I get email offers for coin magazine subcriptions, and I got me thinking. Is there a "must have" magazine subscription other members have?
Forget Coin Dealer Newsletter (greysheet). They've priced themselves out or range of the average collector and many dealers. Much of the important info can be gotten online. Coin World is so-so. The weeklies are weak. The monthly has good info. If you join the ANA you'll get The Numismatist. It's okay but not a must-have. A lot of it depends upon what you want.
For ancients it used to be the Celator until it went out of business. Now the only one I renew is the ANA magazine. I have at times had the ANS magazine and membership, but don't like their politics.
For me the must have is The Numismatist. This is just my opinion. 2nd would be Coin World and then Coinage. Forget the grey sheet as stated above it is way priced over what the average coin collector wants to pay for and yes its true; with a little searching you can find all the info you need online. I get these magazines monthly and some bi-monthly and enjoy reading them immensely. JMHO.
If you really need a greysheet - say you are going to a show and want to preplan your purchases - you can buy a single copy. The prices change, but as a collector, not enough to need more than 1 or 2 a year.
I don't see any periodicals as "must haves" unless it is in an area that I either do collect or intend to collect. I have been an ANA member in the past, considered The Numismatist a decent publication and think its worth paying for. I have never been an ANS member but have the same opinion. For the others mentioned here and in the other topic, I'll certainly read them but I won't spend a single cent because I'd rather spend that money on coins since I can get most of it for free on the internet anyway. As a complete guess, I'd estimate the "typical" collector's annual coin budget is probably a few hundred $$. The question I would ask is this one. Is spending possibly as much as 10% of your budget for information which is substantially or mostly available for free somewhere else worth it to you? If it is, then go ahead and subscribe. Personally, I get a lot more out of participating on coin forums like this one than I ever did reading these general purpose numismatic publications. I can supplement this by buying material specific to what I collect or finding specialized sites such as World Numismatics (aka, Mexican Coin Company) whose proprietors publish a regular newsletter with much better information than I'll ever find in any of these general sources.
