As I write this and the final touches are made to this first issue of the new ACR magazine, it gives me a chance to reflect on the occasion, perhaps more so than I have since taking the reins from John late last year. The amount of work involved has not been lost on me, but the
honour and privilege of becoming the magazine’s new editor is something I hadn’t considered until now.

Whilst preparing some content for the new website, I went through the process of creating a timeline of both magazines all the way back to July 1964. Over the almost 60 years, many things have changed, including the ownership countless times, but at its core, the magazine has always remained the same. With this in mind, even with a new fresh design and our digital improvements, the purpose and function remains the same; that is, to serve collectors and bring the numismatic community together. The new magazine has been redesigned and reimagined with improvements to printing and paper stock quality; new contributors with fresh new content and perspectives, while the old guard are still present, accounted for, and incredibly supportive. With the improvements, there has inevitably been a slight price increase, which is the first for many years. Any increased revenue will be reinvested into the new magazine’s digital infrastructure and building the audience back to sustainable levels.

While work on the digital side of the new magazine is well underway, there is a huge amount still to be done. Building a complete digital library of both magazines all the way back to 1964 is the priority and will be a popular accessible feature for subscribers and researchers, and will serve as a huge asset to the future of the magazine.

The work to be done on the digital assets will be on-going. A new dimension we would like to introduce is a community-based ACR Facebook group, marketplace and discord channel. This will be a central hub for the Australian numismatic community where clubs, societies and associations can advertise meetings, upcoming trade shows are advertised, authors, or contributors and editors can enter discussion and review published articles. While it is a brief moment to celebrate the achievements of this first issue, I must recognise the incredible work and support of the Imperial team, in particular Marisa and Sally who have just been amazing as always. This really is just the beginning of the new magazine and our work has just begun. I would also like to thank the contributors and subscribers who have been overwhelmingly supportive in the last few months. It has been a pleasure so far and I very much look forward to working together in the future.