Monthly Coin Magazines

[Kronos 0]

Just purchased my first Coin News magazine, had a quick flick through and it looks ok. What other monthly coin magazines are available in the UK and which would you say is the best one with the most information for GB coins.

Thanks

Mark

Edited December 13, 2007 by Mark Sarul

[Sergy 0]

Just purchased my first Coin News magazine, had a quick flick through and it looks ok. What other monthly coin magazines are available in the UK and which would you say is the best one with the most information for GB coins.

Thanks

Mark

Hello.

It's also "stamps and coins" magazine, but it's mostly stamps, rather then coins.

So it's almost the only one magazine "CoinNews" by Token Publishing, due that it's the best.

However for me it is not so informative as it could be.

Edited December 13, 2007 by Sergy

[Red Riley 2]

So it's almost the only one magazine "CoinNews" by Token Publishing, due that it's the best.

However for me it is not so informative as it could be.

I agree with you Sergy. For me it just tries to cover too much ground. There must be room in the market for a magazine produced in Britain with the emphasis on old British coins. I know this sounds a little parochial, but it is where most of our interests lie. I seem to remember Coin Monthly (whatever happened to that) being far more my cup of tea. I just don't want to read about new issues of otherwise humdrum coins in 9 ct. gold issued by Brunei or wherever.

[Sergy 0]

So it's almost the only one magazine "CoinNews" by Token Publishing, due that it's the best.

However for me it is not so informative as it could be.

I agree with you Sergy. For me it just tries to cover too much ground. There must be room in the market for a magazine produced in Britain with the emphasis on old British coins. I know this sounds a little parochial, but it is where most of our interests lie. I seem to remember Coin Monthly (whatever happened to that) being far more my cup of tea. I just don't want to read about new issues of otherwise humdrum coins in 9 ct. gold issued by Brunei or wherever.

True.

[Kronos 0]

So it's almost the only one magazine "CoinNews" by Token Publishing, due that it's the best.

However for me it is not so informative as it could be.

I agree with you Sergy. For me it just tries to cover too much ground. There must be room in the market for a magazine produced in Britain with the emphasis on old British coins. I know this sounds a little parochial, but it is where most of our interests lie. I seem to remember Coin Monthly (whatever happened to that) being far more my cup of tea. I just don't want to read about new issues of otherwise humdrum coins in 9 ct. gold issued by Brunei or wherever.

True.

Thanks everyone, so I take it Coin News is the best we've got at the moment.

[Hussulo 6]

Thanks everyone, so I take it Coin News is the best we've got at the moment.

Yes I think so. I don't think there is much competition.

I subscribe to it and I do enjoy reading it but there does seem to be to many adverts in comparison to actual coin related articles in it. I do like to read about the auction house results (although I don't sell or buy much through the auction houses). I also like the coin clinic section where people ask and try to find out what their unknown coins are, but you get a lot of that on these online forums which are fun to read. The lexicon section is also quite interesting.

Edited December 13, 2007 by Hussulo

[Colin G. 147]

Thanks everyone, so I take it Coin News is the best we've got at the moment.

Yes I think so. I don't think there is much competition.

I subscribe to it and I do enjoy reading it but there does seem to be to many adverts in comparison to actual coin related articles in it. I do like to read about the auction house results (although I don't sell or buy much through the auction houses). I also like the coin clinic section where people ask and try to find out what their unknown coins are, but you get a lot of that on these online forums which are fun to read. The lexicon section is also quite interesting.

Chris,

It looks like there might be a void for Rotographic to fill, have you/they thought about expanding into the magazine sector?

I agree that Coin News is not my cup of tea, and I would also subscribe to something a bit more interesting!!

[Kronos 0]

I subscribe to it and I do enjoy reading it but there does seem to be to many adverts in comparison to actual coin related articles in it. I do like to read about the auction house results (although I don't sell or buy much through the auction houses). I also like the coin clinic section where people ask and try to find out what their unknown coins are, but you get a lot of that on these online forums which are fun to read. The lexicon section is also quite interesting.

I think I will buy the next couple of issues from Smiths and if I like it I will subscribe.

[Chris Perkins 228]

I've thought about it. I already know Rev Plant pretty well (who does the Lexicon in Coin News, and other features). I think I'd find it difficult to fill a magazine every month though. They obviously do too, hence the proportion of ads and silly things about new issues from Tuvalu!

[Kronos 0]

I've thought about it. I already know Rev Plant pretty well (who does the Lexicon in Coin News, and other features). I think I'd find it difficult to fill a magazine every month though. They obviously do too, hence the proportion of ads and silly things about new issues from Tuvalu!

Chris, what about a bi-monthly or quarterly E-magazine with subscription.

