I Know It Is A Hobby But...

coppercoins actually had a discussion about this not long ago - interesting read:
https://goccf.com/t/76544&SearchTerms=investment

coins are not a good investment vehicle at all. That being said if I was wanting to buy some coins for investment purposes it would be key dates in as high of grades I could afford and if thee population of the one I could afford is 2/3 of the total mintage I would save up to get a coin in a higher grade because even key date coins that are easy to find in certain grades would not be a good investment vehicle in my opinion. Any time you want to buy a coin for investment I would do allot of research on the coin I was thinking about and then go from there but remember just like cd's its not something you would want to turn around and sell 5 years down the road, you would want to hold onto it for the long haul so buy it and put it up and forget about it until you retire. That is the way I would do it if I were going to consider coins for investment purposes

Scarce key dates rise over the long haul in line with the stock market. Marked sense... As the rich get richer they pay proportionally more for their coins. Nowadays I think you need 500 per coin for stuff rare enough to be an investment. Below that, you may see some appreciation but really the money would probably be better off in a mutual fund. For the hobby, just collect common stuff I enjoy sorting through junk bins

Buy ones where there will never be hoards found in vaults or in shipwrecks!

Seriously though, I would think there's some price trend data out there you could use in your decision making. I agree with the key date approach though. Who hasn't wanted a 1909-S VDB Lincoln when they first started, for example?

Keep in mind that it's a supply and demand thing. Are you looking US only? I'm thinking there might be some Chinese coins out there that 20 years from now you'd wish you bought.

I am with John on this one, but I'm new so don't listen to me ;). My grandfather would tell you what he's told me, only invest in the Key Dates. That's actually all he collects, he doesn't give a rat's @#$ about sets or anything. To each his own on that one though (I love my Jefferson Set).

I read somewhere that coins such as the 1856 Flying Eagle have continued to rise in price. I would venture to say that the better condition the coin is in, the more sought after it is always going to be by people with money.

Regardless of what you ever invest in, remember that the liquidity of that is really important. You could buy a $10,000 coin for an investment but try to sell it for that. And just where would you try to sell it? On ebay? At a coin store? You need buyers for anything you have so having a bunch of coins that you can not sell easily is really not a smart investment.
Say you need money for something right now. Your money is tied up in Coins. Now what? Your money is tied up in model planes. So now what? Your money is tied up in a car collection. So now what?
Regardless of where you try to invest, remember that if you need money now, coins and similar items are not the best way to go.
People every day dump valuable coins for losses due to they need money now and sell off everything. And a dealer buys it for a fraction of what you thought you had as an investment.

I agree also. Coins should be a very small portion of your portfolio. I suppose whether that is a $50 coin or a $5000 coin would be dependent on your particular financial circumstances and liquidity but from an investment standpoint, 3 percent. For people obsessed with they hobby, that percent may vary but I wouldn't be in the hobby with investing as the highest priority.

Good topic. I enjoyed reading the responses. Half of me likes coin collecting as a hobby, but the other half of me wants to collect coins that appreciate in value over time.