THE PREZ SAYS—MAY 2011

"Up, Up, and Away..."

One of the primary responsibilities of the Board is to ensure the financial viability of our club.  As of this writing, the price of silver has increased over 70% in less than three months (from just under $27/oz to nearly $48/oz) and has tripled since January 2010.  Since I started writing this article only a week ago, the price went up $7. 

These price increases have me worried.  Rising precious metal prices are a double-edged sword.  On one hand, it means gold and silver that you own or find is worth more, but it also means that it’s increasingly harder to buy the quantity and quality of coins and rounds that members enjoy as prizes for raffles and competitions.

Several members have approached me to ask what I plan to do about it.  Frankly, I don’t have an answer if the price keeps climbing.  We’ve already done a couple of things within the last few months which have helped, and we might be able to do a little more.  We typically buy coins and rounds as we go, paying current prices, and do not stock up on these items in general.  I believe that if the price of silver stabilizes around its current value, then we’ll adjust and do okay.  If not, who knows?

I know we’re not the only ones concerned about this issue.  I attended the April general meeting of the West Coasters and someone there announced that they might have to cut back on coins due to rising silver prices.  I was already planning on writing about this topic this month, but that announcement made it even more urgent to acknowledge this situation to our Club members and let you know we’re trying to do what we can.

I believe winning silver and gold coins helps make this club fun for most.  I believe it’s also helped attract and retain members, including myself.  I know it’s not the only reason we do things, but I’m concerned about cutting back so much that we take the fun away from a lot of our activities and make people feel it isn’t as worthwhile any longer. 

The issue of making some (hopefully, temporary) changes to various award programs will be on the agenda for our April Board meeting so that we can stay within our budget.  Although this newsletter will arrive after that meeting occurs, I am open to ongoing suggestions from Club members.  I also plan to do whatever we can within reason to avoid raising membership dues for the foreseeable future.

We are developing a Coin Purchase Policy to provide fair and consistent rules for buying from members.  While we usually don’t have much extra cash, we are open to offers from members to buy their old, gold and silver coins and rounds, which we’ll consider on a case-by-case basis depending on what we need and whether funds are available.  My hope is that the price of silver will spike and retreat, and then we can get back to normal business.

 – Jerry Myers

THE PREZ SAYS—APRIL 2011

"Trust and Integrity"

In an earlier edition of this column, I noted how Club members tend to genuinely care for each other.  My impression of this hasn’t changed, and I continue to see examples of this almost daily.   What I’ve realized is that this caring seems to go hand-in-hand with something else that I see throughout our Club at all levels: trust. 

Members trust others with their favorite hunting spots, loan them equipment, and watch their backs when they hunt together.  While treasure hunting might seem like a zero-sum proposition (“if you find something good, that’s one less item for me”), experienced detectorists know everybody misses things and if we share, we collectively find more treasure than working alone.  Yes, perhaps your friend might find something that you surely would have, but companionship and the chance to be the first to see something cool that your friend just found is a pretty good tradeoff.  I like to tell others, “I hope each of us gets a little something today.” 

Although the number of items in the ground is finite, it often works out that a team of hunters ends up spreading the goodies among the group.  To me, while it’s nice to have a really good day, I enjoy it more when everybody gets a little something special so everyone feels like it was a good day.

In general, it appears to me that the Officers, Board members and committee chairs are trusted by the members, and are always aware that they work for the Club to serve its members.  While none of us are perfect—and sometimes receive member input to help steer us straight—we do our best and I hope that we continue to earn the respect of the members.

In order to earn trust, I believe you have to have and display integrity.  In a conversation at a recent meeting, I discussed integrity with one member, relating in particular to our Monthly Finds (which is what got the theme started for this column).  In the context of our discussion, we agreed that although it would be relatively easy for a member to hoodwink the Club with their monthly finds, we trust members to follow the rules and be honest about their finds.  Although honest mistakes are sometimes made, I continue to be impressed by member integrity and the steps that folks take to make sure they are honest and fair with each other regarding their finds even when it costs them the prize.

