Collecting precious metals
Collecting stamps, action figures, memorabilia etc. can be a very fulfilling pastime. Some people, however, turn their hobbies into a pastime and a lucrative venture. One of those lucrative hobbies is collecting precious metals or precious coins.
Collecting coins is easy, but collecting precious coins is not. What you have to know is that there is only a finite resource of precious coins in the world. The only time this resource is replenished is when a dig site uncovers more coins. Even in this situation only about half of the dig’s get to sell the bounty they recover. The rest goes back to the government of the country where it was dug up, to be put on display in a museum.
Other than these types of coins you can buy gold or silver bullion. These are precious purely due to the value of the metal they are made of. Investing in them is a safe bet as gold and silver are easily tradable commodities. They also maintain their values when currencies drop, which makes them ideal investment opportunities.
You can get these and other types of coins from coin dealers. However, you should only deal with major coin dealers who have maintained a good reputation when you start off with this hobby. Once you get more experience with identifying and valuing coins on your own, you can venture out and look at smaller coin dealers. Working with smaller dealers can be fruitful as long you are good at spotting fakes.