I think it might help the discussion if we look a bit at the past, not to change it, but to understand how we really got where we are.

First, the decline of the club did not happen in the last several year. It began in 2008 with the global financial crisis. The exodus from this hobby and most hobbies was sudden and unmistakeable. There is no doubt that we lost more club members in the following few years than at any other point. It was not caused by any failure of leadership within the club or the hobby.

Second, the decline has continued at a pretty even pace since then. There was probably a bit of a spike around the time Jerry quit as President of the Club, because of all of the drama.

So, where does that get us? Even before the financial crisis there was a noticeable concern about the average age of the members of the club and in the hobby at that time. Some of the loss since that time has been attrition due to the loss of many long-time members, as well as those who no longer have the energy to continue with the hobby. Certainly there have been many other factors. Many collecting groups have had trouble during that time attracting new and younger members (see stamp collecting as a good example). There may have been a role in some decisions made by the Boards, but putting the current fate of the hobby on any one factor is simply not true.

Do the Boards bear no responsibility? I wouldn't say so, although I don't know what they could have done differently. Is Westen right? Maybe. Was slabbing a factor? Maybe. Was the (puzzling to me) rift between the set collectors and single chip collectors a factor? Sure, to some extent. Could there have been a bigger effort to attract collectors from other collecting fields like playing cards, ash trays, matchbooks, silver strikes and other areas that overlap and are featured in our convention? Perhaps. Would the problem have been solved by a bigger presence at coin collecting shows? Doubtful, but maybe a tiny amount. Has the world changed in the last 25 years such that clubs and organizations seem less important than they once did? Maybe.

Some of these factors are still at play and some are not.

What makes me hopeful is that there are passionate people who care and are thinking about ways to improve the situation. The attacks don't help and I really appreciate the way the candidates are keeping out of the ugliness. Anyone who is running for office should be aware that at some time, they are probably going to get criticized, that most of that criticism will be uniformed and unfair. I just hope that people keep doing it anyway and keep the club going.

I would love to see it turn around and see an upward swing, and I will keep hoping it happens.

I hope this helps the discourse, and steers it towards some helpful directions.

Michael Siskin