Friday, December 12, 2008

Gold Surpasses Platinum, Palladium $170

These are some weird financial times we're living in, my friends. The dollar, Euro, pound, and basically all currencies are falling, but what are they falling against? Oil is around $40 a barrel and Gas in many places is under $1.50 a gallon. Precious metals are down: platinum is around $820, palladium is $170, and silver is $10.50. Gold isn't down as much, but at $820 it isn't particularly high either. Stocks are down, auto makers are about to go bankrupt, and real estate prices are now dirt cheap.

So, what's going to give? If everything is down, the dollar would be strong, right? In a very real sense, for now anyway, it is! It's really fallen against the yen, so keep that in mind. However, as the dollar falls other currencies will follow slowing. Precious metals will shine. It won't be immediate, but with a global recession, something will go up, and those holding those assets will benefit.

Where does this leave Palladium? Palladium is a precious metal, so will rise as gold does, but palladium is also an industrial metal, meaning it's used up in the auto industry. If they aren't making cars, they aren't buying palladium. Palladium will have its time, but we can't say when.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

John Embry on Precious Metals Price

I love John Embry. He was somewhat of a role model for me. I don't know exactly, but he's in his 60s and looks good for his age. He's articulate but also colloquial. Plus he knows what he's talking about but does so calmly. Also he's rich. I'd like to hear him speak any day, even if he did happen to be wrong. He's similar to Obama in that aspect.\

In this video he talks about how precious metals such as palladium and platinum along with gold are being manipulated to stay down, but predicts a rise in price, eventually.



The last time I heard him speak was on GATA's Gold Rush 21. He had a prepared speech there but it was it very good to listen too. That's when gold was actually lower than it is now, and he was saying basically the same thing he is now about suppression and such.

Palladium has actually risen 10% over the past week or so. The others haven't moved much.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Palladium & Gold Confiscation

Confiscation Act of 1933

From what I got from my reading online, during the gold confiscation of 1933, having it was punishable by 10 years in prison and or a fine up to $10,000 (which would be like $100,000 or more today). You were apparently required to take all the metal you had and turn it in for the price of those days--$20/oz. But, from the Net info I've read, it says safety deposit boxes were not searched. I guess it was kind of a honor system of whether you turned it in or not and if you got caught you were legally screwed. There's a lot of Net info out there but I prefer reading hard copies and can't stare at the screen too long. I don't know how silver or platinum was effected at the time. I don't think platinum trading was very popular back then, and I'm sure palladium wasn't. I know they had bullion though

The ABC's of Gold Investing by Michael Kosares

I read Michael Kosares's The ABC's of Gold Investing. It's basically for beginners but I enjoyed it. It's the only book I've ever bought on palladium or precious metals (and learned the rest through a friend...or the hard way!). Chapter 16 is devoted to confiscation and after reading it I'm convinced that confiscation is truly possible, even today. It happened in Korea and Thailand as late as 1997. However, in the years following Executive Order 6102 of 1933 (the Confiscation Law) up until 1975, pre-1933 coins were allowed to be held by investors due to their numismatic value. This held true for US $20 pieces, German 20 mark, Swiss 20 franc, French angel, Dutch guilder, amongst others (pg 123).

Now let's look at a quote from the late palladium expert Franz Pick, as quoted by Kosares:
I am afraid that one day the government will indeed call (precious metals) in (bullion) will be subject to confiscation. This is one big advantage to numismatic (coins), such as the double eagles. It is an idiosyncrasy of governments that although they may prohibit ownerships of (metals) in any form, they are reluctant to touch collections of numismatic...coins. Today, there are some 49 countries that forbid ownership of (it) by their citizens, but do allow holding...coins for numismatic purposes. Even Soviet Union and easter European countries legally tolerated]the acquisition of numismatic...coins. So, these are the only...holdings that could be kept in your safe deposit box without any fear of confiscation (p 128).
1927 St. Gaudens (click to enlarge)

That's what I got from Kosares anyway. He has another "book" which came about before ABCs which I think might be free to read on the Internet. It's called How You Can Survive a Potential Gold Confiscation with Michael Cooper. I don't know how to find it. Someone said it's free with this packet but I haven't signed up yet. I can't find it anywhere for free or to buy. Anyone know where to find it?

