Coins Not Cars

Coutts’ Index 2017 reveals it is coins and not classic cars that are the better performing ‘passion assets’

This week bankers to the super-elite Coutts revealed the findings of their 2017 Coutts Index. In the annual report so called ‘passion assets’ – such as fine wine, works of art and watches – are measured in terms of their returns and this year’s revelations include that whilst classic car prices have risen fourfold since 2005, their values fell 10.4% in the last year.

Other findings in the survey suggest the fine art market has gone down by 6.2% in the same period and that Old Master and 19^th century art has declined some 40% since 2008. Coins remains the only category to have registered increasing prices in every year since 2005, rising more than 11% per annum on average.

Of the analysis, Coutts surmised: “The Coutts Index tracks the changing value of ‘passion’ assets such as fine wine, classic cars, jewellery, fine art and trophy property. 2016 saw a modest increase in the index of 1.2%, compared to an average annual increase of 5.3%, while the index has returned 76.6% since it was founded in 2005.”