resource to your collecting area are you fulfilling your role? Are you truly interested in reaching out to new audiences - collectors who need your help and expertise - and not only bringing them in but serving them in the ways they need to be served?

It has been documented that every generation seeks out and uses resources with which they feel most comfortable...and that these resources are quite different from one generation to another. If the bulk of your membership is in the age bracket of 50 or higher, chances are that you are not providing club information in either the correct context or using the right vehicles for reaching younger generations.

ACC plas to spend most of our efforts during 2005 on helping our member clubs do a better job of marketing and managing your clubs to reach new audiences and better serve the collecting industry with the knowledge b ase your club members possess.

We are actively seeking partners to help with these projects to serve those collecting clubs and associations who are ACC members.

What's So Special About Our Club?

(from Association of Collecting Clubs)

We have always loved the statement, "I'd never join a club that would allow a person like me to become a member." We have seen it in several places, sometimes credited to Grocho Marx and sometimes to Woody Allen. It really doesn't matter. It's a great line.

The point of this article really is that as a collector, you should "check out" a collecting club before you join. You check out a piece of furniture before you purchase it, or an automobile. You read the movie reviews before plopping down your bucks at the ticket window, and probably read the labels on items at the super market before commiting to a purchase, so why not a collecting club?

Granted, you can join a club and if you don't like it, just not renew your membership the next year, kind of like a magazine subscription. But why not check out the club first?

Here are a dozen ways you can do this--

1 - Contact a collector or two who are already members. Get their opinion of the club. Granted, this may be a biased opinion, but it does serve as an indicator.

2 - Ask for some printed materials. Do they outline the club goals and objectives, club structure, membership benefits, etc.

3 - Does the club have a website? Check it out. Is the information current? Nothing is worse than going up on a club website and seeing announcements for upcoming events that have been over for several months.

4 - Does the club have any shows or local chapters in the area where you live?

5 - Is it a growing club, or on the decline? Is there a range in ages within the membership or are the members all about the same age?

6 - If the club distributes a newsletter or publication, see if you can get a copy to review. What kind of information is included? Do you find it helpful and interesting?

7 - Does the club dues structure seem reasonable for the member services they are offering?

8 - Does the club have an annual convention? These are often great opportunities to get to learn a lot about your collecting area and meet fellow collectors.

9 - Ask about any ongoing or anticipated projects that the club is undertaking or planning to do. This is often a good indicator of member involvement and how active the club really is.

10 - See if you can tell whether or not the club's membership services area, renewals, publications, member roster, etc. are computerized and if the club is operating in the 21st century, or not. This does not mean that clubs which are not computerized are "bad" clubs, but it certainly does indicate how progressive the club is.

11 - Ask if the club has any special type of program or information specifically for new members.

12 - If you are in contact with the membership chairman or secretary or president as you are analyzing the club, simply drop the statement that you are thinking of running for one of the club offices. You don't really have to be serious about this, but just see what the response is. This can be very telling about the management and make-up of a club and it's hierachy.

Most collecting clubs are of great benefit to their members, both in providing information and connections with other collectors. A serious collector is an educated collector and one of the best ways to get educated about your collecting area is to Join A club.

Paying Attention to New Members Who Join Through the Website

(from Association of Collecting Clubs)

Up until a decade ago, or perhaps even more recent than that, the most common way that potential new members found out about a collecting club was via word-of-mouth. They ran across someone at a flea market that was seeking the same types of things and a conversation got started. Or, a dealer at a show or shop, when observing what you were purchasing, may have mentioned the club.

Today, for the many clubs which have their own websites, this is often how most of the club's new members find them. In asking some clubs about this, the percentage of new members coming in through the Internet is often as much as 70 or 80 percent.

These new members joining via the Internet are really no different than those traditionally joining in any other way...except for one thing. Usually they don't know anyone else in the hobby nor in the club, except perhaps through Internet transactions.. They didn't come in through the "buddy" system. It is important for clubs to recognize this factor and to initiate some form of mentoring system for these new web members.

Special efforts need to be made to encourage them to come to shows or to the convention or to join a local chapter. While in recent years large numbers of new club members have joined through the club website, statistics show that the membership retention rate of this group is low. Some 50-60 percent of them may well drop out after the first year or two. If clubs can get these new members to an event or offer some other type of mentoring opportunities, they are much more apt to become long term club members.

The website, itself, can assist with this process, offering chat rooms or forums or other opportunities for new members to inter-relate with their peers. Every club show or convention should have special plans for new members attending their first event.

Involvement is one of the successful ways to retain club members and those joining via the Internet offer club leaders both challenges and opportunities that perhaps were not part of the club planning process previously.

Collections Should be Fun but Serious from the Start

(by Harry L. Rinker, president, Rinker Enterprises. Visit Harry's website: www.harryrinker.com)

The standard platitudes apply. Collect something you like, not something someone tells you to collect. Collect for the sheer fun and enjoyment of collecting, not as an investment. The thrill is in the hunt, i.e., buying objects, not selling them. Collect what you can afford. Collect for a lifetime.

Actually, collecting is driven by memories - past, present, and future. The first objects most individuals collect are those associated with their childhood - their toys, the decorative motif of their parent's home, something they wish they had owned but did not, and/or the objects they purchased for their first house as young adults. The strongest past memories are those experienced between second grade and one's late twenties. The further removed from this period, the more nostalgic it becomes in the minds of collectors.