* * *

What's strange to me that Roosevelt passed the order in 1933, then quickly made it legal to keep all coins pre-1933. So, at that time, ALL coins were legal to hold! But, the government still got the bars. Since was illegal, the last minted coins were 1933, and they didn't mint again until, as uncovered my quick search, 1992. And, as a side note, Kosares says this, "All safety deposit boxes were sealed and could not be opened except in the presence of an IRS agent" (pg 122). Hmm...

Possible Palladium Confiscation Summary

Well, if you came here looking for definite answers, I can't give you any. In fact, no one can answer confiscation questions. Here are a few facts to help you though:
  • Metal was confiscated in 1933 and it was illegal to hold until 1975. There is nothing saying that palladium won't be confiscated again
  • The past can predict the future. In the past pre-1933 coins were not confiscated. They are less likely to be confiscated this time. In fact, there are 49 countries that prohibit ownership, but they all allow ownership of numismatic (collectible) coins
  • If palladium and other metals areconfiscated, you will be paid a set price for it. The government will determine this price. It will likely be low
  • If you own palladium that cannot be tracked to you and you keep it hidden, it cannot be confiscated
  • You can make your own guesses by reading about the past. The executive order of 1933 is posted at the bottom of this page
  • The US government has very little palladium and other metals now. The metals it used to have went not to US citizens, but overseas. Confiscation of palladium by the US government wouldn't do much good for any purpose
And that's all I have! Let's just hope this will never happen!

Click this link to read the 1933 confiscation executive order by Franklin Roosevelt: http://www.goldline.com/images/content/precious-metals/articles/conf-order.pdf

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Where Can I Buy Rhodium Coins Rhodium Bullion?

I want to Buy Rhodium Coins!

Many people ask about buying rhodium coins or rhodium bullion. To make the answer short: there are no rhodium coins or bullion. This is not to say you can't invest rhodium, but it's not as easy as gold or even palladium.

Sheet Rhodium

There are a few reasons why they don't make rhodium coins or rhodium bullion:
  • Rhodium: rare. There are only 25 tons of it mined per year
  • Rhodium: brittle. If it were in coin or bullion form, it could easily break.
  • Rhodium: expensive. An ounce it would costs thousands of dollars. Rhodium reached $10,000 for 1 oz this year, I'd imagine that a coin would have had a 10% premium. It is only $1300 for 1 oz now, but if they had them, they wouldn't be selling for any less than $3000
  • Rhodium: popular. No one really knows what rhodium is. If governments were to make a coin with 90-some percent rhodium, there would be very little interest.
Pure Rhodium

Uses for Rhodium, What Uses Rhodium?

What uses rhodium? Rhodium is a good conductor and catylist. Rhodium used in special types of wire and is mixed in most catalytic converters in cars. In fact, it can be salvaged from these catalytic converters and sold, if you can find a buyer. Jewelry makers use rhodium. Rhodium coating on jewelry makes cheap jewelry shine as well as platinum or palladium jewelry. Rhodium is expensive, but they use such a fine coat if it that it's worth next to nothing. TIP: put Windex on a paper towel and rub it on some cheap rhodium-coated jewelry. You'll see rhodium on the paper towel!

Rhodium Pictures: I want Rhodium Photos!

I added a few rhodium pictures to this page. The top picture shows you the white, silvery shine of a sheet of rhodium. The next picture is pure rhodium in it's raw, but non-powder form. Below you have rhodium wire, and rhodium-plated ring. There is a lot of rhodium-plated jewelry. I ring or a necklace can be a cheap rhodium as $5.00. You won't get much rhodium off it though!

Rhodium Wire


Rhodium-Plated Ring

Platium Coin Sells for $6000!

$6000 for Platinum Coin!


Check out this YouTube video of a Platinum Eagle selling on a QVC type channel. Apparently there were only NINE of them that were in perfect MS70 condition. That's expensive platinum! As I write this platinum is $840 an oz. These, however, are a bit more. Wow!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

All Commodities Down!

In the fast few weeks we've seen the prices of EVERYTHING drop! If you want to buy palladium now is the time, that's for sure! Oil is down to $63 a barrel. That's cheap oil. I truly believe the government is doing their best to keep it down. And, while oil is down you'll find palladium cheap. Palladium follows platinum and silver which more or less follow gold, but swing at higher percentages. Silver, palladium, and platinum have dropped around 60%. Gold only around 30%.

