Why do you collect coins

Why do you collect coins is it for investment or purely for the love of the hobby ????

Love of the hobby. Still gives me great joy when I acquire coins to fill holes in my collection or to finally find those very difficult coins to finish a date set or a complete date and mint set. 60+ years.

I find it's a good way of discovering national history.

I like to get a coin or banknote, and then research why that person/thing was considered important enough to be added to our currency.

Learnt all sorts of historical trivia through this. Very little on coins & banknotes are purely decorative. Often it's both a security feature and somehow tied in to whatever it is celebrating.

Naturally, I avoid the “collector” specials. If it didn't get into circulation, then it doesn't count.

The only exception to that rule really is the silver Britannia series. I've got most of the years for the 1oz bullion coins, and a mix of the proof/BU specials - they started having “standard” & “special” variants in 2013. I've admired several of them design-wise for years, but only started actually buying them in 2023.

I've always liked silver, but I'm finally at a stage where I could afford to have some. I love how much light bounces off them, silver being the most reflective of all the metals.

I'm definitely not considering becoming a cheap knockoff of Goldfinger though. 😛

Why not?    😜

Like harryg, I am now in my 60th year of collecting, and I believe, the buzz I get now when finding a coin in my local coin shop, or indeed, opening a package from an exchange, like I did yesterday, is greater that it was 30 or 40 years ago.

I like as well, finding a coin, even on auction sites that will add to an existing incomplete set. I have 14 out of 22 of a set of Tristan da Cunha 2014 coins that commemorate World War I, and search every day for the missing 8 coins, but nothing is about for the last 5 months.The buzz of hunting them, is as good as actually receiving them.

I collect for the joy of the buzz, and not for financial reasons, especially as I have told my granddaughter, who is nearly 4, that she can have them.

Another thing I enjoy, is the negotiations when doing swaps. That's also a buzz

@COINMAN1 

There really is something to be said about the hunt!

Finding something in circulation that you didn't have is such an unexpected thrill. Even buying online for ones which don't exist in circulation anymore can be exciting when you get the package. I'm expecting a large selection in July - my friend is holding them whilst I'm travelling for work. Excited for my little treat when I get back. 😀

A Collector

silver being the most reflective of all the metals.

Even gold ducats in the sun, when you are lying on the beach by the sea - drinking whiskey and including 10 ducats in a large collection of his similar circulation coins, which, however, were never in circulation.

wow, I'm dreaming-I fell asleep for a while, I'm also over 60 years old and the dream was amazing....about ducats and the beach...

Colleagues, I am happy with every scrap - a piece of metal that has the face of a monarch - or expresses belonging to a nation, or is just a toy for lucky coins for wealth and satisfaction.

Even those nonsensically colored dragons from fairy tales and traditional legends can be included in my collections.

In the 30 to 40 years I've been collecting it, I still haven't  to profile myself.

I've already pissed myself off that I'll throw everything on the web exchange and leave only gold and silver big - however, I shed a tear for our one-haler coin, which is made of aluminum.

I have two princesses and two princes 🤴 and one is already getting a little busy - she helps me look for our more rare vintages and often looks at coins. So here I feel it makes sense to leave it up to him - how he will decide in the future, whether he will profile himself as an investor or collect metal.

Ivan

I started as a youngster in 1963 at the age of eight, 61 years later I am still as keen as I was then. I collect mainly circulation coins worth the odd nclt, my love of history and geography has fuelled my collecting over the years and I have coins from 500 bce right up to the 2024 issues, I have only one date run in my collection and that it the gothic florins of queen Victoria which are in my opinion the most beautiful circulation coins ever minted, 

Investigating, learning, and illustrating history, economics, politics, sociology - 

No illusions that my collection will be worth more (to my heirs) than I paid for it.

No intention of ever selling anything in my life time.

but lastly , I do love to hold silver and gold in my hand ⚜️

I'm not what I would describe as a collector , more of a hoarder. I did start buying coins as a way of accumulating silver, I would buy bulk lots of coins at auctions and really enjoy sifting through them. Anything I liked the look of I would put away and then sell off the rest as silver bullion. I found it fascinating looking at them and researching them on here, you really do learn a lot about all sorts of things.  I sometimes buy coins just for the coin, and not its scrap value, I've just bought a 5oz silver US  Apollo 11 50th anniversary coin,  because space exploration intrigues me, especially the 1969 Moon landing.

In my case, apart from the desire to have all types of euro coins, from 1 cent to 2 euro commemorative coins, I think that in the not too distant future coins will be disappearing in Europe and I would like to have the maximum representation.
I hope that my daughter will be able to have a wide representation of euro coins since 1999 to nowadays  in their different issues.
I also collect coins from other countries of the world and exonumia with the aim of discovering the history of these places.

 Or yes the hunt. I started around 10 , that was 52 years ago. I got my first set of Roosvelt dimes from rolls and the hunt. 1946 to the 70, s. Fild my little blue book up. The joy of finding something you should not find is great. The town iam in now has been unreal. When i first got here i was getting silver all the time. now only every few months. And the out of country coin is great. With EAA comes to town, you can find all kinds of other countries coins. Now mainly Euros. This month was good. Got a silver dime, buffalo nickel 1936. Two W quarters and a few Canadian 1 cent coins.It amazes me i still get them here from circulation when they have not been made now 12 years. 

I collect coins as a sort of investment and also a way to preserve our history before it’s gone faster than we know