George Yonek sees coins as both an art form and a glimpse into a nation’s culture.

“What people put on coins is indicative of the country’s pride, what’s important to them,” said Yonek, a Penn Township resident who serves as president of the Greensburg Coin Club. “That’s why I collect foreign coins. They tend to be more interesting than American coins. We usually put dead guys on ours.”

Yonek said there are fewer people every year who see coins they way he does. At 56, he’s one of the younger members of the local coin club, which was established in 1959.

“Getting kids into a coin club, it’s like hitting a jackpot,” he said. “It’s few and far between. There’s a lot more things for kids to play with nowadays.”

The club is down to about 15 regular members, though its quarterly coin shows usually draw larger crowds.

The next show will be held 9 a.m. Sunday at the Circleville Volunteer Fire Department on Robbins Station Road in North Huntingdon.

The show brings coin dealers from Pennsylvania and beyond.

“We just get a bunch of dealers together, and they bring their wares to sell, and hopefully we get a crowd of 50 to 100 people who come in to buy,” club secretary Kris Weinschenker said.

Yonek said the club is looking for ways to boost participation.

“We just want to get membership up. It’s more fun,” he said.

The pandemic has complicated things. The club canceled several meetings and one coin show in the early months. When events resumed, attendance was down significantly, according to Weinschenker.

“We only missed one show, but the first show we had post-pandemic was the first show in 15 years we lost money on,” Weinschenker said.

The pandemic has had broader impacts on the coin-collecting hobby. It’s harder to get good deals on rare coins online, because enthusiasts are all home on their computers, according to Yonek said.

The price of precious metals has climbed significantly. Gold cost about $1,581 an ounce Thursday, up $275 from the previous year, according to goldprice.org. Silver was about $27, up nearly $10.

There’s always been a divide between people who collect coins for the raw value of the metal they’re made of and those who collect them for their cultural and historical value, Weinschenker said.

“A coin is going to have value beyond what it’s worth in silver,” he said. “It’s hard to say how covid has really affected that.”

Despite the difficulties, Yonek said he hopes to see the Greensburg Coin Club stick around for years to come.

“We’re probably one of the smallest clubs in the area,” he said. “We’re tenacious; we’ve hung on.”

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