Collecting Versus Investing

I think an important question to ask is... "would you over-pay for something you like?"
I'm not talking completely blow the bank on something worthless because you have no idea what you're doing but perhaps you're willing to ignore BV a little bit because it would make a nice addition to your collection. This may be an indication of a collector. I personally tend to put a huge value in previous realised auctions and listed prices and have passed up on many coins that I absolutely loved because they passed a price point I had set in advance. Perhaps in that sense I tend to be more of an investor.
That says absolutely nothing about my appreciation of the pieces I buy though. It's especially nice when you get a deal on something you REALLY like.

I agree with Pistareen's classifications, with an important additional category.

I see there being four basic classes of "coin collector".

- Investor/dealer: the primary goal of the collection is profitability. There is little or no sentimental value attached to items in the collection, because sentiment gets in the way of making smart buying and selling decisions. The coins are considered as a "portfolio" or an "inventory", rather than a "collection". Knowledge about the coins, beyond "current market value", is considered unnecessary.

- Hoarder: the primary goal of the collection is accumulation. There is never an intent to sell - the suggestion that some or all of the hoard should be sold would actually cause them pain - but neither is there much organization or knowledge about the collection or the coins in it. Typically, once a coin is assimilated into the "hoard", it is forgotten about; the Hoarder has moved on to seeking the next acquisitions.

- Collector: the primary goal of the collection is organization. A Collector is often (though not always) aiming for a goal of some kind: the completion of a set, or the obtaining of "finest known" examples, or some other goal. Any acquisitions they buy are likely aimed at helping to attain one of those goals. If you pick up a coin at random out of a Collector's collection, they can usually tell you exactly why they own that specific coin, and can probably tell you all the vital statistics about who, when and where it was made, and when, where and for how much they obtained it. A collector won't usually consider selling, at least not until the "set" is "complete".

- Numismatist: the primary goal of the collection is knowledge. A Numismatist wants to learn everything there is to know about the coins they specialize in, and has all the books and reference materials they need to accomplish this. They've probably spent more money on buying books than they have on coins. It's even entirely possible to be a Numismatist and not actually own a single coin, since ownership is considered very much a secondary concept.

Of course, very few people fit nicely into just one of these categories. I do not. I'd rate myself as 60% numismatist, 30% collector, 10% hoarder and 0% investor/dealer.

Time to resurrect this thread.

Collecting versus Investing:

Unless you're a professional numismatist, forget it! The words "coin collecting" and "investing" probably shouldn't be used in the same sentence. For me, it's an inherent oxymoron.

Collecting and investing are two different things, you should do one or the other. If you are going to invest, there are much better places that will give you a higher return on your money than coins. For me, the test what you would be happy with when liquidating your collection. Let's say you've been collecting coins (or comics, or stamps) for five years and decide to stop. You sell your entire collection and get 100% of what you paid for it, but no more. Would you be happy with that? As a collector, I'd be fine. I received the fun and enjoyment of collecting for five years and got all my money back. What a deal! On an investment if I held it for five years and sold it for a scratch I'd say that was a bad investment.