Sharing your hobby

By the time this edition of COIN NEWS hits the streets most of Europe will have seen the new euro notes with the introduction of the coins just days away. As mentioned last issue this is by far and away the biggest numismatic story for decades and one that promises to keep coins and banknotes in the public eye for some time to come. Unfortunately not all numismatic stories are so obvious, so easy to pick up on, if they were our lives in the Editorial office would be far easier, our holiday season far longer and the magazine a poorer read; as it is we cannot just open our national newspapers and find stories of interest to re-hash for our readers – and nor would we want to. We want to give our readers new stories, absorbing articles on fascinating topics and pieces of work that will interest them whether it is their collecting field or not; to that end we are constantly researching new subjects, scrutinising work that comes in and commissioning new articles to ensure that what we present to you is not only worth reading but enjoyable to. Fortunately this is not an onerous task as the vast majority of manuscripts that come into us are both informative and a good read to boot, it often amazes us how some subjects seemingly narrow to the point of exclusivity can be brought to life by the author, can draw us and others in and leave us feeling that we really have learned something whether we wanted to when we started reading or not! We think you will agree that our contributors do a first rate job and that the vast array subjects covered does justice to the diversity of our hobby – however we are not content to let things stand as they are, we are constantly striving to improve our magazine, your magazine, and to appeal to even more numismatists and to do that we need your help. We all have our pet subjects, all have our own field of expertise and all have our own stories to recount. We all have one coin in our collection that we prize above all others, one coin whose acquisition we pride ourselves on; we all have one reign or denomination we are particularly fond of or one die variety that we search for avidly. We all have our own quirks and foibles, our own passions and interests and often believe ourselves to be the only ones to share them – and in that belief we are invariably wrong. Out there in the coin world there will be others who share your interests, others eager to hear of your collecting exploits, your quests for varieties, your love of the coinage of a particular period. Others who carefully examine the same coins as you do in the hope of finding the same rarity as you have been searching for all your collecting life (invariably he is the person just in front of you at the table – we have all had them!) and others as eager as you to read about such things. So it is that we are throwing open the editorial floodgates and asking you to tell us about your passions, write about your rarity, discuss your denomination and share with the thousands of other readers what makes this hobby of numismatics so fascinating for you. We cannot, of course, promise to publish every article sent in but we can promise that the vast majority, if written reasonably well and with information to impart, will at least be considered and will hopefully find their way to print within the pages of your, and Britain’s, favourite Coin Magazine