The creation of a new association of collectors

On another collector's forum, we have been discussing the creation of a new association of collectors. Unfortunately, the Romanian Numismatics Society (SNR) is a "dead" association, which has basically no activities and does nothing for its members. I think that a new society would not be very hard to set up and, if enough members join, could start doing something useful. At the same time, the creation of a new association would at least force the leaders of SNR to start doing something too, and wake them up from their current letargy.

In my opinion, if the new society has enough members, it could do a lot of things from an annual fee of 10-15$:
- a printed magazine that would be edited 6 times per year and would be delivered for free to its members
- the printing of books and brochures for collectors, which would be sold to members at the cost of production
- regular fairs, expositions and conferences
- the creation of a library, at least in electronic format (or at least the creation of a system to exchange publications between collectors)
- a good website, updated frecvently, some of the content could come from information exchange with similar organisations abroad
etc.

If the OMSA (The Orders and Medals Society of America) is able to do all of the above (and others) from an annual contribution of 35$, i think the same things can be done in Romania from around 10-15$. Members could choose between an annual contribution in cash or the donation of 1% of the income tax to the society.

The new society could gather collectors of coins, paper money, awards, militaria, uniforms, etc. (except stamps, since they already have an active association)

What do you think about this project? We want to meet and discuss more about it this weekend, if anybody wants to come, send me a PM with your contact details.

Hallo Dragos,

I assume the new Association of collectors will primarly be based in Bucharest??

So it wont be of much use to Collectors like me who live out in the wilds of Transylvania.

Part of the problem is I think, more people are interested in dealing / selling than knowing the history of the objects they have, dont get me wrong I sell any medals that are surplus to my own collecting needs, but, remain primarly a collector NOT a dealer.

Recently we had a change of leadership at the Deva Hobby Club, (which covers the amalgamation of Stamp Collectors, Coin Collectors, Banknote Collectors, Phone Card and Postcard Collectors. Out in the country these groups have to join together to make up the numbers for a club.

And what is the result of this change. . . . . nothing, the older members still do as they like, oppose any new ideas presented by the new because the mentality is set in the old days. "Dont Rock the Boat", "Well so and so, when he was in charge didnt do it that way."

Part of the problem is:

they dont want to change because; The room in the Casa de Culture is given free.

They have to pay no membership fee (which is a standard practise in the west in any club).

The do not want young people to join the club and:

(a). disrupt their stagnant 1 hour of sitting in a room, hoping somebody will come in off the street and buy their items displayed on the table.

( b ). Hoping somebody will come in off the street and sell them something really rare for peanuts.

( c ). The mentality that all items displayed, regardless if dirty and damaged are therefore RARE and worth a lot!!!

There is also no policy of Advertising Club events except 24 hours before an exposition) or announcements in the free newspapers that the club is looking for new members, my idea was to give a display at the local schools to try and encourage 10 - 14 year old teenagers to come and join the club.

I have given displays of my European Military medals at the Police Station on Childrens Day, and at the book launch in 2004 of "ISTORIA REGIMENTULUI cezar si regesc Nr. 64 ORASTIE, by Dorin Petresc & Ioan Lazarescu,

ISBN: 973-622-154-7.

and great intrest was shown by the children.

With regards the OMSA they have a very big International subscribing membership, and so raise a large amount of money and can do a lot, and a new Romanian club will not be comparable, due to that point: membership & fees.

I will watch this topic to see what others think of your idea.

Kevin in Deva

This post has been edited by New Connaught Ranger on September 07, 2006 08:05 am

Hi Kevin,

The new association would have to be based in Bucharest, since most of its members will probably come from the capital. However, we want it to have branches everywhere, on the other forum there are members covering almost all the regions. Members from other parts of the country would have the same rights as the ones from Bucharest and they can start developing the hobby in their hometown. I think that giving medal displays to local schools is a vey good idea.

I disagree about the OMSA. According to their website, they have around 1500 members in total. The Romanian SNR has at least 3200 active members. So i don't see why a local association couldn't gather enough members and funds. Of course, that won't happen very fast, things will probably move slowly at the beggining. But somebody must start such a project.

I think it's a very good ideea indeed. I'm interested.
Since I moved recently to Bucharest I'm willing to meet and talk about it.

Hallo Dragos

thanks for your reply,

With regards the OMSA the fees quoted for their members are as follows:

"OMSA has a current membership of more than 1,500 members with members in every state and some twenty-five foreign countries.

Membership is available by application under terms specified in the Society's Constitution and By-Laws.

An active membership dues are$35.00 per year for residents of the US and possessions (including APO/FPO),

$50.00 for residents of Canada and Mexico,

and $60.00 for residents of all other countries.

(How long is the OMSA been in exsistence in the world.)

