Why Do You Do It?

for me it is the artistic beauty and the history of them. also with the world coins I have they kind of take me to the place the coin has come from in a weird way. like when I got some coins from Egypt from a member on this site I was so excited knowing they actually came from Egypt even though they were worth very little

Hi MattDrew
Yes you just about said it all and don't forget about the education side of it. You certainly pick up a lot of knowledge about the history of peoples and countries.
And as you point out numismatists certainly are a nice bunch of people, on this site especially. I only know one other 'serious' collector here where I live but the Thai people are very into keeping old Thai coins and banknotes (it's a Buddhist/luck thing) and I'm amazed at how much I've learned in the 5 years I've lived here. I often point things out to them that even they didn't know.
I think I probably bore some of my other friends here (non-collectors) but they are very helpful to me when they visit their 'old countries' and bring back new years and issues for me. It also beats the heck out of talking about football all the time (just because I'm English does not mean I'm obsessed with it or with tea).
Are you a fairly new collector or just new to this site and I take it you collect world coins?

Art,history and all the other variables.

As a collector of coins of all kinds, ancient, mediaeval and modern, I like the direct connection to history that coins offer. I'm a "one from every country" collector, and the more obscure the country, the better. There's nothing I like more in this hobby than buying a coin from a country I've never heard of before, then taking it home and researching the coin, the country, the historical background.

Coins can create this "historic link" better than most other artefacts, for two reasons. First, because they're relatively cheap and common, and second, because they are one of the few ancient inventions whose appearance and function has changed very little over the past 2,500 years: to an ancient Greek, a mediaeval Crusader or a modern office worker, a coin is a small round piece of metal issued by the government that you can use to buy things with. To me, coins vividly demonstrate the continuum of human civilization.

High end cameo proofs look amazing to me. To me, it's the eye appeal of those and toned coins with multiple colours.

I have collected since I was a kid 40 years now, on and off. As a kid it was to fill Whitman folders as alot of kids then did. Collected for s few years and stopped. In the early 90's I got interested again, I read one of the Bowers books and started casual collecting. my wife bought me Breen's Opus, Complete Encyclopedia of US and Colonial Coins and Wow I was hooked. What gives me inspiration is books, I think I like Numismatic books and history more than collecting the actual coins. As the hobby gets smaller I enjoy it all the more.

Tony

For me, it's the art and history wrapped together (explained so well by others). The bonus is that it's a hobby I share with my father.

Like the others, art and beauty. Also, it's something that, when I'm gone, I can pass on that's just a little more personal than hard cash.