[Peter 615]

Coin monthly even went Bi monthly for a while in the late seventies....basically for the adverts etc.

If you wanted to produce a sucessfull mag based on content without dealers lists it would be difficult.

I actually bought coins advertised in coin monthly.

Its all internet nowadays with a sneek around the fairs.

To be honest the last coin I bought from a list sight unseen must be over5 years ago.

Coin news RIP

[Geordie582 18]

I tried Coin Monthly for a year, but cancelled my subscription because, like a lot of forums, seemed to be stuck post 1600's with a few Greek & Roman to try to show a wide span of cover. Not useful to a hammered collector

I used the Coin Clinic but was disappointed with the results.

Edited December 14, 2007 by Geordie582

[Red Riley 2]

It wasn't so much of a throw-away line as it looked. I would buy Coin Monthly in the late sixties, early seventies and then when I got round (could afford) to collect again in the nineties, it had vanished. Just out of interest's sake, does anyone remember what happened to it, when it hit the buffers etc. Used to be a good read as I recall.

[Peter 615]

Obviously Coin Monthly disappeared into the realms of Coin News.

The latter I can't take over a prolonged period....I've cancelled again.

Its hard to put a finger on it but its crap.

I've actually brought about 100+ coin monthlies from the 60's/70,s & 80's and these provide a good read.

[augsburger 0]

I have only ever bought a few copies of coin news, i found that some people say that there is not enough about old coins, i find there is not enough about new circulating coins either. I lived in Germany for a while and they have three or four coin magazines (one from austria) one does lots of articles about things and is interested in gold and silver "investments" while one of the others every month had an item about coinage from one country, so you'd get pictures of the current circulating coins with a little history, while also having the new coinage from countries all around the world, mainly commemorative but sometimes circulating. They also have the price guides for all coins, every month, which probably increases the cost a little, though it did cover Austria Germany and Switzerland which was good.

I know that stamp and coin magazine does a lot of american coins, but prehaps coin news could focus on say australian, new zealand, american, canadian coins, what is current what was in the past with a little history behind it, make people want to buy every issue rather than flick through in smiths and not buy it.

I actually prefer the publicity from that newspaper type bit, rather than the actual magazine.

[Chris Perkins 228]

New coins are all very well and obviously important for the world mints because they no doubt make a good profit on them and they therefore love to have them featured in magazines. But, most collectors are mainly interested in older coins (for UK coins that probably means pre Elizabeth II at least, and many collectors don't even touch milled!) In fact I don't know any serious collectors that even give modern issues a second glace, because they are targeted at so-called-collectors (always novices) and have very low residual values.

I've seen the kind of German magazine that you refer to and I thought it was far too businessy, rather like a magazine for economists and investors than for collectors. I've not really paid much attention to them though because I'm not really interested in German coins and am even less interested in Euro coins. Surely German collectors would rather have something about older German coins, not just pre Euro but perhaps even pre WWI at least? I like the older Royal states German coinage, but with all the different Kings issuing coins it's far too complicated for its own good.

[coin watch 1]

I've thought about it. I already know Rev Plant pretty well (who does the Lexicon in Coin News, and other features). I think I'd find it difficult to fill a magazine every month though. They obviously do too, hence the proportion of ads and silly things about new issues from Tuvalu!

I think that there would be more than enough info from the many experts and collectors on this forum alone, plus with the help existing older publications, to fill a new monthly issue easy and keep it interesting for many years.

I`m sure many people would be more than happy to provide expert knowledge and permit the use of photos of their coins, with so many eras and differing coin issues in British history and with a well planned layout a new magazine would please and benefit many. Have adverts, they are necessary, but not too many! but most of all the bulk of the issue should be about `old collector coins` and about collectors.

I do not know what the cost of such a venture would be but with a bit of thought I think it would not take much to out strip the current `dated` regular coin issue.

[Chris Perkins 228]

That's if the members here would be able/willing to add something on a regular basis, which can be difficult with other comitments. I have no idea how one launches a regular magazine, and already have enough to do with the books! If someone wants to investigate properly (how to publish a magazine etc), I'm all ears. I already have a very good printer for the job.

[Red Riley 2]

That's if the members here would be able/willing to add something on a regular basis, which can be difficult with other comitments. I have no idea how one launches a regular magazine, and already have enough to do with the books! If someone wants to investigate properly (how to publish a magazine etc), I'm all ears. I already have a very good printer for the job.

I have an idea that launching and running a magazine is unbelievably complicated, risky and moreover extremely hard work. One of my other hobbies is classic cars which I have had some involvement with since 1988. In that time I have seen a number of magazines arrive, fade, close, get taken over and absorbed into larger publications. A particular case in point was one in which all articles were written by owners with very little editorial input (Real Classics I think it was called). Sounded a good idea on paper because using essentially amateur contributors would cut overheads to a minimum. It briefly made the shelves of W H Smith's, but it seems that they failed to renew the order and in a year or so, it was dead.

