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Not any coin gets the collectors' attention; there are certain features that makes one coin collectable and another not so much. Coins that are no longer in circulation and therefore rare gain value over time, coins that are minted to commemorate certain events or persons are also very valuable and more so if they are old and no longer in general circulation. Also coins that may have minting errors on them or any other special appearance are valuable.

Commemorative coins are especially important for gaining value. Others reasons may include condition of the coin, beauty of design and need by other collectors. For example the new Canadian silver coins to mark the 2010 Olympics in Canada will cost a lot for collectors say in 10 to 20 years. There are many coin dealers groups and clubs that pass information to each other as well as trade between each other. The internet has also been instrumental in helping in the forming of groups and the selling and exchange of coins and information between collectors. It is much easier to source coins that one desires.

Just like stamp collecting coin collecting offers the collector a wide choice just that it would be quite expensive and exhausting to collect everything. Therefore most collectors would rather focus on a particular area only. One can focus on a country, or an era, or certain themes only (e.g. collect only coins to commemorate leaders) or one can focus one a particular year.

It is not difficult to start this hobby. If you travel you can keep all the coins in your change form your travel. The expensive part comes when you try to compete and try to complete the collection as much as possible. If you cannot get the coins you needed yourself then you will have to buy from another collector who might have extra or is just willing to part with it.

It is possible to make money from a coin collection but just like any other business venture collectors need to study the market well and not be too excited. All the factors that normally affect a business will affect the coin market too. There are things to look out for; for example marks and any damage on the coins could reduce their value although sometimes it may actually be what makes them get collected.

There several groups bringing together the coin collecting population and offering services such as grading of coins and encapsulation of coins. It is hard to say if the grading is based on any science at all and is can best be said to be subjective. Collectors need to know that fraudsters can also create counterfeit coins and try to pass them for rare coins so they will be better off trusting a grader than buying blindly.