Benefield: Is there a story behind that penny in your pocket? Redwood Empire Coin Club wants to find out

In the minutes before the official meeting began, a man approached Michael Coorssen and put a sliver of metal in his hand.

The man collects “Russian.”

And by that he means Russian coins.

This piece is a kopek.

Coorssen, a fellow coin collector, examines and appreciates the kopek and hands it back. The man slips it into a small protective case and puts it back into his breast pocket.

The language spoken here, between these two men and throughout the vast room at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, sounds slightly foreign. There is talk of grading and luster, mint and type.

For a newbie, it can be hard to follow. But one thing is clear, the enthusiasm is real.

This is a regular meeting of the Redwood Empire Coin Club.

Since 1949, this group of numismatic enthusiasts has met to talk coins and currency, tokens and exonumia like badges and medallions.

But mostly coins.

“I love coins,” longtime club president Merle Avila said. “I just love coins.”

Avila is not alone. He and others have spent years boosting access to and appreciation of coin collecting in these parts.

The Redwood Empire Coin Club is up to about 185 members, Avila said.

It wasn’t always this way.

Despite its longevity, Avila said there were some lean years way back.

He recalled showing up to his first meeting, more than three decades ago, and finding a nearly barren room.

“There were like six people there and they didn’t have any coins, so I left,” he said.

A year, maybe two, passed and Avila, a lifelong collector, returned.

“They had about eight people there and they didn’t have any coins,” he said.

He was about to leave for the second time in as many tries when he was stopped.

“They said ‘Well if you think you are so good, we are voting for president and you can see what you can do,’” he said. “That was 31 years ago.”

Avila has been president of the Redwood Empire Coin Club ever since.

He’s also a coin collecting ambassador.

“I talk to the people, get them excited about coins. It doesn’t take much. I can get you excited about coins,” he said.

Avila is almost encyclopedic in his knowledge. I hear that more than once at the club’s most recent meeting last week.

But it’s clear one needn’t be a master to be an enthusiast.

Celina Minadeo, 11, was attending Redwood Empire Coin Club meetings before she was born. Her father Joel is an avid collector and dealer and Celina’s mom Adriena attended meetings when she was pregnant with Celina.

She has been a card-carrying member of the club since her birth.

“I got into it because of my dad,” she says.

She sifts through a pile of coins in the back of the room at the Santa Rosa Veterans Building, noting that coins have not two sides but three, and some have colorful tints.

She also knows that coin collectors never use the term “pennies.” It’s always “cents.”

For club secretary Charlie Catlett, coins tell a story. Maybe that’s why he’s drawn to what he terms “ancients.”

If it’s old — really old — Catlett is interested.

“I like to learn the history, where did that come from, why did they make it, what did it do?” he said. “That is my joy.”

He also likes to think about the context of coins.

“When silver changed to non-silver, what was going on in the world when that happened?” he said.

Catlett, the club’s secretary who maintains the newsletter, has been seriously collecting, by his guess, nearly 30 years.

But his love, like many at Wednesday night’s meeting, started early.

“My dad grew up on a ranch and he used to catch gophers, which were bad for the livestock. So for every gopher he’d get a nickel,” he said. “He gave those to me.”

Coorssen’s love, too, started early.

He remembers going with his dad to Bill’s Coins in Petaluma to mark his ninth birthday. The idea was to look for stamps.

But Coorssen laid eyes on the coins in the shop and was hooked.

“Buffalo nickels, wheat pennies. I was just mesmerized,” he said. “If it’s a coin, I’ll look at it.”

There is excitement bubbling within the group for their first big local coin show since 2020, just before the pandemic made such gatherings off limits.

The club members expect up to 600 people to show up at the Finley Building at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds over two days starting Friday morning to look at coins, get collections appraised and to find that piece a member has long sought.

To that end, members took time at the mic at Wednesday night’s meeting to describe to their peers what they were looking for at the show, perhaps so they can help each other find what they need.

There is camaraderie here more than competition.

For Avila, coins are a way to bring people together. After all, almost everyone has a coin or two in their pocket or at the bottom of their bag.

There’s a story behind each one. The coin club gives people a chance to link up and tell those stories, Avila said.

“The club is all about putting people together about coins,” he said. “Information about coins, grading coins, collecting coins, having fun with coins. You don’t have to have any knowledge to be in this club. It’s all about fun. But it’s all about coins.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @benefield.