Numismatists Without Coins

Surely, the numismatic aspect of coin collecting is part of the fun. Knowing a bit about the history and use of coins makes it more interesting to collect.
I mean, that is one of my main motives to collect circulated coinage and not fantasy bullion sets.

Good point.

Maybe that makes you a collector-investor?

It's an interesting discussion on this thread, that I think goes back to the notion of why we collect/like coins.

At one extreme, you can be a numismatist who enjoys the study of coins, whether or not you own them. As @Sap pointed out, you can be a collector, who doesn;t care to learn much about the coins he/she collects, but may be driven to complete series, themes, countries, etc. And I think there are invetsors who mostly care that the coins they buy appreciate over time, or the aggregate value of the collection does. I think the extreme of this is the case where the collection is largely bullion items, not even coins with what some people call "numismatic value" (i.e. value above bullion).

And of course all kiinds of shades in between.