Numismatics Strong During The Pandemic

As I was doing my year-end analysis of precious metals, industrial metals, forms of energy, numismatic categories, and paper assets such as currencies and stock indices, I grew curious how these assets have performed since the appearance of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It turns out that, from December 31, 2019 through December 30, 2022, the numismatic niches, gold, silver, and platinum have outperformed all paper currencies that I track. So did most industrial metals and energy forms. They also compare favorably to all or most of the global stock indices listed. Here are the results:

Asset Performance During Pandemic

December 31, 2019-December 30, 2022

Currencies are listed on their changes versus the US Dollar

Note: These are the changes in values over the three-year period, not compounded. The change in the value of stock indices does not include dividends received, which means that their total returns are higher than listed in this table. If dividends were included in this analysis, the Standard & Poors 500, NADSAQ, and Dow Jones Industrial Average may have all outperformed the price of gold.

The LCS numismatic indices all use standard industry wholesale guides so as to eliminate any personal bias. However, over the past few years the wholesale guide for US currency has not kept up with the rapid price increases for many notes. I have not been able to come up with another system of tracking this niche that would avoid any personal bias. As an estimated guess, I would project that a corrected LCS US Currency Index would show a gain in the +40% to +75% range for the three years.

Patrick A. Heller was honored as a 2019 FUN Numismatic Ambassador. He is also the recipient of the American Numismatic Association 2018 Glenn Smedley Memorial Service Award, 2017 Exemplary Service Award, 2012 Harry Forman National Dealer of the Year Award, and 2008 Presidential Award. Over the years, he has also been honored by the Numismatic Literary Guild (including in 2021 for Best Investment Newsletter), Professional Numismatists Guild, Industry Council for Tangible Assets, and the Michigan State Numismatic Society. He is the communications officer of Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Michigan and writes Liberty’s Outlook, a monthly newsletter on rare coins and precious metals subjects. Past newsletter issues can be viewed at http://www.libertycoinservice.com. Some of his radio commentaries titled “Things You ‘Know’ That Just Aren’t So, And Important News You Need To Know” can be heard at 8:45 AM Wednesday and Friday mornings on 1320-AM WILS in Lansing (which streams live and becomes part of the audio archives posted at http://www.1320wils.com).