Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's investments are, well, let's just call them unusual.

The Wall Street Journal describes his choices as weird and was immediately hammered by readers calling foul. I'll say this much for his picks: They're definitely unorthodox, but they've seemed to turn out well.

Paul didn't like bonds or well-known mainstream stocks in 2010. In fact, he actively bet against U.S. stocks with a small stake in the Prudent Bear Mutual Fund (BEARX). You can see Paul's investments on his Congressional disclosure statement (registration required) for 2010.

Instead, Paul favored stocks of companies that mine silver and gold. He had 64% of all assets loaded into those, reports Jason Zweig of the Journal.

Here are a few of his picks:

AgniCo Eagle Mines (AEM), which doubled in price from 2009 through 2010 before plunging 50% in 2011.

Barrick Gold (ABX), another solid performer, went from about $33 in early 2009 to spend much of the past year between $45 and $55.

Goldcorp (GG). He owned class-A shares in this case. Goldcorp had a spectacular rise, going from about $27 in early 2009 to surpass $55 last April. These days it trades for about $45.

Iamgold (IAG). We're seeing the same pattern. The stock went from $6 in early 2009 to more than $20 last spring. Lately trading at about $17.

Newmont Mining (NEM), which has jumped almost 70% from early 2009.

Clearly, Paul was on the right side of the gold bet. And though he doesn't have to file his precise holdings, we can get a pretty good picture of a nice profit he made in 2009 and 2010. The Journal notes that the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index (HUI.X), which tracks mining stocks, has gone from $65 to $522 in the past decade.

Concentrating 64% of your assets into any category is risky, and we don't know what Paul has done with his portfolio lately. Some of Paul's picks, especially AgniCo Eagle Mines, lost their momentum last year.

The Journal looks at his portfolio as a lesson in diversification. "Above all, it is the simple risk that we will end up so sure of our own view of the world that the future is certain to catch us by surprise," Zweig writes. "And this is the risk that Rep. Paul's portfolio doesn't appear to insure against at all."