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Message:: [QUOTE="benveniste, post: 1763072, member: 25547"]<a href="http://dqydj.net/sp-500-return-calculator/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://dqydj.net/sp-500-return-calculator/" rel="nofollow">http://dqydj.net/sp-500-return-calculator/</a> gives me a value of $31,786 for 1967 to present but that's a deceiving number in several ways.  First, it assumes 100% reinvestment of dividends.  That's unrealistic because you'd have to pay taxes on those dividends.  Second, in the 1960's there was no practical way to invest $450 in the S&P 500; index funds hadn't been invented yet.  Finally, brokerage fees at the time made investing $450 in even one stock problematic -- brokerages would hit you with an "odd lot" surcharge. But return is only one aspect of an investment -- risk is at least as important.  A diversified portfolio of stocks has very different risks from a single coin or even a small group of coins.  As a simple example, today that "XF" 1916-D from 1967 could slab out as high as AU53 (or even 55), or it could come back as a cleaned VF. So in summary, I don't think you can draw any conclusions from these raw numbers, especially for future investing.  My own opinion is that the bid-ask spread on individual collectibles is too high to make them a good "pure" investment play.[/QUOTE]