Avarae, Britain's only publicly traded investment fund that invests in rare and high quality coins, this week snapped up a unique set of Japanese coins issued between 1870 and 1917.

Sir John Wheeler, chairman of the Advisory Panel to Avarae and a 40-year veteran of coin collecting, said: "The Japanese coin market has been very subdued in recent years, particularly so since the Japanese Ministry of Finance announced the sale of so many gold coins in a series of auctions.

"Historically, once a treasured collection has been disseminated, the coins usually start to recover in price. As a consequence of these sales together with other factors, Japanese coins have not enjoyed the same strength as has been seen with coins of the US and throughout Europe.

"We feel, with the auctions drawing to an end, that Japanese coins could start to catch up with their peers."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...bcncoins111.xml

These things remind me of all of the other corporate corruption. It's kind of like those corporations that buy the small mom and pop businesses so they can dismantle them and sell off the parts. I hope this company provides a good home for the coins, but when I hear the word investment it gets me wondering. It makes me feel better when I hear the term "coin collector" to describe one of the gentleman though.

"The collection was part of a gold coin holding totalling 32,683 individual pieces and weighing a staggering 225kg which was put on sale by the Japanese government three years ago."

I would have to assume they invest in the bullion and not the coins themselves