Monthly Coin Magazines

[josie 8]

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.

I dont subscribe in coin news,but I do buy BBC magazine.

Good forum,better if other good topics are archive in print not only electonically,just in case the site or the computer is down at least it is printed,just a comment,and besides there are loads of info that the mint or coinage in UKGB that is connected to other countries for addition print resources or edit and compiled other magazine and review them and relaese as new one or updated.

[RLC35 288]

I subscribe to Coin News. One of the regular columns I like is "View from the Bay." They show actual sales from eBay, and also comment on the outcome of the sale. In one issue I even found they had posted a coin I sold (1861, 8/6 Penny)in the column. I would like to see that type of reporting expanded.

The part of the Magazine covering banknotes, however is just wasted space for me.

I also like the "web Page" listing of Dealers, with Web sites.

[SionGilbey 1]

Coin News sounds alright... however I'm not spending £30 which I could spend on coins on a magazine that isn't that good...

Can you buy individual issues?

How much?

Edited February 25, 2011 by SionGilbey

[josie 8]

There are books,magazines,wrttings, that features coin as a piece of history on that time but also as a evidence,that a simple coin is not a metal use in transaction but the culture,arts,economics is incoined in a piece of disc accepted or not by its people,to be used in transaction,just a sting of text reddish copper nose good info in history though,just a comment.

[RLC35 288]

Coin News sounds alright... however I'm not spending £30 which I could spend on coins on a magazine that isn't that good...

Can you buy individual issues?

How much?

I've never bought a single issue, but it says the single issue price is 3.65 pounds, on the cover.

[argentumandcoins 70]

Coin News sounds alright... however I'm not spending £30 which I could spend on coins on a magazine that isn't that good...

Can you buy individual issues?

How much?

W H Smiths usually stock them.

[Peter 615]

Smiths in Bury St Eds doesn't stock it.

Considering how much I spend on coins £34 isn't much.

I agree with Bob.."a view from the bay" is often interesting and there are sometimes interesting subjects written on but compared to CM it isn't in the same league.

[Red Riley 2]

There does seem to be some disparity between the content and the potential readership. For me, this month's is a prime example. It contains a fairly interesting article on brass threepenny bits which I read; a rather long piece taking a look at gate type reverses on Roman coins which I started to read and ultimately just ended up by skimming through and one man's experiences metal detecting in a field near Tewksbury which was interesting enough but rather like looking at somebody else's holiday snaps. The rest included three articles on banknotes, which is fine if it's your thing - it isn't mine; an article on British colonial issues in Africa and another on New Zealand tradesmen's tokens. The final piece was a look at platinum as a coinage metal illustrated with pictures of Beyonce and Paris Hilton which ultimately made the cover look a bit like OK magazine. I suspect this final article would have limited appeal to any regular member of this message board. So, out of 9 main articles I found one interesting and two moderately so. The rest were the sort of thing I would only read if faced with an extended period in a dentist's waiting room and even then only if somebody had pinched Country Life. As an aside, I know that advertising is the lifeblood of such magazines, and without it there would be no periodicals at all, but isn't three pages of advertising from Coincraft perhaps two pages too much?

I suppose the question is, am I a typical British coin collector? The evidence from this forum and from events such as coin fairs is that I am, in fact I would say my range of interest is wider than most. I therefore find it hard to work out quite who the target readership is. Of course, the answer may be that the genuine collector of British coins is too small a constituency to warrant an entire magazine to him or her self, so it has to attract as wide a readership as possible. But this runs the risk that by widening the potential market, you end up by alienating those who you would regard as your core readership.

Now, I don't wish Coin News or its publishers ill, and there may be some truth in the argument that in restricting their articles to largely those covering British issues of the last 2.3 millennia there would be insufficient material and the same topic might need to be covered over and over again. Is this however, something that would really bother a more committed readership? Is it preferable to have two very similar articles on Victorian sixpences in a 5 year run rather than one on Victorian sixpences and another on say, Outer Mongolian silver issues of the 1990s? It also strikes me that the pool of writers for such comparatively narrow subject matter might be rather shallow making it difficult to source appropriate material without overworking the willing horses.

