You've obviously dipped your toe into the sea of coin collecting and already grasped the pitfalls of not sticking to a strategy.  I have 1oz Silver Britannias, 1oz Silver Kookaburras, 1oz Silver Koalas, 1oz Silver American Eagles and 1oz Silver Chinese Pandas........ALL of them, from the very first ones minted; to the latest 2016 coin. There is a fine line between collecting and hording and you need to stay focused, practical, realistic and to plan. I started in 2008, after the crash, as an asset protection exercise and when Silver was £7 an ounce; it's now £14 an ounce, so 100% profit in 8 years isn't bad. That's nearly 13% a year, better than you'd get anywhere else; without taking a big risk. Silver and Gold are always long term investments though, they go up and down; but when volatility and / or uncertainty is the order of the day, they're the commodities that are always resorted to......and are finite resources with an intrinsic value. There's no point in buying a coin with a very high numismatic value, but a low intrinsic value. If paper money ends up hitting the buffers, coin collectors and their families are going to need to eat, just like everybody else, so offering a worthless £10 note, or a 1000 year old coin; to buy food, might not get you much...........but offering Silver or Gold is a different matter. I bet there's plenty of retired Greeks, right now, who wish they'd had a large portion of their savings in Silver or Gold, instead of in Euros. They might have to cut your salaries or pensions, but the value of your Silver & Gold can't be cut; it is what it is. Of course, as you intimated, the mints (and pen makers for that matter) have to play the "Greed" game and try to entice you into buying ever more variations of different coins. Did you know, that the main source of income for Island Nations, such as Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Niue and others; is Coinage.......one series after another of limited edition coins, with different themes.........mainly minted by German or Australian Mints, on their behalf. If you use your head, you'll protect what savings you've got and even make more money than any tight fisted financial institution will give you; but if you get carried away, you may end up surrounded by pretty things........that won't be worth much.