Jeff Starck moves on to other opportunities after 20-plus years at Coin World

The turning of the calendar page to a new year often prompts reflection and decisions to do better in the coming year.

Coin World senior editor Jeff Starck is leaving the publication after more than 20 years on staff. His final editorial appears below.

The turning of the calendar page to a new year often prompts reflection and decisions to do better in the coming year.

Not much for New Year’s Resolutions, I resolved in 2024 to read more books (instead of simply devouring magazine and online articles, and newspapers), and I managed to succeed in that goal. For 2025, I aim to watch more of the movies that have piled up in my living room, often bought used, with good intentions to watch — I just haven’t carved out the time.

One of the joys of watching DVDs, instead of through streaming services, is the ability to watch the credits roll by at the end of films.

Streaming services have darn near rendered that impossible, as they’re lining up the next in a long line of potential things to watch, glossing over the important (and sometimes entertaining) final bit of the film-watching experience.

The credits reveal the true lengths to which moviemakers go to bring their vision to the big (and not-so-big) screens. It’s easy to fixate on the top talent, the stars that have “box office magic” (a phrase that shows its age because, thanks to streaming, box office sales play an increasingly diminished role in the success of a film), but the credits reveal just how many people have a part to play in the labor of love that results in every romance, drama, comedy or sci-fi thriller.

When Editorial Director Larry Jewett implored me to write a farewell editorial, announcing my amicable departure from Coin World after a 21-year relationship, I couldn’t help but think of the credits on all those movies I’ve yet to watch.

Each one of the almost exactly 1,100 issues I’ve worked on at Coin World may have featured the names of myself and co-workers in bold bylines, but the issues could not have appeared in readers’ hands, without a lengthy list of other folks.

From a librarian who sorted research materials, to photographers and image editors to page designers and advertising representatives, and customer service folks who handled subscription orders, among many other roles, the weekly world of numismatics (and more recently, the daily digital dish about this hobby) could not have reached the audience it has without them.

This job has taken me around the United States and the globe, and introduced me to many fine folks, including a bunch in Sidney, Ohio, Coin World’s home. I will cherish this experience forever. But now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some movies to watch.

(Editor's Note: Coin World’s loss is someone else’s gain. It’s always nice when an opportunity will allow for growth, because we only get one shot at this game called life. One of the things offered in the Declaration of Independence, a document that gains stature because of the upcoming semiquincentennial, is “the pursuit of happiness.” Here’s to success in finding it. Thanks for everything.)