If Bob has stayed with me this far (or indeed even started…), I wonder if he could enlighten us on American coin magazines, especially if there are any that deal almost exclusively with U.S. coins (i.e. the equivalent of what we would appear to want here). If so, how do they cope with publishing a magazine which has a comparatively narrow subject matter? Are articles repeated?

Sorry to go on, but it does seem to me that we need a magazine which reflects our interests within the hobby, and at present it is far from clear that we have one.

[1949threepence 3,367]

I've never bothered with the monthly publications like CN. They sound a bit samey and bland.

Love to read some of the old Coin Monthly issues from the 1960's, though. Also coin books from earlier last century.

[RLC35 288]

There does seem to be some disparity between the content and the potential readership. For me, this month's is a prime example. It contains a fairly interesting article on brass threepenny bits which I read; a rather long piece taking a look at gate type reverses on Roman coins which I started to read and ultimately just ended up by skimming through and one man's experiences metal detecting in a field near Tewksbury which was interesting enough but rather like looking at somebody else's holiday snaps. The rest included three articles on banknotes, which is fine if it's your thing - it isn't mine; an article on British colonial issues in Africa and another on New Zealand tradesmen's tokens. The final piece was a look at platinum as a coinage metal illustrated with pictures of Beyonce and Paris Hilton which ultimately made the cover look a bit like OK magazine. I suspect this final article would have limited appeal to any regular member of this message board. So, out of 9 main articles I found one interesting and two moderately so. The rest were the sort of thing I would only read if faced with an extended period in a dentist's waiting room and even then only if somebody had pinched Country Life. As an aside, I know that advertising is the lifeblood of such magazines, and without it there would be no periodicals at all, but isn't three pages of advertising from Coincraft perhaps two pages too much?

I suppose the question is, am I a typical British coin collector? The evidence from this forum and from events such as coin fairs is that I am, in fact I would say my range of interest is wider than most. I therefore find it hard to work out quite who the target readership is. Of course, the answer may be that the genuine collector of British coins is too small a constituency to warrant an entire magazine to him or her self, so it has to attract as wide a readership as possible. But this runs the risk that by widening the potential market, you end up by alienating those who you would regard as your core readership.

Now, I don't wish Coin News or its publishers ill, and there may be some truth in the argument that in restricting their articles to largely those covering British issues of the last 2.3 millennia there would be insufficient material and the same topic might need to be covered over and over again. Is this however, something that would really bother a more committed readership? Is it preferable to have two very similar articles on Victorian sixpences in a 5 year run rather than one on Victorian sixpences and another on say, Outer Mongolian silver issues of the 1990s? It also strikes me that the pool of writers for such comparatively narrow subject matter might be rather shallow making it difficult to source appropriate material without overworking the willing horses.

If Bob has stayed with me this far (or indeed even started…), I wonder if he could enlighten us on American coin magazines, especially if there are any that deal almost exclusively with U.S. coins (i.e. the equivalent of what we would appear to want here). If so, how do they cope with publishing a magazine which has a comparatively narrow subject matter? Are articles repeated?

Sorry to go on, but it does seem to me that we need a magazine which reflects our interests within the hobby, and at present it is far from clear that we have one.

There are a number of numismatic magazines available in the U.S. The most popular are:

-The Numismatist, A publication of the ANA (American Numismatic Association).

-Coin World

-Numismatic News

-Coin Prices...there are a couple of these monthly magazines that function mostly for the publication of updates (monthly) of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican coin prices.

From all of the above, I like the "Numismatist" best. It is an expanded "Coin Monthly" type of magazine, but has more articles on various U.S. and Foreign coin subjects. An example this month, due to the popularity of the movie "Kings Speech" (King Geo VI), there was an article by the Editor..."Kings, Shillings and Mentors." These is also advertising, and as you say, it is needed to keep a publication afloat. When you join the ANA, this magazine, and the on-line magazine, are given to you free, as a part of your membership.

Coin World, and Numismatic News, are tabloid type newspapers, much like the "Phoenix" from Coincraft, only much, larger and with more content. They are both loaded with advertising, and very popular.