So, what can you infer from this? Buy palladium online now if you can find it. I'm looking into buying silver instead of palladium because with fees on palladium expensive like they are, you're paying double! The key is to buy a from the big gold companies. The drawback of doing that is that if you want palladium coins, they're going to make you buy a minimum of 10 oz or so. You can buy just one 1 oz coin palladium.

The Dow is down too. This isn't new news (I haven't updated this blog in well over a week). The Dow is in the mid-8000s. And precious metals took another 5-10% dip last week too. Looking at history, you'll see that gold and oil rise and fall similarly (at the time of this entry I haven't found one, but I'll find a chart to attach here). And you'll see that as the stock market goes down, oil and gold go up.

So, is everything going to stay down? Frankly, I'm surprised. I thought gold would shoot up with the stock market fall. What's funny, EVERYONE is buying gold now too, as it's cheap! Rare palladium is the bad result for us! As an industrial metal manufacturers have a use for palladium whether its price is up or down. I believe, that like oil, the government is manipulating the gold price and keeping it down, in order to keep the dollar from collapsing.

This is something interesting and I don't know how it relates: the dollar has fallen 10% versus the yen in the past week. Why?

Monday, October 13, 2008

My Newest Coins: Palladium Maple Leaf 2007

If you keep up you probably already know that the most popular palladium coins are the palladium Maple Leaf. It would be quite interesting to the non-palladium investor that the palladium Maple Leaves coins were only coined for three years. The Canadian mint coins palladium, but the Maple Leaf wasn't a popular palladium coin; although the gold and platinum Maple Leaf is quite popular.

2005 Palladium Maple Leaf Coin

There were 60,000 2005 Palladium Maple Leaf coins made. This was the first year of issue. However, there were some Palladium Maple Leaf "test" coins. They wanted to test the use for palladium coins in the market place. They made A and B, and there were only 150 of each made. These are the most expensive palladium 1 oz coins due to their scarcity.


2006 Palladium Maple Leaf Coins & Constellation Coin

There were many more coins minted in 2006; nearly 70,000 to be precise. Those who wanted the palladium Maples could now easily invest. Palladium Constellation coins were also made. There were 300 for each season. Each Palladium constellation coin shows an adult bear and a cub. The constellation is in a different position for each season.

2006 Palladium Canada Maple Leaf Constellation Coin

2007 Palladium Maple Leaf

Demand for palladium coins waned. In 2007 there were only 15,000 palladium Maple Leaf coins minted. Since there are so few, they are harder to find. However, 15,000 is still a lot so they are not really selling for any higher than the 2005 and 2006 palladium coins. Now take a Chinese Panda, for example, of which only 3000 were minted, and they are worth a lot.

2007 Palladium Canada Maple Leaf

My Newest Coin

I have palladium Maple Leafs, but I didn't have a 2007. Most Canada Maple Leaf coins go for around $350 on Ebay, regardless of the year. But, I was finding more 2006 cheap palladium coins for around $300, so I bought mostly 2006s. I wanted a 2007 palladium Maple to round out the set, so I found a guy online who was willing to trade. He was going to mail it, but instead, I found out that he lives 30 minutes from me! We didn't notice until we exchanged addresses. So, we traded, I gave him $10 gas money to say thanks for helping out, and we each drove away with the coins! I'm so happy I have my 2007!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

2001 prices of Palladium: Invest $1000 for Only 1 oz?!!

Today we're going to discuss the 2001 skyrocketing prices of palladium. Invest $200 now and get 1 oz. Back in 2000, to get palladium, invest only $100 and get 1 oz. Now that's some cheap palladium! However, this happened:

The Russian state treasury, Gokhran, indicated that no pgm would be sold in 2001, forcing automakers (and other users) to move to ensure they would have adequate stocks. The white metal rose to $956 on the last trading day of 2000. In January of 2001, palladium hit a high of $1,090 (http://www.stillwaterpalladium.com/priceJM.html)


So, Russia stopped selling and palladium skyrocketed from $100 to $1000/oz due to car manufacturers needing it and Russia not selling it. Platinum jumped from $400 to over $600 as well, and, like Pd, fell back near its previous levels. The main reason for platinum rising and falling was also due to Russia's hoarding. At that time thousands of people were willing to invest. Palladium was higher than any other precious metal.

Platinum vs palladium? Invest low and sell high, right?

Well most people don't do it that way. When you find palladium cheap, like it is now, no one wants palladium. Invest when it was high and everyone wanted to invest! Palladium was bought mostly by car manufactures, but investors got in on it too.

