Five months ago, the U.S. Mint began producing platinum coins after a six-year halt. They should have remembered that they stopped production for a reason, as sales have plummeted. It seems that investors are not getting behind the platinum coin, as gold and silver coins remain the favorite.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Jason Carstensen, a medical-sales representative who spends thousands of dollars a month on coins, said about platinum, “It’s not considered a currency.” Most experts view platinum as a more of an “industrial commodity,” with gold and silver maintaining favored nations status amongst investors as a hedge against inflation and drops in the market.
Timothy Green, an industry historian, consultant, and author, told Bloomberg, “Platinum has been around for some time, but I would think of it more as an industrial metal. Gold, on the other hand, has been associated with every old civilization. It is in a class of its own.”
According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Mint has sold just 13,600 ounces of platinum coins this year, while selling 313,500 ounces of gold coins and 27.71 million ounces of silver. The drop in platinum in favor of gold and silver seems to tie directly to the concern that the Federal Reserve’s policies are leading the U.S. down the road to inflation.
The Mint decided to bring back the platinum coin in March of this year after research showed a demand for the metal. It did sell 10,000 ounces that first month, but demand immediately dropped and has not returned.
“The platinum coins are gorgeous.” Kevin Lipton, who has been selling coins for decades and owns Kevin Lipton Rare Coin Inc. in Beverly Hills, California, told Bloomberg. “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.”
Michael Haynes, the chief executive officer of American Precious Metals Exchange, had a similar view in a statement to Bloomberg: “Long-term, coin buyers are more keen on buying gold and silver rather than platinum, and that’s how it has been always. Even though it is precious, it’s more an industrial metal in people’s minds.”