Banknotes....and beyond?
Volume 37, Number 3, March 2000
Although the title of this magazine is, and has been for 11 years, simply COIN NEWS we have always recognised that this hobby of ours expands to encompass far more than simply the collecting of coins, with banknotes, military medals, commemorative medallions, art medals, tokens and a whole host of other paranumismatica all having their place and following. Indeed until 1989 this magazine was entitled COIN & MEDAL NEWS in reflection of the fact that the two hobbies were so often linked. However, as the medal market grew it ceased to have as much connection with the coin world and it soon became obvious that a separate magazine was necessary both to cater for the medal enthusiasts and to stop the coin collectors from feeling that their interests were being ignored - so it was that MEDAL NEWS and COIN NEWS were born. Of course purists will always argue that their branch of numismatics is superior, that it should never be "lumped in" with the others, and is deserving of its own periodical free from "other things". But sadly our hobby is simply too small to devote whole magazines to the individual aspects that make it so fascinating. We like to think that we have always done our best to provide balanced coverage that reflects the diversity of our readers interests and in recent months we have responded to the renewed interest in banknote collecting by giving the BANKNOTE NEWS section within the pages of this magazine a greater profile and identity. With its own news, new issues and regular features this section has attracted a whole new batch of readers and advertisers to COIN NEWS hitherto not catered for elsewhere. These new readers have themselves helped shape those pages and continue to do so - so much so that it has become increasingly obvious to us that the banknote hobby is currently enjoying one of its strongest periods to date, a fact backed up by the increased number of collectors attending fairs and the numbers of new dealers emerging to cater for them. With this in mind we at Token Publishing Ltd are looking very carefully at our role and how we can help promote this already popular but relatively new branch of numismatics. The most obvious way is to continue to increase the profile and individuality of BANKNOTE NEWS within the pages of COIN NEWS (without, of course, detracting from the coin side of the magazine in any way) with the intention of perhaps producing it as a separate publication at a later date, but before that we have plans to produce a BANKNOTE YEARBOOK in time for this year's International Banknote Society's convention in the first week of October. The book will follow similar lines to the acclaimed COIN YEARBOOK, although at this stage we are unable to give too much away! We would be delighted to hear from readers with suggestions and ideas for this new publication. We are confident that BANKNOTE YEARBOOK will be well received and are sure that the hobby itself will continue to go from strength to strength - we, of course, will do everything we can to ensure that it does. John Mussell .
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