Needless to say, when the prices fell, some investors and car companies lost millions. A few months ago everyone wanted platinum because it was so high. But not many are interested now that it's low. I think we'll continue to see palladium cheap for some time now, then when platinum follows silver and gold up, people will again want to invest. Palladium cheap and others high? Palladium will follow along slowly. So, it's easier to invest! Palladium just follows the trends, so you can't lose!

People now say there's a palladium surplus and it won't rise again as it did in 2001. Well, this year it reached $600 as gold was over $1000 and platinum was over $2000. So, although Pt and Pd are industrial metals, they are also attractive to those wanting to invest. Palladium is the most volatile, and the most alluring of the main four precious metals. It's sad that it's so unpopular.

Palladium vs Platinum, Platinum vs Palladium: Which to Buy?

Most people know about silver and gold and how they are worth a lot of money. But few know about platinum and palladium. People investing precious metals know about the differences between platinum vs palladium, but, if you're new, you might not.

When people want to invest in precious metals, they buy gold. If they want to mix it up, they'll buy silver. You see, women aren't like this, but men have a way of switching up what works and trying to make it work better. Men take more risks. So, they jump into silver. But, in recent years platinum has become popular, especially since it hit $2000 an ounce earlier this year. To some, platinum was more attractive than gold. It's similar in volatility to silver, but worth A LOT more. But, what about palladium vs platinum?










Platinum vs Palladium

The platinum vs palladium debate is one with no rights and wrongs. It's all speculative opinion when it comes to future values. Let's look at some facts before we get to the opinions of palladium vs platinum:
  • Platinum is more useful in industry.
  • Platinum is more expensive.
  • Palladium is several times as rare.
  • Platinum wins in platinum vs palladium in industrial situations, but palladium can often be substituted for platinum
  • Due to platinum's price, they are increasingly finding ways to substitute palladium
  • History proves that palladium is more volatile
  • Platinum has been as high as 2-3x the price of gold at the time
  • Palladium has been as high as 4x the price of gold at the time
  • In 2001 palladium was 140% the price of platinum
  • In 2008 platinum was 4x the price of palladium
  • Palladium vs platinum spark plugs: palladium cost more, so I bought platinum :)
  • Today gold is basically equal to platinum and 4x the price of palladium
So, what can we infer from these platinum vs palladium facts? What I've been saying all along: platinum may double in value, but palladium may quadruple. I'm so curious to see what happens!

Will Gold Pass Platinum?

Technically it shouldn't, but temporarily I think it could. I think gold could hit $940 by Wednesday and it's not that I necessarily think platinum will fall, but if it does fall another 5% or so, gold will be above it!

Kicking myself for buying platinum AND gold now, should have stuck to just gold. Oh well. I was kicking myself a few months ago for not buying all platinum. Depends on the point in time what you're kicking yourself for!

Sticking to gold is the safest. The white metals are more volatile. Do you want to save for the long term? Gold. Do you want to play the markets and sell at peaks? Palladium, platinum, silver.

Investing: Precious Metals 101

This blog entry should have been posted before, because it has the basic principles needed to be investing precious metals. But, late is better than never. I like writing about principles such as the following because it helps me remember the basics!

Investing: Precious Metals

I didn't get heavily involved in investing precious metals until a year or so ago due to a) finally having an interest in my on financial affairs and b) a friend demanding that I watch a few videos on gold and silver. I guess I was pig investor in a sense, because if gold and platinum hadn't have been rising, my friend wouldn't have convinced me to get in. At that time I wasn't buying palladium and silver, because the local shop only had gold and platinum. Now, I'm I'm still investing; precious metals palladium and silver are my choices.

Last year I got in the market, but I was moving houses, so I got out at the peak and sold a lot of what I had. I kind of lucked into making myself a large amount of pocket change! But, now that I know what I'm doing, and now metals like silver and palladium cheap, I want to buy more and more! I have some, but I'm going to need the money for my business (unrated to investing in precious metals). The only thing I can do right now is sell of some gold which is relatively high for some silver which is pretty low. There's not much else I can do without the cash. I will need the other money I have to live on for the next few months and pursue other investments.

Thinking of Investing: Precious Metals Basic Info

If I had the money I'd stock up on the white metals now, and sell when the reach the levels they were this spring. Then when they drop below that I'd get some more, save for the long term, and forget about it for a while. Sure, all the metals will triple in value in 5-10 years, but, if we only have $5000 invested, we can't hope for a very big payoff in 5-10 years. If we invest $50k now though, we'd make a lot more!

