There are lots of reasons people collect coins — collector coins are often full of history or beauty, some are rare, and many have passed through thousands of hands before being set aside for collections. But many coin collectors are in it for more than just the coins themselves, they do it for the friends.

    At the Meridian Coin Club’s annual coin show on Saturday, people from all over the county gathered to buy and sell coins, each with their own draw to the hobby of coin collecting.

    Bob Perna is new to the hobby, and is new to Meridian’s retirement community as well. Perna said he finds coin collecting both a fun way to pass the time and a great way to meet people.

    Perna retired to Meridian after working for a sheriff’s department in New Jersey. He decided to come here after Meridian’s retirement recruiter clued him in to Meridian’s low cost of living, the income tax rate in Mississippi, and the fact that Meridian has a military base nearby.

    “It’s double your apartment for half the rent,” he said. “To me, that’s a home run.”

    Perna had lived briefly in the South before for military duty, but that was 40 years ago. He said joining the coin club has helped him feel like it’s a part of his new home.

    “It helps me to meet people with varied backgrounds,” he said. “It’s a big assistance to acclimating myself to Southern living… I want to hurry up slowing down.”

    Perna was introduced to coin collecting by his friend Vic Jerone, a veteran coin collector who also grew up in the Northeast. Jerone, a retired police officer from Pass Christian, said he started collecting coins as a boy on Long Island.

    Jerone said his father owned gas stations and put him to work pumping gas, and when Jerone asked if he could be paid, his father started giving him all the old coins and paper money that came through the gas stations.

    By the time he was a teenager, Jerone was fully immersed in coin collecting.

    “I was so occupied with my old coins and old paper money, it kept me off the streets of New York,” he said. “All my friends went to jail for one reason or another, but I didn’t.”

    Jerone said meeting people and learning from other coin collectors is just one of the reasons he loves to collect coins.

    “I’m just doing something I’ve enjoyed my whole life.”

    He encouraged anyone who’s considering coin collection to join the coin club and check out some of their monthly meetings. Meetings are held at  6 p.m. on the fourth Monday of every month at the Mississippi Power building in downtown Meridian.

    The coin club was established in 1960 and has held 47 coin shows since then.

    “We have 35 to 40 members from Meridian and the surrounding area, said coin show coordinator Blake B. Rouleau. “Our members range in age from 7 to 80 years old.”

    For information about joining the coin club, contact Rouleau at rulobe@comcast.net.

TODAY’S SHOW

    The Meridian Area Coin Club’s 47th Annual Coin and Currency Show continues today, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Best Western, 2219 South Frontage Road. Admission is $1 with children under 12 admitted free. Members of any coin club also will be admitted free.