Present memories are those associated with the acquisition of objects. True collectors can tell you a "where I found it, why I bought it, what I paid for it" story about every object they own. This is their way of making the object come alive, i.e., turning the inanimate into the animate.

Future memories are created by the collectors' involvement with the objects they buy, covering a wide range of topics from how they manage their collection to what and how they choose to display. Selling an object ends the memories, a painful experience for the true collector. True collectors die with their objects.

Collecting is an inherent part of the American character. America is a nation of collectors. Once an American begins to collect, he or she collects for a lifetime. In the case of the fiftysomething plus generations, most identified one to five favorite collecting categories in their twenties and thirties and collected these throughout their life. Today's younger collectors are different. While they still collect for a lifetime, they tend to start another new collection every five to seven years. They are trend collectors, much more responsive to changes of collecting emphasis in the marketplace.

Many individuals begin assembling a new collection using a technique called wallet whipping, i.e. they whip out their wallet and start buying. They make no effort to research the collecting category, understand how to distinguish common from scarce examples, compare prices in a wide variety of markets, develop a collecting plan, or take into consideration the amount of money they have to spend or space available to display and store their purchases. Wallet whipping wastes money, money that could be used to build a collection.

Virtually everything collected today was or is mass-produced. As a result, how many examples were made and what is the object's survival rate are two critical pieces of information needed by the collector. The first piece of information is extremely difficult to obtain. Manufacturers carefully guard their production figures. A safe assumption is to assume the object was produced in the hundreds of thousands. It is better to assume more were made than less. Smart collectors know it always pays to error in favor of a conservative approach.

Determining an object's survival rate is much easier. Until the arrival of the Internet, this was based upon the frequency with which the object was offered for sale at auction, antique malls, antiques shows, flea markets, etc. While admittedly subjective, a five-step level ranging from extremely common to scarce was established by the members of the collecting community. Today, thanks to the Internet and especially eBay, it is much easier to determine an object's survival rate. EBay has clearly demonstrated that the survival rate of objects is far higher than previously assumed. The easiest and safest approach for anyone starting a new collection is to assume the object at which they are looking is either extremely common or common. The reason they have never seen one before is that they were not looking for one. Collectors are continually astonished by the availability of objects once they start looking for them.

Once you have selected one or more object groups you would like to collect, take several months to do research. This is far easier said than done. Trust me, I know. It is fun to buy. Collectors, even the most serious ones, lack patience. While true that an "I want it now" approach results in instant gratification, it also leads to costly mistakes.

Use a fourfold approach to research a collecting category. First, obtain all available reference books dealing with the category. Read them. Do not just look at the pictures. Unfortunately, there is no index for antiques and collectibles trade periodicals. As a result, locating back articles dealing with the category is next to impossible.

Second, if the category has a collectors' club, join it. If the collectors' club has a newsletter, ask if you can purchase three or four years of back issues. Many collectors' clubs publish membership lists. Collectors love to share their collections with other interested collectors. Do not hesitate to call collectors near you and ask if you can visit. Besides, it is better to know your rivals than guess who they might be.

Third, use the Internet. Begin with a search looking for general information about the manufacturer and collecting category as a whole. Once the general search is completed, start following eBay auction results. This is the first step to obtaining two key pieces of information - the frequency of appearance of objects and the price ranges in which they sell. Focus only on objects that are complete and in very good or better condition. Forget any plans to buy lesser quality objects and upgrade. While collectors continually talk about this, virtually none of them do it. When they get a better example, they just put the lesser example in storage. Resolve to spend your money wisely.

Fourth, get out into the field. Internet knowledge is no substitute for field knowledge. The two are companions, not competitors. Almost no Internet sellers contact their customers after the initial sale. The field allows you to establish supply sources from which you can make multiple purchases. Field dealers often are willing to become another set of eyes in your hunt for pieces to grow and enhance your collection.

Once you have done your homework, it is time to make a list of the objects that you would like in your collection. The list should be prioritized and contain a column listing the amount (or a very narrow price range) that you are willing to pay. Treat the list as a starting point, not an end point. Use it as a guide. Deviate when opportunity and good fortune dictate.

Obviously, I take collecting seriously. I like to collect. No, change this. I need to collect. It is part of who I am. It is as much a part of me as breathing. Hopefully, the same applies to you.

Taking collecting seriously does not mean that I do not have fun collecting. Just the opposite is true. I laugh a lot. There is humor everywhere I look, and the first place I tend to look is the mirror.

I want to end by discussing the important thing to remember when starting a new collection - common sense. The money used for collecting should be discretionary income. You need to set and stay within a budget. There are plenty of collecting opportunities no matter what your budget. Further, you can stretch your budget based on the amount of time and energy you devote to the hunt. Buying an object coming out, i.e., when it first appears in the market, is far cheaper than paying for it once the object has entered the market.

Collect relative to the space you have available. Again, easy advice to give, but often ignored. Most collectors have less than one-quarter of their collection(s) on display.

You have brought the collection into your life and not the other way around. Remain in control. Do not allow your collection to control your life. Live with it and make it part of your life. The objects in the collection were meant to be used. One of the joys of collecting is actually using the objects. If you break it or damage it, you can always buy another.

Finally, do not lose sight of the fact that collecting is an addiction. I am hooked. My goal is to start a new collection every month. Heaven, help me if Linda and I ever move out of the former elementary school building we call home.