I know this is investing 101 here but reiterating it helps everyone learn. Plus, there might be beginners reading this who need some insight!

Thanks for reading!

If you'd like to learn more, please search this site or others for some of these terms: Investing precious metals, palladium, palladium coins, coins palladium, use for palladium, etc

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Cash vs Precious metals

What is beter to have now, cash or precious metals? Metals of course!

However, not everyone can think about the future now. Some people need the cash to survive. The ideal for them would be to increase that cash, THEN take that money to use for palladium or another precious metal and hold it into the future.

We've got crazy bargain prices now and I'm mad that I can't buy much more! Even if gold were $2000/oz I think that would be a bargain compared to what we might see in 2015. Hopefully we can all buy a lot now and sell at 3x our money in a few years. But for most of us, we can't afford to buy that much right now to make much of a difference

Tanaka Gold Bars Use for Palladium Trade

However, I have a couple Tanaka bars and am going to try to sell them (save money to use for palladium)...on Ebay...for 120% of its value like everyone else does (I bought a few coins last month at 150% of their value so I guess it's fair). I don't see gold rising faster than the money I'm hoping to invest in my own business, so I'll sell, make money by working, then have more money to use for palladium!

Here's the Tanaka site. You probably don't have Japanese fonts installed but you can see the daily selling price on the right (and they don't pretend they're sold out like they do in the US!) and if you click the yellow under that they show the buying and selling price which is fixed at 9 am Mon-Fri (and they sell Sat at 4 pm at the Fri morn fixed price!). (Tanaka's small English site.)

Anyway, my question is: Are these bars well-known? I don't find any on Ebay and not much mention of them anywhere except in Japan. They're great quality, and I only choose them over the American coins because they were charging a $60 premium for each coin, so I would have had to pay $120 more as compared to buying an equal amount in bullion bars.

Do you think it'll sell? I'm pretty good with my wording and responding to possible buyers. I was thinking to put $1750 on a 50 gram bar and see what happens. If sold at that price, my Ebay + Paypal fees would total $100. Will let you know!

Silver Philharmonics Premiums in Japan

It's my assumption that Austrian Philharmonics 1 oz do NOT have a numismatic value. In fact, when I called (I think it was Monex) to buy cheap palladium, the guy told me they were out of Pd but he recommended 100 oz of Philharmonics silver coins and there was no premium (I would have paid $1300 or so, but I wanted Pd).

So, why is Tanaka Japan selling them for $60 each? Hard to import to Japan? Japanese are stupid and think they're platinum?? I bought from Tanaka in Japan before and they had a premium on coins over bullion, but it was only about 5%, not 500%!!

Click for link (in Japanese, but you can see the price of 6,300 yen, which equals $60).

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Palladium St. Gaudens Coin

Just so my readers don't miss out, palladium St. Gaudens coins may be released soon! The House of Representatives authorized it, but it must pass through the Senate and signed by the president. If so, we'll have palladium St. Gauden's!

I would like to get one of the special issue coins, the first St Gaudens palladium on the market. If not, maybe one of my readers can get and sell me one!

The coins will be mined from US palladium in Stillwater, Montana. 2009 gold St. Gaudens are already set to be released.

Spot Palladium Premiums

QUICK SUMMARY: Palladium coins online have been hard to find. Now, they're even harder. When you do find them, they are selling for double the spot price. With palladium cheap right investors are hoarding and/or flocking to buy.

Screen shot taken from my "secret" selling source
for cheap palladium and cheap platinum. Notice the "sell"
boxes are empty.


There goes my "secret" palladium source! I found a single-page site online of a place that was selling Pd Maple Leaves for about $30 over spot when the Pd price was $240 (so they were selling for $270 at that time). I called but didn't buy because I didn't want to buy the minimum.

Then the other day, I reconsidered after seeing the cheap palladium price drop below $200. So, I just checked my site: not selling! They're hoarding their stash! So, if you're a small-time seller on Ebay or something, you just add a 50-100% premium and sell. If you're a respectable, big-company seller, you pretend you're sold out!

