Comic books.
U.S. coins.
Die-cast cars.
These will be a few of the items that will be at the New Mexico Coin-Stamp and Collectible Expo beginning Friday, Jan. 20, at Ramada Plaza. The three-day event runs through Sunday, Jan. 22.
“We’ve been doing the expo for about seven years,” says John Krist, founder of the expo. “We don’t realize that everyone is a collector. Every human collects something and that’s what the expo celebrates.”
According to Krist, there will be opportunities to buy, sell and trade collectibles, as well as opportunities for appraisals.
Krist says categories include: banknotes, stamps, casino chips, world coins, postcards, posters, maps, jewelry, oil paintings, sport cards, Civil War memorabilia, books, folk art, albums, balloon pins, “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” memorabilia, Hot Wheels, Southwest pottery, rocks and minerals.
“If you collect it, the expo will have it,” Krist says with a laugh.
Krist says he wanted to continue the expo after his brother died.
“He wanted us to do something with all of his collectible stuff,” Krist says. “We are honoring his memory.”
The expo will also be hosting a canned food drive.
“We will be giving away 2,500 collectible items at the expo,” Krist says. “Participants will be asked to being a canned food item to the expo and they will receive a collectible item for each item that they bring up to 25 items.”
The food items will then be donated to local churches and food pantries, Krist says.
The items that will be given away include coins, stamps, sport cards, comic books, albums, Hot Wheels, toys and historical documents.
Krist used to own a collectibles shop in the Southeast Heights and found that it helped the youth.
“Young boys and girls would come in and collect baseball cards and such,” he says. “The process of collecting would keep them out of trouble. I see them as adults now and many of them have made a good life for themselves. They have thanked me for starting them on collecting. It’s good for people and I grew up in a family that collected stuff.”
Krist says he wants to continue to honor his brother.
“We also wanted to do something for the community,” he says. “We wanted to make it a family-friendly event.”