Lastly are the two or more, "Coin Prices" magazines, which are published monthly, with updated pricing on U.S., Canadian, and Mexican coin prices. Subscribing to these mag's give you the same thing as having a newly priced "Redbook" each month, at about the same price. You can usually get the coin prices mag for about $12-14/year. A redbook (1/yr) costs about the same.

All of the above, with the exception of the "Numismatist" are mostly directed to the U.S. collector.

[Peckris 579]

Like Mac magazines, I find Coin News rather boring and a letdown. The editorial, some of the latest news, the readers letters, and an article every now and again ... just isn't enough to sustain my interest. Coin Monthly had its death-traps too, but there was definitely more in it.

[ski 1]

but isn't three pages of advertising from Coincraft perhaps two pages too much?

no thats 3 pages too many.

Is it preferable to have two very similar articles on Victorian sixpences in a 5 year run rather than one on Victorian sixpences and another on say, Outer Mongolian silver issues of the 1990s?

forget the mongolia, give me tanners , any time.

but is there a large enough market for such a publication. i work in local press (photographer) and much of that industry is suffering and is now looking or going to the internet to reduce costs, just look at how books are now going too with amazons "thingy" device for reading.....paper in youre hand material is in decline.

[SionGilbey 1]

I wouldn't mind a magazine published through email and printed out by the reader or just read online so long as it had interesting articles.

There'd be no printing costs at least!

[ski 1]

The problem with the internet......people expect it for free!!

having said that, for a dedicated publication of the type were talking about here, most would be prepared to pay a sub i think for online access. but as said before, theres the small item of writing content.

[argentumandcoins 70]

I am (like others on here) a Coin News advertiser so my subscription is free,..... for £60/month ad fee!

Like most I find parts of the magazine interesting, parts very useful (auction dates I had missed or forgotten), parts entertaining (View of the Bay) and parts totally pointless (Stygian Coins of the 4th Century with horses on, actually I made that up but it sounds about right). The thing is, what else is there for anybody with the even slightest interest in coins?

Yes, I know about the BNJ and SNC, but they are not readily available to the man in the street whereas Coin News is.

For all of it's limitations, and there are many, it is the only thing on newsagents shelves that people can pick up to rekindle or ignite an interest in collecting coins. Bringing new collectors into the hobby is to the benefit of all of us (yes, I do have a rather vested interest). It broadens the market when the time comes for us to move on spares or parts of the collection that have fallen out of favour and it increases the examination of coins by new eyes meaning more varieties etc will be discovered and hopefully recorded.

Rather than knocking it we should be supporting it because if it goes the way of Coin Monthly we are left with nothing. So for the sake of £3 whatever a month get your hands in your pockets and get your copies bought!

[SionGilbey 1]

The problem with the internet......people expect it for free!!

having said that, for a dedicated publication of the type were talking about here, most would be prepared to pay a sub i think for online access. but as said before, theres the small item of writing content.

I think that if some of the more established regulars here contributed articles now and again I'd be prepared to pay a sub also.

[£400 for a Penny ? 0]

paper in youre hand material is in decline.

Yes, all the more reason to snap up as many books as you can whilst they still exist.

[DaveG38 405]

Like Mac magazines, I find Coin News rather boring and a letdown. The editorial, some of the latest news, the readers letters, and an article every now and again ... just isn't enough to sustain my interest. Coin Monthly had its death-traps too, but there was definitely more in it.

In defence of Coin News, I would argue that they are up against in in today's market compared to the time when Coin Monthly was issued. In terms of pages per issue, Coin News certainly looks slimmer than Coin Monthly, but its paper size is twice that of Coin Monthly, so there's not a lot in it for sheer quantity of print. Coin News looks nicer with its colour plates as opposed to Coin Monthly which was black and white and more amateurish than today's sophisticated mags. The format of both is very similar though. In Coin News there are ads from dealers, news about new issues, articles on different eras or coin types, stuff on books, prices for UK coins etc. all pretty much as there was for Coin Monthly.

