Circulation vs. collector vs. presentation coins

shirohniichan

Do you distinguish between the coins you collect by these categories?

I collect Canadian silver dollars intended for circulation and collectors, but I haven't gotten pre-1967 specimen coins since they (with very few exceptions) were struck for presentation purposes and not available to the general public.

BigAlan

I collect coins of historical interest or commemorating areas of historical interest to me.

laurentyvan

I know the arguements for the differences but I lump coins together as coins and tend not to differentiate.

sumnom

I'm with Big Alan on this one.

sumnom

But there are some coins that just appeal to me aestheticly.

shirohniichan

Perhaps it's just sour grapes or my way to justify the holes in my collection, but I don't collect presentation strikes because they are by nature very limited in availability. When I complete my set of Canadian dollars, I don't want to hear arguments that my set isn't complete because it doesn't contain 1938 to 1966 specimen strikes or either of the unique 24 karat gold 2003 dollars. In this case, I want to stick to coins available to ordinary collectors and not only the Royal Family, mint masters, and others in high places.

SYRACUSIAN

I hear you. I'd do the same thing if I was faced with this dilemma.