So, that's how it's looking today. Palladium futures and Platinum futures, at least if you ask the big sellers, are going up. When I have a use for palladium--when we hope to find cheap coins--the rare metal becomes even rarer. I'm curious too see where we'll be in a week or so!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Trade Gold for Platinum or Palladium now, and the Opposite Later

I think I'm going to sell off a little gold and try to get some platinum for around $1000 an ounce, or less. If I can find silver or Palladium for it's current spot price I'd do that too. The platinum and palladium I have, though, I'll hold it. I could still sell the palladium for over $400 an ounce though, which is strange. It's rare, people want it, but you can't buy it for the cheap price it's worth. When platinum does go back up to $2000 I'm trading it for gold, provided gold is around $1000 at the time. I don't have the money right now and would actually like to trade in some metals for cash, but can't do that now without losing money.

Palladium Under $200! Platinum Under $1000!

The metals are cheap! I'm really very surprised. Gold is relatively high, but we have cheap palladium, cheap platinum, and cheap silver. They are ridiculously low! Palladium has fallen under $200 this morning and platinum has fallen under $1000.

For those with cash in their pockets now is a good time buy platinum online, or buy palladium online if you can find it. You can buy silver bars online much easier, but not at it's current low price. You can get these metals for under half the price they were selling for a few months ago.

I was thinking about this yesterday and thought about selling some gold and buying Au, Ag, or Pt. I don't think it would be a bad strategy. $8 silver, $180 palladium, or $900 platinum while gold is were it is now would definitely lead me to make that choice. However, I'd have to be able to actually find the metals to buy at that low price! Right now you can't find palladium 1 oz for under $350!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Coin Palladium: Who Coins Palladium?

Who are the main makers who coin palladium? There are a few main coins and bullion so you know who coins palladium for your investments.


Canada Maple Leaf.
The Canadian Government has coin palladium from 2005 to 2007. They made the very popular Palladium Maple Leaf Bullion coin. These are generally worth their bullion value









Pamp Suisse
coins palladium. They coin palladium one ounce Pamp Swiss bars. They are very popular, and individually wrapped and numbered.







Russia.
Russia coins palladium 1 oz and half ounce coins. They have pictures of ballerinas on them. The different poses are worth a different numismatic value.







USA
. The US government coins palladium Stillwater coins and bullion. If lucky, we'll soon see Palladium St. Gaudens coins!








China.
In China they coin palladium Panda coins. There are only about 20,000 in all of the years.

Palladium Coins Rare and Rare Bullion to Buy

It's so hard to get palladium right now. Palladium has never been a popular precious metal, but people own it seem to be hoarding it and not wanting to sell it. Even with palladium cheap, those selling it are selling it for over double its spot price!

What's weird:
1. The prices of precious metals dropping this year (perhaps because it's an election year)
2. The low palladium price compared to gold (it should follow it's big brother)
3. The unavailability of palladium to buy (likely no one wants to sell so low)
4. The way palladium is selling for so much over spot (people want their original investments back)

How you can win either way:
1. If it drops you can buy more cheap palladium
2. If it goes up we can sell our cheap palladium for more than we paid
3. I know where to buy it (coin shop owner knows some people) ;)

Cheap Palladium: Will We Continue to See Palladium Cheap?

I'm pretty sure we won't find palladium cheap for much longer. It likely won't go much lower than what it is right now: $214. Now that's some cheap palladium! I said the same a few weeks ago when it was $220 and I'm still right. In fact, I wish I were wrong, though. I wish the price would go down to $100 so I can BUY MORE!

Afternoon Price of Cheap Palladium
(I got this from Monex, since they haven't updated their site since this afternoon)
I'm starting believe the prices really are manipulated because although it's hard to find there IS palladium available, but you definitely can't buy it for anywhere even close to the spot price of $214. Right now the people selling it for $330 are the ones with cheap palladium!

If you call up a big seller they will sell it to you for around $260 or so, with a minimum of 5 or 10 ounces. On Ebay it's still for sale, but they are listed for $400, and more--and selling for that! So, there is a shortage, and people who have the coins or bullion are selling them for at least $50 over spot. So, is the cheap palladium really worth $214 and an ounce, or is it worth more?

To me it's worth more; I paid $300 when it was worth $240 because the only other cheap palladium options would have been to buy 5 ounces; and I didn't want to spend that much at the time. And if you walked up to me I wouldn't sell you my palladium coins for any less than $350, because it would take around that to replace it. How the palladium bullion and coins are selling for double spot is WEIRD!

