A Definitive Guide

Medal News
August 2007
Volume 45 No. 7

Unbelievably the summer, what we’ve had of it, is nearly over and soon autumn and the start of the “season” will be upon us. As always this is marked with the Orders and Medals Research Society Convention at the New Connaught Rooms in September and with it the launch of the new MEDAL YEARBOOK. Most of you will know the YEARBOOK and whether you buy one every year, as so many people do, or confine your purchases to one every couple of years, you’ll know how important it is to both collector and dealer alike.

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The Generation Gap

Coin News
August 2007
Volume 44 No. 8
THIS month’s front cover shows the new commemorative 50p celebrating 100 years of Scouting. As an ex-Scout, and ex-Scoutmaster, I can quite clearly remember the 50th anniversary of Scouting and then the 75th. It seems unbelievable that so much time has gone by, but sure enough it’s the Centenary this year and across the globe, boys, and now girls, will be enjoying the celebrations. What, you may ask, apart from the obvious presence of a new Royal Mint coin, has this to do with numismatics? Well, the passage of time marked this way perfectly illustrates how youth culture has quite dramatically changed since many of us were schoolboys and it has got me thinking. Whilst there is undoubtedly a place for Scouting today, as there always has been, much of it has changed. I don’t doubt that were I to visit a Scout meeting in 2007 I wouldn’t recognise half of the activities that go on; certainly there would be the timeless old favourites—camping, orienteering, woodcraft, etc.—but others would be very much products of the 21st century and many of the things I enjoyed so much just would not be part of the Scouting movement at all. This is the same in many walks of life of course, the toys and games we enjoyed as children would be sneered at today and the pastimes of the young of 2007 baffle many of us—time has moved on and we must accept that. Maybe we need to accept the same is true in our hobby too. Maybe it’s time to accept that this isn’t now, and won’t be again, the same sort of hobby we enjoyed as when we were at school and that times really have changed. True the “States quarters” programme in the US has struck a chord with children State side but that interest doesn’t seem to be reflected here. The Royal Mint’s new coin varieties have proved very popular but not necessarily amongst the younger buyers in the same way as the Quarters have. We must accept that coin collecting just doesn’t have the appeal with the kids as once it did.

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