Rare Coins Produce Higher Returns Than Gold, Despite Lag

October 9, 2007

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Since 2002, we’ve been telling our clients that the price of gold was going up – a lot. We believe that the current bull market will end only when gold surpasses it’s old high of $850. In today’s dollars, that would mean a price of more than $2000 per ounce! We’ve still got a long way to go.

During this same period, Blanchard has been recommending rare coins as part of our clients’ portfolios, since they are a better hedge than gold, a better investment, and offer more opportunities for windfall profits. We recommend rare coins even more strongly today, because of an historical relationship between gold and rare coins which takes much of the guesswork out of investing in rare coins.

Although rare coins are positively correlated with gold, price increases lag behind those of gold. When gold goes up, rare coins follow, and eventually go up much more than gold. Over the years, that lag has provided an early warning signal of impending bull markets and has produced periodic windfall profits for knowledgeable investors.

For example, some years ago, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Investments, the world’s largest mutual fund company, was one of the principal investors in a partnership that invested in rare U.S. coins. The partnership was liquidated approximately four years later at a profit of more than 500%. More recently, and on a much bigger scale, an affiliate of Kidder Peabody and Company was the General Partner of a fund which was organized to achieve capital appreciation through buying and selling rare U.S. coins. Rare coin prices went up more than 100% within the year. Some coins tripled in value - and more.

Independent reports and indices, including those published by sources as diverse as Solomon Brothers, Inc., The Wall Street Journal, Consumer’s Digest, GE Private Asset Management, Inc., and numerous auction houses, confirm the fact that portfolios of rare coins have had high rates of appreciation. The total value of all certified U.S. coins is less than $10 billion and only a very small number of the rare coins in existence are actually for sale at any given point in time. As a result, a relatively small amount of money can move the entire market substantially.

Rare coins not only follow gold, but surpass gold. Bull markets in rare coins always occur during or after periods of rising gold prices, but reliable, independent reports show that average annual returns on rare coins have historically been more than 300% greater than the returns on gold bullion. Periodic bull markets have produced windfall profits for well-positioned investors.

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