Collecting Gold Coins can be a highly rewarding and pleasurable activity, it actually dates back to when coins were very first issued for trade. Enter the middle ages and people then started to turn it into an actual 'hobby' simply because of the unique artwork and historical value associated with coins.

Coin collecting today is still a hobby come business past time that a great number of people enjoy participating in. One of the most precious and most expensive collections that anyone can ever have are those associated with gold coins, but having said that, it still represent amazingly good value and could just turn into a worthwhile investment proposition for you to add to your investment portfolio. Of course as with anything, it is wise to conduct all due diligence first, this goes without saying. The most expensive gold coin ever purchased was worth, wait for it! About Eight Million Dollars! This was the American 1933 Gold Eagle. This is why the collecting of gold coins deserves to earn for itself, the title, the 'hobby' of kings and queens.

Gold coins were one of the very oldest forms of money, or currency. This was later followed by silver coins. Gold coins were in circulation in the US from 1838 until 1933. The design was the Liberty Head bust, however this was only minted until 1907. This design was then changed to the Indian Head and Saint Gaudens motifs and was used until 1933, the start of the Great Depression. This then prompted the recall of gold coins which makes them very difficult to locate today.

Since these are no longer in circulation, the price alone for one of these commodities is actually quite high. Gold is also now used for other products such as jewelery or gold bars that people also retain for investment purposes.

South Africa minted it's first gold coin which was called the Kruggarand in 1967. This coin actually has no face value but merely stands as a symbol. It is made from one ounce of gold and can be bought for investment purposes.

Since then, other countries have also minted gold bullion coins. Canada made the gold maple leaf gold coin in the year 1979 and Australia followed suit with the Gold Nugget in 1981. These two are in actual fact much more popular than the South African Kruggarand gold coin because of it's 24 carat purity.

A lot of individuals today retain gold and gold coins as an investment because they speculate that the demand will cause it's market value to increase. Other people hold onto gold as a form of insurance especially in view of the present shaky market conditions and downturn in the economy. There was a point in time when the more paper money that was produced, as released by the banks, the higher the market value of gold which maintained gold and cash as equal value. After this standard came to the end of it's day in 1971, this enabled government to produce more paper currency without increasing the price of gold itself.

For an excellent source of gold coins on the market today, actually eBay has a good range available from within it's marketplace, although you are well advised to do your research first before simply rushing in. Of course many positive feedbacks given to an individual seller will give that individual greater credibility and respect. If you do you due diligence you too could soon be collecting gold coins either for investment or simply for the great pleasure that can be gleaned from researching their history and use.