Does the ring number of a local ring have anything to do with how old it is or how long it's been in existence? The reason why I ask is that there's a ring in my state that is Ring 11. I'm a little surprised that there is a ring of such a low number in my state (Iowa) but it is in a town that is right on the Mississippi river. So I can see that possibly as a reason why such a low number exists. Unfortunately this ring is not close to where I live.

Can an IBM member visit ANY ring if they so desire? Should they reach out to the leadership of that ring and at least announce their coming and/or request permission to visit?

I am very seriously considering taking the leap and submitting my application to become an IBM member. I am fairly new to practicing the art of magic (almost a year), but I can most definitely attest to being a life-long appreciative fan of the art of magic. My number one reason for wanting to join and the one thing I hope to gain from joining would be the fellowship and potential friendships of fellow magicians in my area. Of course there would also be the benefit of being a part of the larger group, too... of being a part of the world's largest organization of magicians. That is no SMALL thing.

Yes the lower the number the older it's charter is. Yes you can visit any active ring.

Well that being said Ring 2100 is oldish like 20 years or so but it is the online group https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ring2100/

I think ring 92 of Vancouver was ring 6 at some point.
So, numbers are not exactly how old a ring is.

You can visit any ring, but it's better to warm them ahead, for the sake of it. A quick email is usually enough.
Some rings will allow visitors only a fixed number of times, and some others may have special events with limited access to visitors.

Cheers,

!P

Ring numbers are assigned in sequential order when a charter is issued. My Ring 199, is 46 years old havng been chartered in 1970 in Raleigh, NC. Ring 1 is in St Louis.

Ado is correct, that many Rings have had their numbers readjusted. Ring #92 was originally #6 and Ring #183 was also an earlier number. These clubs however did not continue acting as IBM Rings for a period of time and their numbers were given to other magic clubs, rather than the headquarters just issuing a new number that was next in the sequential order as suggested by Skip.

-shawn

Thanks for all the replies. Just thought I'd update and state that no one objected to my name being printed in the October Linking Ring as a prospective new member, so headquarters (Ring #1 area, right?) sent me my official membership card and my lapel pin. I attended my third local ring meeting just this last Monday (2nd Monday of each month). So far they appear to be a great group of folks with members ranging in age from eight to eighty. Our president just recently reached the age where he can legally imbibe beverages only made available by the state to adults.

I actually met several of the local ring members at a Michael Ammar lecture back in August of last year. It was their attendance at the lecture and SAM's lack of one that convinced me to go IBM rather than SAM. Nothing against the SAM group, but the local ring appears to be much more active than the local SAM group AND I discovered one of my favorite magicians - a local guy whose act I catch at least once every year - is a member of IBM and my local ring.

That's too bad that those rings lost their standing (so to speak) in the order of things, but it doesn't appear that they fell too far with their number. Maybe their time as independent groups was short-lived OR they were given a lower number because of their original low number, but that would mean they were probably acquiring a ring number that may have been lost by another for similar reasons that they lost their own.