Cents-ible Event: Harrisburg Coin Club to Host 60th Annual Coin Show Next Month

A coin depicting the State Capitol created by the Harrisburg Coin Club

Dan Nettling, president of the Harrisburg Coin Club, is a walking encyclopedia of club history.

Nettling attended the club’s first coin show in 1963 and hasn’t missed one since. This year will be no different, as the club holds its 60th annual coin exhibition at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Harrisburg on September 16-17.

The Harrisburg Coin Club has a long history. The group was founded in 1950 as a means for coin collectors, or numismatists, to exchange, auction and buy old coins and medals.

“Any organization that lasts 60 years these days is amazing,” Nettling said.

The club, which meets the second Thursday of each month at the Lemoyne Community Building, now has more than 50 members.

These members are helping to plan this year’s parts show. There will be 45 coin dealers from 11 different states present at the show to buy, sell and trade coins. Participants can also test and buy metal detectors on site. Food will also be provided.

However, Nettling is very excited about the return of the medal program. The program, which was discontinued in 2008 due to rising prize money, is back in honor of the 60th show. There will be different medals for sale with designs such as the Capitol building, local railroad bridges and local fire department logos.

For Nettling, these events played an important role in his interest in numismatics since he was in college.

He remembers his headmaster and a group of students going through the change people had passed at lunch that day and picking out the oldest pieces, on the condition that they promise to replace them the next day. His mother was also friends with one of the club officer’s wives, who gave him coins for Nettling when he came home at Christmas and after his 24 years in the army.

“I always had the Harrisburg Coin Club medals in my stocking stuffer,” Nettling said.

Nettling became club president and vice-president in 2016.

For Nettling and other members, history is a big part of numismatics and the Harrisburg Coin Club.

“The historical aspect is the most appealing,” Nettling said. “I’m basically a historian of interest.”

The Scottish Rite Cathedral is located at 2701 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit the Harrisburg Coin Club’s website.

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