Over the last year we’ve reported stories about members returning items to their proper owners and have given special recognition in outstanding cases.  One of my objectives is to capture these stories, whether successful or not and publicize them (with photos, where available) on our website.  I know that many members do not want to be glory hounds, but I’d like to recognize the good work that we do and to share these stories with the public.  If you have such a story that hasn’t been publicized, please let me know so I can add it to the list.

 – Jerry Myers

2010/2011 MONTHLY FINDS

 CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS FROM LASTYEAR'S MONTHLY FINDS WINNERS.  WE'LL START A SECTION FOR 2011 SOON...

NEXT CLUB HUNT

MEMBERS, PLEASE LOG IN AND SEE THE CLUB HUNT TAB FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE NEXT HUNT AS WELL AS PHOTOS FROM RECENT HUNTS (OR CLICK HERE IF ALREADY LOGGED IN).

  CURRENT EVENTS

North County Monthly Coin Show, 2011 Schedule: PENDING, Hours: 9 am - 4 pm each day, Embassy Suites Hotel, 3100 Frontera Street, Anaheim CA Info/Questions: Jerry Atkinson (562) 225-2166; free admission, free parking, free gift for all Juniors (16 and under), free prize drawings, 30+ coin/currency/exonumia dealers

Snyder's 37th Annual Valley Springs Pow Wow, September 2, 3, 4 & 5, 2011 (Labor Day Weekend), Valley Springs, CA in Calaveras County see www.valleyspringspowwow.comfor details or contact Diana, Betty, Jeannene and Shirley at snyderspowwow@sbcglobal.net

Please send announcements for publication to jerrymyers@aol.com.  This information is provided a service to our members and is based on information provided by others.  Because things may change without our knowledge, please verify dates, times and costs before going to these events or making reservations.

 ONE PERSON'S TRASH...
...IS ANOTHER PERSON'S TREASURE

The purpose of this section is to list club members that are interested in items other members find and may not want, besides the obviously valuable coins and jewelry we find.  Whether you show your finds or not, the following members would appreciate you donating the following items to them with no strings attached if you would like.  If more than one member collects a particular type of item, please consider alternating or splitting finds so that everyone benefits.

Item Description	Member Name(s)
Auto Parts/Emblems	Chris Moore
Balls (sports)	Sabrina Myers
Bullets/Shells/Cartridges (not live) (NOTE 2)	Richard Alaniz
Buttons (all)	< OPEN >
Chauffer's Badges	Doug Schmitz
Costume Jewelry	Rick Schramm (NOTE 1)
Foreign Coins: Danish (Denmark)	Alan Combs
Foreign Coins: Irish (Ireland)	Alan Combs
Foreign Coins: Mexican (Mexico)	Jerry Myers
Foreign Coins: any	Jerry Myers
Indian Artifacts	Alan Combs
Keys	Twila Ives
Key Chains	John Scott
Lead	Carl Johnson (ON HOLD per his wife)
License Plates & Corner Tags	Chris Moore
Marbles	Ken Vargas Alan Combs
Old Bottles	< OPEN >
Old Padlocks	John Scott
Pressed Pennies (or any pressed coins)	Korry Myers
Route 66 Relics & Memorabilia	Bob Crompton
Scale-Model Farm Equipment	Jim Fuller
Square Nails (old nails)	< OPEN >
Tokens	Doug Schmitz
Toy Cars (all)	Chris Moore
Toys, not otherwise listed	< OPEN >
Tweety Bird items	Twila Ives

(1) "Any jewelry or like items that do not have sharp points.  These are for my daughter's 1st grade class treasure chest."
(2) Do not bring these items to the meeting; contact the person(s) listed to make arrangements outside of Club events.

NOTE: This list was last updated on 04/29/2011.

Please send updates to jerrymyers@aol.com.

RTHC Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN): 33-0437912
RTHC Corporation ID Number: C0778669
Club Mailing Address: RTHC / P.O. Box 647 / Riverside, CA 92502-0647