What Is The Difference Between All Of Those Coins?

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I would start by getting a book called A Guide Book of United States Coins, also known as the Red Book. It is a great reference to start with when learning about US coins. It is available at just about any book store, or you can order it from Amazon or a similar online venue.

Conder explained this very well, but I would like to add that the best thing you can do is research all of the different types of coins that are available before you purchase. If you are interested in gold and silver, my personal recommendation is that you look at the classic coinage. These coins will hold their value better as they have a higher numismatic value and don't tend to sway with the spot price as bullion coins do.

It sounds to me like you are interested in coins that have an underlying bullion value to support the initial cost. Modern coins purchased from the mint may have bullion value, but it's not enough to justify the cost. There are modern issues that, due to limited mintage and/or popularity, greatly increase in value, but the majority of the coins you buy from the mint could not be sold for what you paid.

In fact, almost any coin you buy has a built in disadvantage in resale value. You have to keep in mind that sellers of coins and/or bullion need to make a profit to stay in business. Therefore they sell at retail & buy at wholesale. Even if you are able to sell to another consumer at retail by the time you pay for advertising and/or selling fees you will get less than you paid.

Coin collecting is a great hobby that I really enjoy, but it's not a good investing vehicle.

ok I think I saw another question in that responce that I may be able to answer. There are Proof and Bullion coins made for collectors and even though the Uncirculated coinage made for collectors is just like the "bullion" version (that is just supposed to be for investment purposes) the collector version will usually have a W mint mark or some special finish. The Proof coinage has always been directed towards collectors even when they first started minting proof coinage, these were never made to be circulated (like spent at a local store for purchases) even though they are still legal tender. Then you have the clad proof and the silver proof, the clad proof has the same metal content as the circulating coinage has but the minting process is a little different giving the coins a almost mirror like finish on them. The "Mint Sets" are just a collection of coins that is exactly like circulating coinage that you would get from your local bank or store in change, the only difference is that they haven't been circulated, they were minted and put into the packaging but do not require any special handling like the proof coinage requires. I hope this answers the questions I thought I could read in the questions being asked and if not just keep asking more questions and we will be here to try and explain anything you don't understand

Not quite correct. Up until the late 80's this would be correct. After that point they began striking the at a higher pressure and retiring the dies earlier so th coins are better struck and with sharper images than seen on the typical business strike. Then in 2005 they began putting a "satin finish" on the dies and this resulted in a satin finish on the mint set coins which is different than the finish seen on the business strike coins.