That appeal hasn’t extended to buyers of coins, who tend to be smaller investors than the hedge funds or money managers who buy bullion or are the biggest holders of ETPs.
“The platinum coins are gorgeous,” said Kevin Lipton, who has been selling coins for four decades and owns Kevin Lipton Rare Coin Inc. in Beverley Hills, California. “While I do sell a few coins, it’s not really that much in demand. We live in a society that covets gold and silver.”
The U.S. Mint last year sold a record 42.7 million ounces of silver coins and 856,500 ounces of gold coins, the most since 2011. Demand has slowed, with gold sales in the first seven months of this year down 56 percent from the same period in 2013, and silver slipped 11 percent.
“Long-term, coin buyers are more keen on buying gold and silver rather than platinum, and that’s how it has been always,” said Michael Haynes, 64, the chief executive officer of American Precious Metals Exchange, an online bullion dealer from Oklahoma City. “Even though it is precious, it’s more an industrial metal in people’s minds.”