Are you looking at alternative investment ideas?
You should take a look at rare, historic coins right now.
It's never been a more exciting time to put some of your money into historic numismatics.
Here's why:
1 - Coins are tangible, physical objects
With the digital realm calling increasingly to alternative investors, the solid, metallic weight of a coin is a reassuring reminder that you own an actual thing.
No-one's going to hack your silver crown, and they can't divert them into another account in an off-shore jurisdiction.
A coin is yours, you can carry it with you, display it, whatever you desire.
2 - Good buys will pay you back
Informed buyers really do get an advantage in the rare coin market.
Good buys can increase exponentially in value.
This is a Roosevelt Dime, one of the most commonplace items in all of world history, but find one without that "S" on its face that should be there and it could be worth a mint.
To take an extreme example, a famous Roosevelt dime sold this year for £385,000.
The face value is 10 cents. But these dimes were sold in presentation packs of proof coins and went for $7 at the time.
The huge value of this disc is down to an error, a missing S.
It was last sold in 1978 for just over $18,000. A return of more than 2,000%.
An example from the extremes, but good quality, rare and historic coins will always have a market, and because they're in finite - and often very limited - supply they're likely to go up in value.
3 - You vs Inflation
Inflation came back into the economics lexicon after the pandemic.
Gold coins have been produced as bullion, but some transcend their intrinsic value to become desirable for what they are, not what they are made of. This Yugoslav Dukata is a great example, and you can see how beautiful it is.
Stick your money in a savings account and it's likely to go down in spending value over time.
Precious metals have historically been used as an inflation hedge. Many rare, historic coins are gold and silver and come with an intrinsic value that rises in times of rising prices.
4 - Follow the crowd
If that seems a counterintuitive piece of advice stop and think for a second.
Rising markets need participants.
The more people that come into the rare, historic coins market, the more demand for coins there is, and the more prices go up.
Get in early is the best advice.
5 - Diffuse your risk
One of the first things any investor learns is not to put all of their eggs in one basket.
You certainly shouldn't put all of your money into coins.
But if you're currently building your portfolio in more traditional areas like equities, property or bonds then rare, historic coins are an excellent addition.
6 - Mine, all mine - and just my business
There's a very limited supply of these coins, but if you buy it from us it's a private, personal deal and the coin is yours to do what you want with as soon as it arrives.
You can trade in rare historic coins very privately.
There are no ownership registers or centralised lists. Your purchases are between you, perhaps an intermediary, and the seller.
In the age of cookie consent and digital tracking this privacy is a rare and valuable commodity.
7 - Pack up and leave
Coins are portable.
While it's a difficult subject to discuss we have plenty of historical examples where people have had to leave places suddenly with just what they can carry.
And, in the globalised, digital economy a bank account can be closed, frozen, sanctioned banned... across jurisdictions at the click of a bureaucrat's mouse.
Let's hope this a challenge we never have to face, but rare, historic coins are a way to carry your wealth with you.
8 - Line goes up
A 10-year assessment in the Knight Frank Wealth Rerport to the end of 2020 found coins returning a 72% increase.
Markets go up and down, but the tangible, intrinsically valuable, rare, irreplaceable, and always-in-demand nature of rare, historic coins makes them a good, long-term bet.
9 - Generational wealth
Coins are a wonderful legacy.
You'll often see sellers in high-profile coin sales describing themselves as mere "custodians" of historic items that they are pleased to see passed on.
And they are a wonderful gift to children and the future that - with a few relatively basic principles - can be stored almost indefinitely by almost anyone with no damage.
Mints know this, and encourage parents to buy new sets of proof coins for their offspring, trailing them as investments. But these sets - while they may have bullion value - are very unlikely to ever become rare (without errors like our legendary Roosevelt dime earlier in this list), and you may be better off picking out a rare, historic coin.
They have personality, history, presence and weight.
This isn't just a millennium old piece of silver, it's the London Monogram Penny of Alfred the Great, a historical milestone you can own.
10 - Taxes
This will depend where you are, of course, and you should always take advice and follow local tax laws.
But, in some cases, coins are considered collectibles that are owned for the "pride of ownership" and may be exempt from taxes when sold.
11 - Will you love your share certificates?
Most investments are purely practical.
Coins will be your passion.
There is almost no collectible that has such depth and weight: coins are history, politics, identity, craftsmanship...
Once you start to buy you'll be addicted and want to build the best collection you can.
And, it will pay you back.
Find out how to invest in rare, historic coins now
We have one of the world's most substantial coin collections.
Much of what we hold isn't listed online.
