One word says it all

Just ask for David. I have long been used to being referred to as one of the two Davids at Bank Note Reporter. David Kranz and I have worked together on it since 1994.

It has been rich collaboration and a prosperous period for the paper money field and a period of growth for Bank Note Reporter. I remember when the paper was first purchased by Krause Publications in late 1978. We had approximately 1,500 good names on the subscriber rolls and a circulation to match. Now we have a circulation of around 9,000.

I am looking forward to more. Paper money is a hot field. It historically has been much smaller than the coin field and much poorer. That is changing. As money has come into the field, the economic situation of paper money dealers has improved dramatically.

Coin firms have entered the field. They have bought paper money auction houses. Third-party grading has arrived in full force. It is becoming a mirror image of the coin hobby.

In the middle 1990s at the beginning of this rapid growth, I used to elicit gasps from my bosses when I said I expected to see in my career the circulation of Bank Note Reporter pass that of Numismatic News. They scoffed. But they could not scoff at the health and vigor of the field. Time after time they underestimated the power of the paper money wave.

You might scoff too at my forecast. The paper money field is still much smaller than the coin field, but to use the words of David Blansfield yesterday from a slightly different context, that just increases the opportunity. He is president of our periodicals division.

I see no reason to change my forecast. If you haven’t looked into paper money, perhaps you should consider joining the fun. We're here to help. Just ask for David.