Publishing books is risky enough, but succesfully launching a periodical must be a zillion times more so.

[Geordie582 18]

I ran a 'Rallying News' back in the 50/60's when I was active in the sport. The first flush was great - plenty of people to offer news, information & ideas. Within a year all that had dried up and I was left to fill in with cartoons & jokes. So it is never as easy as people think - right Chris?

[Chris Perkins 228]

Right Geordie. It's much easier to sell a few thousand books per year compared to selling a few thousand magazines per month! WHS are not the easiest people to deal with, but there are specialist magazine distributors, unlike for books. Very difficult business.

[augsburger 0]

New coins are all very well and obviously important for the world mints because they no doubt make a good profit on them and they therefore love to have them featured in magazines. But, most collectors are mainly interested in older coins (for UK coins that probably means pre Elizabeth II at least, and many collectors don't even touch milled!) In fact I don't know any serious collectors that even give modern issues a second glace, because they are targeted at so-called-collectors (always novices) and have very low residual values.

I've seen the kind of German magazine that you refer to and I thought it was far too businessy, rather like a magazine for economists and investors than for collectors. I've not really paid much attention to them though because I'm not really interested in German coins and am even less interested in Euro coins. Surely German collectors would rather have something about older German coins, not just pre Euro but perhaps even pre WWI at least? I like the older Royal states German coinage, but with all the different Kings issuing coins it's far too complicated for its own good.

The main problem with just sticking to older and usually more expensive coins, is how do you get people interested in coins in the first place. You can see in the eurozone and in the US after the quarters program that many people are taking an interest and getting into coins, they start with the cheaper coins, because you don't want to walk in to a fair, spend 5,000 and find out that it isn't worth anything, better to spend a few quid and find out it's worth 20p.

How do you get anyone to buy your coin mag at the beginning of their coin collecting "career"??? Generally if there is enough for everyone then you have yourself a publication. I think coin news doesn't have enough for most people.

I think there are two types of modern coins, those for investment such as gold and silver commemoratives which personally i don't like, and then the general circulating coins that are cheap. Of course the ones produced by mints to make money are targeted at coin collectors, but i believe there are a number of people who collect circulating, try and get a set from each country they come across.

I got into collecting from travelling and living abroad, i came back from the US with a bunch of coins that i had not intended to collect, went to spain got pesetas and then the euro came out, i put them all together. I can't afford to spend 50 quid on a coin, let alone thousands, i have no secure place to secure these items so there is no point. Maybe some will look down on me as a non-serious collector, i don't know. Generally though i think buying a coin magazine is a little pointless, as most of the info i want i can get off the internet, which may be the death of coin magazines in the future.

German magazines though are far more popular than they are here. Their population is only a little bigger, add on prehaps austria of 8 million and swiss germans and you have around 100 million pool for coin collectors, but they have four magazines. If you sell more copies by doing things like modern coins, then you can make you magazine bigger and full of more things about older coins as well.

[AardHawk 73]

I don't think a new coin mag stands a cat in hells chance of succeeding. There is too much competition from the internet these days, which Coins & Medals and Coin Monthly didn't have when they started in the mid '60s.

Both of those magazines grew becoause of the immenent change to decimal coinage. Coins and Medals was sucessful pre 1975 because of David Sealy's Coin Varieties column. When that had gone it morphed, eventually into Coin News, which is a woeful publication. Coin Monthly grew in the 1970's through a series of features on british coin varieties. When that subject was exhausted by the end of the '80s there was nothing left and it folded in 1992.

Even with Coin Varieties and E.S.Cole in C&M and the efforts of Ron Stafford, V.R.Court, A.R.Alexander, John Antony and many others in CM there were a lot of lean copies published. I have, with a couple of exceptions all of these and doubt that there is more than 300-400 pages worth looking at.

Chris prehaps you should look to aquiring the rights to all these articles and publishing them in book form. Judging from the prices for copies of Peck and Freeman there should be a bit of a market out there.

[SionGilbey 1]

I just wanted to bump this topic to see if this is still relevant... are there any new Coin magazines?

I bought a copy of Coin Monthly from eBay from the 60s and found it interesting and wondered if there were any good magazines these days about coins that one could buy as I prefer reading printed text than on the internet?

[Peter 615]

Coin news still stands alone...I got the subscription for Xmas £34...most issues are fairly bland and read in less than an hour.With the old CM there were interesting surveys/pieces on varieties and I often bought from the adverts.

I do go for periods without CN but return....pity it can't improve.