Coin News: Token Publishing's Magazine for Coin, Banknote and Token Collectors

Coin News is a British monthly magazine for collectors of coins, banknotes and tokens, published by Token Publishing Ltd from Honiton, Devon, England. It is one of two collector magazines from the publisher, alongside Medal News, and it describes its territory simply: numismatic news, auction highlights, ancient coins, tokens, banknotes, book reviews and a directory of dealers' current lists.

The magazine's longevity is written into its issue numbering. The October 2026 issue is Volume 63, Number 10, which places Coin News in its seventh decade of publication and makes it one of the longest-running voices in the British coin hobby. Its current editor is Carol Hartman, and its publisher's founder, John Mussell, was a familiar figure at coin shows and in the magazine's monthly Comment column until his death, which the magazine marked as three years ago in its October 2026 issue.

Overview

Coin News is a monthly magazine serving both serious and newer collectors, in the words of media directory descriptions of the title, with features of interest to the serious and the not-so-serious collector alike. A free trial issue is offered to prospective subscribers, a long-standing way for specialist magazines to let hobbyists sample the title before committing.

The publisher's own summary of the magazine lists its regular ingredients: numismatic news; a What's On section covering fairs, societies and auctions; an Ancients section; Auction Highlights, also described as the Market Scene, reporting what has been happening in the salerooms; information on tokens; numismatic book reviews; a banknote section; and a directory showing what lists the main dealers are offering that month.

Publisher: Token Publishing

Token Publishing Ltd is a specialist numismatic publisher based at Orchard House, Honiton, Devon, EX14 1YD. It publishes Coin News and Medal News, the latter described by the publisher as the world's only independent magazine devoted to medals and battles, published ten times a year. Alongside the magazines, Token Publishing sells books on coins, banknotes, tokens and medals, including reference volumes, downloads and ebooks, videos and accessories, and offers back issues of its magazines.

The company was founded by John Mussell, who served as its Managing Editor and wrote the magazine's monthly Comment. His son has since taken to signing the Comment in his own name and explained in the October 2026 issue that Carol Hartman is now the Editor of Coin News, clarifying who writes what for readers. That family continuity, and the magazine's open discussion of it with readers, is characteristic of a small specialist publisher with a close relationship to its audience.

History and Longevity

Coin News's volume numbering tells its history in outline. Volume 39, Number 4 appeared in April 2002, discussing auction figures compiled for the London salerooms and a coin market enlivened by the introduction of the euro. Volume 49, Number 5 in May 2012 discussed how aspiring numismatists learn about coins. Volume 56, Number 5 in May 2019 featured a unique 1952 penny due for auction. Volume 63, Number 10 is dated October 2026.

Counting back from those volumes places the magazine's first volume in the mid-1960s, giving Coin News a continuous presence through the decimalisation of British currency in 1971, the end of pre-decimal collecting generations, the rise of internet selling and the modern market for rare and investment-grade coins. Few hobby magazines in any field sustain that span, and it means generations of collectors have learned the hobby through the same title.

Editorial Content and Sections

News comes first: developments in the coin world, new issues, discoveries and trade news. The Ancients section serves collectors of Greek, Roman and other early coinages, a substantial branch of the hobby with its own dealers, auctions and scholarship. The banknote section covers paper money, while token coverage reflects the publisher's own name and a distinctively British collecting area, from seventeenth-century trade tokens to later provincial and transport tokens.

Auction Highlights and the Market Scene report saleroom results, which for collectors are essential intelligence: what rare coins actually realised, which areas are strengthening and where prices are easing. The dealer directory and lists show what is being offered for sale that month, connecting the magazine directly to the commerce of the hobby. Book reviews help collectors build the reference library that serious numismatics depends on, and What's On lists the fairs, society meetings and auctions where collectors meet in person.

Feature writing ranges widely. The May 2019 feature on the unique 1952 penny explored what makes a coin truly one of a kind, discussing escaped rarities such as the Edward III Double Leopard, the 1933 penny, of which probably only seven were struck, the Coenwulf gold mancus and pattern coins of Edward VIII. That combination of a current auction story with deep historical explanation is the magazine's characteristic approach.

The Monthly Comment

The Comment column is the magazine's editorial voice. For many years it carried John Mussell's face and signature, and readers knew him from shows as well as from the page. His son's October 2026 Comment reflected on three years since his father's passing, on readers noticing the change of name on the column, and on the working relationship with Editor Carol Hartman.

Earlier Comments show the column's range: the April 2002 Comment examined how auction statistics can be made to prove almost anything and cautioned readers to judge the market by the activity at fairs as well as by figures, while the May 2012 Comment considered the lack of formal courses for aspiring numismatists and the strengths and weaknesses of books, websites and forums as ways to learn. A personal, signed editorial of that kind gives a monthly magazine continuity and character that news pages alone cannot.

Audience and Readership

Coin News has an international readership, as its publisher's promotional material notes, listing readers as far afield as Exeter in Devon at home and collectors overseas. Dealers and auction houses are part of that audience as well as private collectors: testimonials gathered by the publisher quote a Baldwin's specialist calling it the coin magazine and a resource for knowing what auctions are coming up, an eBay category manager for stamps, coins and bullion calling it the go-to industry standard and an invaluable tool for knowing what the market is doing, and a London auction specialist among its supporters.

That professional endorsement reflects the magazine's position as a trade and hobby title at once. It does not itself buy or sell coins, a point one quoted dealer praised as making its coverage unbiased, which helps it serve collectors who buy from the dealers and auctioneers who advertise and appear in its pages.

Print, Digital and Social Presence

Coin News remains a print monthly sold by subscription, with back issues and trial issues available from the publisher, and its content is promoted through the Token Publishing website, which publishes material from current issues. The magazine also maintains an active social presence under Coin News Magazine on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, reflecting a hobby that increasingly discovers coins and market news through video and social channels as well as print.

Token Publishing's shop extends the relationship beyond the subscription: reference books in multiple volumes on coins, downloads and ebooks, and medal and military history titles let readers pursue the subjects the magazine introduces. For a reference-dependent hobby, that publishing programme is part of the magazine's service.

Place in the Numismatic World

British numismatics is a small, knowledge-driven world of collectors, dealers, auction houses, museums and societies, centred on events such as London's Coinex show, where John Mussell was photographed staffing the publisher's table and meeting contributors. A monthly magazine that reports its news, records its prices, reviews its books and lists its events functions as the hobby's shared noticeboard and memory.

Coin News has performed that role from Honiton for more than six decades of volumes. Edited today by Carol Hartman, still carrying a personal Comment from the founder's family, and still mixing ancients, tokens, banknotes, auctions and dealer lists in every issue, it remains the magazine British coin collectors are most likely to mean when they talk about keeping a finger on the pulse of the coin trade.