Here in Deva when I suggested that each member should pay a small fee of 5 RON per year there was uproar, we are poor pensioners, we have no money, yet all are smokers and drinkers, so it shows how much they care about their hobbys.

Even when the new committee, suggested some basic rules, like any member wanting to vote on any suggestions, they had to be an active member and not those who call in once a year, the comments were, "the room is provided by the Casa de Culture and you cannot stop us coming here and doing as we want!!!" or " we are stamp collectors / phone card collectors" and you have no right to tell us what to do!!

Until the old mentality and members get replaced its going to be a tough struggle, to even expect people to pay $10 - $15 dollars a year.

Kevin in Deva.

The OMSA has higher fees for non-US members because of the increased postage costs of the magazine. The basic fee is 35$ and we should take that as a reference.

But of course, the new society will have only a few paying members at the beginning and it won't be able to do much. But anything is better than nothing and once it gaters more members, it could start expanding its activities. The first and easiest things to do are a good website and an information exchange system. Once some funds are gathered, we could start printing some books and brochures.

Anyway, we shouldn't count on old members who are not willing to pay even 5 RON per year. They can stay out of it. We should try to gather active people, who want to change something.

OMSA was founded in 1950

OMSA was founded by a personal and long time freind of mine who went to school with my family in China. The idea of having a collectors association in Romania is a good idea. However, if it is strictly an association of medals and militaria, I'm afraid that there are not enough people in Romania who collect as of yet to make it worth while and self-supporting. On the other hand, if you opened up the topic to a general all Romanian collectables forum, this would attract many interests and I think you would see the revenue and it would support itself. Militaria and medals would be a sub-catagory which would encompass all types of collectables and antiquities.

Hallo REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR:

If it is done as you suggest, I see the Medal & Militaria Collectors getting pushed to the back of the class so to speak, this mentality already exsists here in Romania, we are placed at the end of the line after:

Stamp Collecting,

Coins & Banknotes,

Postcards,

Phone Cards,

Insignia,

Object de Art,

Militaria.

Which is why its a very good idea to start a dedicated club to militaria, with a population in excess of 22 millions in Romania, there has to be great potential to attract exsisting collectors and new ones.

But we have to learn to walk before we run, and build it up over time.

Kevin in Deva.

This post has been edited by New Connaught Ranger on September 08, 2006 09:24 am

I think that a new association should include many areas of collecting: numismatics (coins, paper money, etc.), militaria, uniforms, insignia, weapons. However, not antiques (they are in a different "league") and stamps (they already have a good association).

We shouldn't worry that medal collecting will be pushed to the back. These areas are connected, many coin collectors also collect medals, medal collectors are also interested in militaria, etc.

Anyway, four of us will meet on Sunday afternoon to talk about it. I asked a lawyer and found out what we need to set up a new non-profit association. It isn't too complicated, we should only have a social capital of around 200 euros, and we can take the money back after the association is founded.

We met and discussed the project, the members will have to pay 50 RON per year.

Anybody that wants to join can send the fee to this adress:
Lungu Florin Andrei
Str. Cetatea de Balta, nr. 22, bl. O6, sc. B, ap. 73
Sector 6, cod 060968, Bucuresti

The first objectives are to legalise the new association and to create a website for its members. Then, i hope we'll have enough money to publish an annual bulletin with the articles from "Colectionarul Roman". We should also try to schedule an annual meeting, probably at the fair organised in Brasov (because of its central location in the middle of the country).

After more members will join, i hope we'll have funds for other activities. More details here:
http://transylvanian-numismatics.com/phpBB...php?p=3218#3218

Dear Sir,

With regards joining the new club, Are you going to supply any type of official membership application form, ?? or any documentation about the new club.

A simple "Send 50 RON to this address" by no means offers any guarrantee or protection for the prospective members, if the whole idea falls through for lack of intrest are interested parties supposed to write off the 50 RON or do they get any money back??

Kevin in Deva.

Hello Kevin!

The first ting we have to do is to gather the money required to legalise the association. We'll need around 1500 RON. So far we have 31 members from all over the country who payed the 50 RON.
For the begining it's based on trust, we can't do it any other way. There is no membership card or other document right now.
It's your choice to send the money now or wait until the association is formed legally.

Adrian

If you see people from outside of Romanian interested they will most likley wait till the Association is legalized. Of course there are those like myself who know people in Romania and wouldn't have an issue with this. I would suggest having the fee's listed in RON ,USD, EURO, and Pounds since these are the most common currencies exchanged.

Since the new association was not legally established yet, we cannot provide any legal forms. However, i hope we can start the legal procedures in one or two weeks.

Of course, if the idea falls through, everybody would get a refund. But i hope that won't be needed.