Need input on various Coin Magazines (differences? some better?)

Can anyone offer their input/feedback/perception on the various coin related magazines?

I am curious which one people think is best? I realize "best" is a loaded word here.

Are some slicker (nicer photos, glossy paper) and more interesting than others?

Are some more for the layman/amateur?

Which one has the widest circulation / subscribers?

I am not sure I captured all the candidates below

I think only the 1st two would be newstand available.
The others might be online only?
I think the last one in my list below has prices only and not articles.

Interested in any and all opinions and views ...

 

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I like CoinWorld best. it covers U.S. coins, World coins, and paper currency.

 

IMO, an INFORMED collector should be an ANA member (Numismatist magazine + library access); have a subscription to BOTH Numismatic News and Coin World; and read anything he can get his hands on. I believe the Coin World magazine comes with the newspaper subscription, forget Coin Prices (if on a limited budget) and get Coinage.

 

Of the ones listed, I would only subscribe to The Numismatist through an ANA membership which I no longer have.. I don't see any value in the others, especially since Coin Week (or at least parts of it) is available online for free.

 

All collectors are free to make their own decisions concerning "value"; however, knowledge is power and that is what separates the informed from the uninformed.
Unfortunately, there is little information available in the OP's choice of periodicals for collectors of world coins and ancients! So @World Colonial may have a valid reason for his choice. I read everything.

 

Great feedback! Thanks to all that posted!

 

I get the Numismatist through my ANA membership and also have a subscription to Coin World including the weekly which I got through Amazon. I can also access the Numismatist online and gives me access to a lot of prior issues as well. I like having the weekly with my Coin World subscription as it provides me some new reading material in between the bigger monthly issues.

 

I like "Coin World" and am a member of the ANA so I get the Numismatist. I used to subscribe to "Numismatic News" 20 years ago but it has become pretty useless and irrelevant IMO.

 

It isn't just because I collect world coins and not US. Its because I don't find most of the articles informative, except occasionally in The Numismatist. They are too generic which is the intent since it is written for a "mass audience" with different knowledge levels and interests. Coin Week is free and I will read much of it but I won't pay for it.

In the pre-internet age, I agree that despite what I consider to be their current limited usefulness, my opinion did differ. But that was then and this is now.

The opinion I am expressing, I don't just apply to monthly magazines but supposed "reference" books also. There are more specialized volumes to my knowledge now than before but the few books I bought on US coinage back in the 1980's (written by QDB), in my opinion someone could obtain most and maybe all of the information now just by looking at the population reports and auction archives.

It all depends upon someone's interests. To give one example, a website like the now defunct "Mexican Coin Magic" was leaps and bounds better for learning about a series than any of these magazines. This site was free and I don't know all of the others but I would far prefer to spend my money to join a club like CONECA than subscribe to one of these magazines, except The Numismatist.

 

Read everything that you can find. Listen to everyone you can hear, and be critical of everything that you learn.

I might also recommend a certain podcast in addition to your reading. If you need further info, please just let me know.

 

All the publications offer articles, some more than others. Picking just one will depend on what you are looking for in a magazine.. articles are one thing and prices are another. The "Numismatist" via the ANA is somewhat informative for industry news. "Numismatic News" is OK for ads and such, as is "Coin World". I subscribed to Coin World for 40 years before dropping it. It used to be a huge magazine. I pick up a Coin World or Numismatic News occasionally at coin shows when an article catches my eye. I haven't picked up a "COINage" lately because I found what I was looking for in "COINS", which is a quick reference for prices. And, COINS' prices are very close to the "GraySheet"..not overly quoted like those Cable salesmen like to quote from. So, I guess its comes down to what you are needing in a magazine. Pick up some copies of each along the way and then you will know.

 

I used to subscribe to Coin World and Coinage but let them lapse because they focused more on moderns than I would like. Coinage does a long form article on a year of interest, 1883, 1905, etc and I really liked them. I do highly recommend a certain coin podcast but right now those slackers are taking a break from their job of providing me free entertainment.

 

I can definitely say I don't like COINage or Coins magazine. For less than the price of a yearly subscription to either of them, I can (for example) get a year's membership in the Civil War Token Society and get their excellent quarterly journal. For just a little more than the combined price of a subscription to both, I was able to pick up 4 volumes containing 20 years' worth of the Gobrecht Journal.

I could gladly live out the rest of my days without another 3-5 page article about the 1804 dollar or 1909-S VDB cent, unless there's some kind of major new find or discovery.

 

Coin World digital edition, when I would get the paper edition it always looked like someone took their time and read it.

 

This feedback has been extremely useful! Thanks to all respondents.