The collection of coins and other minted materials is called coin collecting and is one of the popular hobbies all over the world. Some coins come with historical value, while some others come with minting errors. Some coins are circulated for a shorter period of time. The collectors will collect all such coins for their satisfaction. Coin collection is different from Numismatics as the latter is the study of coins while the former is just collecting those as a hobby. This is similar to a stamp collector and philanthropist. The numismatist may sometimes be a coin collector, but he may not necessarily be so and vice versa. Usually, coins are collected very casually, as a pocket change leftover from a visit to a foreign country or a coin that is obtained from some special events. Such collections are usually organized using coin collecting software described at coinmasters.net and stored in a special album.
Some serious coin collectors will collect coins from coin clubs that sell coins for a value based on certain factors such as historical importance of coins, image embarked over them etc. Some collectors collect coins based on certain theme such as historical importance, country wise released coins, error coins, etc. Error coins are those that come with minting errors. These types of coin collectors are called specialists.
Completists are those, who collect coins from each and every category that is present. Generalists are those who collect any type of coin without any theme. One famous example of a generalist was the King of Egypt, King Farouk, while John Yarwood from Melbourne was a famous specialist. Louis Elias berg was a completist. Of late, coin collection is getting monetary value as well with collectors registering themselves with PCGS and NGC for selling coins with at most importance.
Historical Collectibles