Gold coins are extremely beautiful items and collecting them goes back to when coins were first issued in pre-Roman Europe. However, it was only in the Middle Ages that the hoarding of gold coins became a leisure pursuit amongst the aristocracy and merchants who could afford to save such valuable items for their beauty and historical importance alone.

Coin collecting in general is still a very popular hobby enjoyed by millions of people of all ages. School children all over the planet have small collections of foreign coins. Later, that hobby might develop into collecting coins from one's own country. For example, it is easier and less expensive to collect a cent or penny from every year in the 20th Century in your own country than a foreign country.

This raised level of collecting coins can later become an expensive hobby once one has started working and has more money to spend. One might decide to specialize in collecting gold coins from a specific period or of a specific denomination. Dollar and sovereign coins are very popular in this regard.

In the USA, gold coins were in distribution from 1838 to 1933. The first pattern was the Liberty Head Bust but this was changed in 1907 to the Indian Head and Saint Gaudens motifs, which were used until 1933. The problems presented by the Great Depression caused gold coins to be recalled to be melted down. This made them scarcer and therefore more valuable.

In the United Kingdom and other areas of Europe, gold was used for coins from before the birth of Christ and many exemplars of these Roman and Celtic gold coins still survive today. Gold is no longer used as currency in Europe either, although in the UK, a gold sovereign is still worth one pound. The design on the reverse is George and the Dragon, while the reigning monarch's head is on the obverse

South Africa issued its first gold coin called the Krugerrand in 1967. The Krugerrand has no legal value because it was not meant to be used as currency. It is made of one ounce of pure gold and is usually purchased solely for investment purposes. Since then other countries have also minted bullion or investment coins. For instance, Canada manufactured the Gold Maple Leaf in 1979 and Australia made the Nugget in 1981.

In the days of the Gold Standard, countries promised to match the value of their currency with the amount of gold they held in reserve. That meant that if a country issued paper money without buying more gold to support it, the value of the paper currency would fall in relation to foreign currencies.

Different countries came off the Gold Standard at slightly different time, but most of them dropped the standard in or around 1971.

Collecting gold coins is a first-rate pastime, but it should not really be seen as an investment, because old gold coins carry a premium to the value of gold within them. This value is sentiment and that can change rapidly. If you want to collect gold coins all well and good, but if you want to buy gold for an investment, then buy bullion coins or bars.