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...whether these coins were studied, considered curiosities or possibly were merely hoarded.

Coin collecting specialties

Coin collectors often begin by saving coins they have received in circulation, but found interesting. These may be the remnants of change from an international trip, or an old coin found in circulation. Over time, if their interests increase, chance will not be sufficient to satisfy the demands for new specimens, and a potentially expensive hobby is born. Some become dedicated generalists, looking for a few examples of everything. If they have enough resources, this can result in an astounding collection, as that of King Farouk of Egypt, who collected everything (and not just coins either). Some are completists, wanting an example of everything within a certain set. For example, Louis Eliasberg was the only collector thus far to assemble a complete set of known coins of the United States.

At the very highest levels of coin collecting, it can become a highly competitive sport. Recently, this has exhibited itself in registry sets, where the most complete set of coins with the highest numerical grades assigned by grading services are published by the grading service. This can lead to astronomical prices as dedicated collectors strive for the very best examples of each date and mint mark combination.

Most collectors determine that they must focus their limited financial resources on a narrower interest. Some focus on coins of a certain nation or historic period, some collect coins from various nations, some settle on error coins or exonumia, such as currency, tokens or military challenge coins.

Every collector collects what interests them, and there are as many ways of collecting as there are collectors. However a few themes are common and are often combined to a goal for a collection.

A few common themes are often combined into a goal for a collection:

* Country collections: Many enthusiasts focus their collection on only a single countryâ€”often their own. In contrast, some collectors attempt to obtain a sample from every country that has issued a coin [16].

* Year collections: Rather than being satisfied with a single specimen of a type, a great many collectors collect type by year; for example, one Lincoln Cent for every year from 1959 (the year it was first minted) to present. This is perhaps one of the most practical ways to collect a national currency since probably the majority of coin reference books and coin albums catalogue in the same manner.

* Mint mark collections: Many collectors consider different mint marks significant enough to justify representation in their collection. When collecting coins by year, this multiplies the number of specimens needed to complete a collection. Some mint marks are more common than others [18].

* Variety collections: Because mints generally issue thousands or millions of any given coin, they use multiple sets of coin dies to produce the same coin . Occasionally these dies have slight differences. This was more common on older coins because the coin dies were hand carved. But differencesâ€”intentional or accidentalâ€”still exist on coins today.

* Type collections: Often a collection consists of an examples of major design variants for a period of time in one country or region. For example, Euro coins carry a "common side" that shows the denomination and a "national side" that varies in design from state to state within the Eurozone. Likewise, a type collection might focus on an unusual design feature such as coins with a hole in the middle, coins that are not circular in shape or coins with brockage.

* Composition collections: For some, the metallurgical composition of the coin itself is of interest. For example, a collector might collect only bimetallic coins. Precious metals like gold, silver, copper and platinum are of frequent interest to collectors, but enthusiasts also pursue historically significant pieces like the 1943 steel cent or the 1974 aluminum cent [19].

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