“…sophisticated investors are increasingly looking for assets outside of the U.S. stock market, which many market observers expect to post only modest gains during the coming year.”

Over the past decade or so, the WSJ has written about investing in coins about as frequently as it has devoted columns to the duck-billed platypus. What’s going on? To find out, let’s look at some of the points the article makes:

• As a result of the Internet and coin-grading services, investment-grade coins are “nearly as liquid as the stock market.”
• Over the past three years, rare coins have “far outpaced” the S&P500 Index, and the outlook for the stock market is “lackluster.”
• Nevertheless, rare coins are still about 65% below their 1989 high.
• Experts say coin bull markets typically last 4-5 years, and that we are in the second year of this one.
• As a result of a weakening US dollar, investors seek hard assets not tied to dollars, such as precious metals and rare coins.

In other words, as we have been saying on this site for more than two years (read 11 early signs, posted in July 2002), the window of opportunity in which to profit from purchasing investment-grade US coins is wide open. Timing is everything, particularly if you look at previous coin bull markets and see that the precipitous part of the increase tends to come at the end of the cycle. (When the WSJ starts talking about coins every day, it’s probably a signal that the time to sell is near.)

We were gratified to see that coinmag.com was one of the four websites the WSJ article referred investors to. (The others were the websites of the American Numismatic Association, an invaluable membership organization for collectors and investors, and of PCGS and NGC, the two grading services most trusted by coin professionals.)

As many of you know, I help investors profit from their purchases of investment-grade US gold and silver rare coins. Many of my clients are enjoying increases of 25-35% on their coin portfolios for 2004. Most of the bullish forces described in 11 early signs are growing more powerful. I believe that 2005 will be an even stronger year for hard assets in general and investment-grade rare coins in particular. By the end of 2005, I believe gold will be at $575 or more and that investment-grade gold and silver rare coins will be up another 50%. In 2006, the performance of investment-grade rare coins is likely to be even better.

One effect of the bull market we’re experiencing is that it is becoming harder and harder to find premium-quality investment-grade rare coins. As 2004 ends and in early January 2005, I will recommend coins to my clients that I believe will outperform the overall rare coin bull market in 2005-6, and work to secure these coins for them. In mid-January 2005, I will release these recommendations to the public.

The WSJ article pointed out that new investors can get burnt if they buy coins authenticated and graded by unreliable grading services. I am proud that in addition to helping investors make money and helping collectors allocate their funds cost-effectively, I work for consumer advocacy and education. On this website right now there are two articles that help collectors and investors take advantage of the opportunities of the marketplace and avoid its perils. One is a report on how coin professionals rank the grading services, the other a guide to buying coins on eBay.

Barry Stuppler, publisher, coinmag.com. You can contact Barry by email or call him toll free from within the US at (888) 454-0444 or at (818) 592-2800. You can read a profile of Barry in the November 2004 Numismatist, the magazine of the American Numismatic Association.

There is no mystery to gold ownership; people have traded in gold for thousands of years. If you would like to know how to purchase Gold, what to purchase and who to purchase it from, please email barry@coinmag.com.