The one area where Coin Monthly had the edge was that it was first produced in November 1966 and ran through to 1992, I think. It straddled the era of the changeover from LSD to decimal and was able to report on many studies made by amateur numismatists on different aspects of the outgoing coinage as well as the new decimal types. Its noticeable that many of the 20th Century varieties were discovered through these studies and this is certainly the case for the early decimal coins. It also attracted a good monthly circulation, again probably because of the surge in interest that D-Day had generated.

Once the initial interest in both types settled down, it became more difficult for Coin Monthly to keep finding material of interest from the LSD era and the size and quality of the publication started to dwindle, together with its circulation until it was very thin indeed around the mid to late 1980s. If you look at a 1990s example, it is a shadow of the earlier ones with very little to commend it, so it wasn't very surprising that it fell in 1992.

In my view Coin News, which was called something else in its earlier form but I can't remember what, has done well to weather these changes and still keep going, particularly as it doesn't have the advantage of studies of coins in circulation to report on (nobody seems interested in looking at decimal, beyond that which was known about in the 1980s). I guess this is why it tends to have material on all sorts of 'uninteresting' areas each month.

[Peckris 579]

In my view Coin News, which was called something else in its earlier form but I can't remember what

Coin and Medal News

[DaveG38 405]

In my view Coin News, which was called something else in its earlier form but I can't remember what

Coin and Medal News

Peckris,

Thank you for reminding me - ageing is such a terrible handicap!! On a slighly different take on this, I have found that it's easy to find old copies of Coin Monthly Mag - I have pretty much a complete set through to 1984, but I don't think I have ever seen a single copy of Coin and Medal News from that same period for sale on eBay or anywhere else. It's also the case that some dates for Coin Monthly are pretty much impossible to find. 1986 seems to be very hard to find, as are the final copis in 1992. Anybody any ideas why, or where I can find them?

[SionGilbey 1]

I think no coin magazine will be successful as a singularity.

I think Coin News are not making too much profit and are being backed by the sales of things from CoinCraft and their yearbook as well.

If Predecimal launched one it would have to be small scale and not expected to make much profit.

[Peter 615]

I bought a bulk lot of CM's and earlier mags and have tagged all the interesting articals.

They are by my bedside and used for constant reference.Old Coin news mags end up in the blue bin.

[davidrj 194]

CGB in France produce an excellent regular e-magazine Le Bulletin Numismatique , free once you've registered

I manage to make sense of most of it (schoolboy French and Google translator)

Good mix, of ancients up to current Euro issues. and the place where newly discovered varieties in French coins are listed. Banknotes also covered

Has the introduction of the Euro stimulated more interest abroad, in the same way decimalisation did here?

Anyone know what the situation is elsewhere in Europe?

David

[SionGilbey 1]

Maybe they are doing the same thing Britain did in 1971?

Maybe we should convert to the Euro to make the decimals nice and rare...

[TomGoodheart 400]

Maybe they are doing the same thing Britain did in 1971?

Maybe we should convert to the Euro to make the decimals nice and rare...

SHHHHHHH!!! Don't let them hear you say that! The Mint seems so desparate to make money issuing tat they might just go for that one. With of course 365 different obverse designs for the 1€ coins each year.

As for coin mags .. I don't actually ever remember buying one. I used to subscribe to Spink's Circular but essentially for the coins for sale and nice pics of coins (for sale!). The articles by and large were not of interest to me.

However, I am aware that compared to most here I have a very narrow collecting interest indeed. Despite that, I was interested to realise that I got just as much of a thrill in finding a counterfeit 50p piece the other day as I do in tracking down a particularly nice hammered shilling, so I guess a general interest in coins is still there. I too read old books occasionally and find them fun. But somehow a 20 or 30 year old mag of any description is interesting because of the snapshot on prices, life and interests of a different era. I've been wondering how to translate that all into a magazine of today and .. most importantly whether I'd buy such a thing. And I'm not sure I would.

Now, as I say, I'm likely not typical. But looking around here at the range of coin collecting interests, I find it difficult to think of a magazine that could keep up the diversity, academic depth and entertainment value to keep us all interested month after month.