April 02, 2013

Jim Rogers Bought North Korean Gold and Silver Coins

Legendary investor Jim Rogers is buying all the North Korean coins he can get his hands on.

At a recent coin fair in Singapore, his assistant purchased 13 rare North Korean gold coins, typically featuring pictures of Korean generals, The Wall Street Journal, reported.

“He wanted to buy more, but we only had 13 left,” a representative of the state-owned Korea Pugang Coin Corp. that sold gold and silver coins at the fair, according to The Journal. It offered 20 one-ounce gold coins for 2,500 Singapore dollars ($2,014) as well as several hundred silver coins. By comparison, gold closed at $1,598 an ounce Friday.

Roger’s assistant also bought many of the silver North Korean coins being sold.

In a way, Rogers is short North Korea. “At some point down the line, North Korea will cease existing as a country. Then the value of the coins will go up,” Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, said in a previous interview, the Journal noted.

“Coins and stamps are the only way I can invest in North Korea. … At some point down the line, North Korea will cease existing as a country. Then the value of the coins will go up," Rogers said in a previous interview.

Rogers also purchased most of the North Korean gold coins at last year’s Singapore coin fair.

Korea Pugang Coins mints only about 2,000 coins a year, the Journal reports, noting that North Korea has a limited gold supply. Most are sold to foreign investors and collectors at coin fairs in the Far East.
Jim Rogers is an great investor, author and respected financial commentator. He is a regular guest on different TV programs like these of Barron's, FT, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fortune and CNBC. Rogers is the president of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests.