Coutts is the Queen’s own bank. Occasionally Betty Windsor pops by the branch on The Strand to check out if her passbook is up to date. Of course on those days all the staff have to dress up old fashioned Royal clobber and look respectable.
So it’s surprising that a bank which started up two years before the Bank of England and at the same time as the Salem Witch Trials (being a friend of Satan then was about as popular as being a friend of Kevin Rudd today) has started a passion index.
The good news is, as we always tell you here in the motoring section, is that of all the passions Coutts measure (no, they don’t measure the most important one because you can go to jail for trying to do that) classic cars have been the biggest winner. Since 2005 old metal has risen 257 per cent. Old watches have gone up a lousy 176 per cent. Fine wine, art, gold and shares are basically stuffed.
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