For the last several years Coin World has provided a "Classic U.S. Rarities Key-Date Investment Index" to the Wall Street Journal for use in its Investment Scoreboard.

For 2009, a decline of 7.9 percent was recorded in the rare coin index.

The index consists of 82 coins total: 15 copper, five copper-nickel, 39 silver and 23 gold coins with a total 2009 value exceeding $11.8 million.

Along with coins, the Wall Street Journal scoreboard tracks investment groups in the categories of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, bank instruments (bank certificates of deposit and money market accounts), money market funds, precious metals and residential real estate.

In 2006, Coin World's rare coin index gained 15.8 percent, in 2007 a 31.9 percent gain was measured and in 2008 the gain was a more modest 8.8 percent.

Despite the decline during the past year, when broken into components, the 2009 index shows some definite bright spots.

Copper coins did extremely well, buttressed by the sale of several major collections of early copper coins. In 2009 a gain of 37 percent was measured among the copper rarities. The index includes numerous early copper coins that recorded large gains.

Rare silver coins showed a decline of 8.9 percent in 2009 while the gold coin portion of the index declined 14.7 percent.

The increased interest in and value of precious metals failed to compensate for the general decline in demand at the top end of the market.

In addition, fewer high-quality coins have come to market in the past year.

The result is that many expensive coins are sitting longer in dealer inventories, and often performing modestly at auction. When they sell, they often sell at reduced values, which are reflected in the values that compose the index.

In 2008, rare coins were the second best performing asset on the list, trailing only two subcategories of bonds.

Where do coins fall among the investments in 2009? The 2009 scorecard featuring Coin World's index appears in the Jan. 4 issue of the Wall Street Journal.