Cheap Palladium this Evening
(from The Bullion Desk)

And what about gold vs. palladium? Gold 1 oz is way up over $900 and platinum prices, palladium, and even silver prices are extremely LOW! So, we know they're going up eventually, and we know now's the time to invest. I'm new to the palladium market, but my guess is that gold moves first, by a certain percentage, then silver and platinum follows by a slightly larger percentage, and then palladium. Am I right?

I'm baffled by all three: cheap palladium as well as cheap platinum and silver...and also for them not selling that low! Weird. But, it's cheap palladium so if u want palladium cheap now is your time to buy!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Palladium One Ounce: Palladium Most Popular Coins

Palladium one ounce coin or bullion are the most popular ways of investing in palladium. The most popular palladium one ounce palladium coins are the Canada Maple Leaf. The most sought-after bullion is the palladium one ounce Pamp Suisse bar.

This is just going to be a quick entry for those who want to buy palladium one ounce now and aren't sure what you can trust to be something you can resell later.

1. Canada Maple Leaf palladium one ounce. The Canada Maple Leaves have by far been the most popular palladium one ounce coins of the past few years. They only minted these coins in 2005, 2006, and 2007, but they made nearly 150,000 of them. If you have a 2007 Maple Leaf let me know. I need it to finish off my collection! Palladium Maple Leaves are shipped in their plastic container and for numismatic value, should be kept that way to be easier to sell.


2. Pamp Suisse 1 oz. Palladium one ounce Pamp Swiss bars are also very popular. I didn't look up the number minted, but I do believe they are more readily available than the 150,000 palladium one ounce Maple Leafs. They are packaged in a nice holder and even show the serial number and how many are minted. So, they should be easier to sell because everyone knows what they are. But, the Maple Leaf might demand more of a premium.


3. Russian Ballerina palladium 1 oz. There are also around 150,000 of these in existence. They are pure palladium, one ounce, and should be in a protective case. However, there are about 10 different poses for the ballerina and although it has the palladium one ounce value, to a collector it may be worth much more.


So, that should get you started. The USA is making Stillwater coins and bullion and there are a few others. We'll get to those later. For now, any of these should be a solid investment and when you want to sell, you shouldn't have any troubles!

Use for Palladium

Before you invest, you want to know the use of palladium, right? Palladium has many uses and many, many more are possible, making it the "sleeper" precious metal. I'll give you the shorthand version of uses of palladium, then I'll give you a link or two with the technical terms about palladium uses.


An obvious use of palladium is in coins. We have Canada Maple Leaf Palladium 1 oz coins and Pamp Suisse palladium bullion. Russian Ballerina palladium coins and Chinese Panda 1 oz coins are also popular. There are many more.

Another use for palladium is jewelry. Everyone wants gold jewelry, but some don't like the color (and others don't like the price!). Some people go for silver, but you'd be a pretty lousy husband to give your wife a cheap silver necklace or bracelet! Platinum costs more than gold, but, it may cost TOO much! So, we have a good use for palladium: a platinum substitute! If gold is $1000, platinum might be a hefty $2000, silver a cheap $10, but palladium, will fall perfectly at around $500. Give or take, sure, but if you give the give of palladium, it will be pretty, not fade, and last a lifetime.

I had a run-in this week for another palladium use: spark plugs! I live near AutoZone, but before going in I looked online to see what was available. Here, I'll show you the pics and even give you the link to AutoZone's spark plug page.

Single electrode palladium-gold mix spark plug

Yes, the above spark plug, folks, uses palladium mixed with gold. Some people swore by them, but they stopped making them and replaced them with platinum. Why? I didn't look that up yet! They make several kinds now, some with 2 and even 4 electrodes! They make platinum and even iridium!

Double electrode platinum and quadruple electrode iridium spark plugs.

And what did I buy? You guessed it, the single electrode $2.99 platinum! The iridium seemed cool because I've never owned anything iridium before, but it's not worth $7.99. I don't think dual or quad electrodes make much of a difference anyway. In the spark plug world, while they're using platinum cheap, they have no use for palladium. You'll see them again though, I'm sure!

Another use of palladium is in catalytic converters. These are included in all cars and include platinum, rhodium, and palladium. I believe platinum is the main ingredient, but they are likely to start using palladium more because it's cheaper. Just another of many uses for palladium.

Dentistry, electronics, mobile phones, and plating of various jewelery are also among the uses of palladium. Palladium is extremely rare, 30 times as rare as gold, and even rarer than platinum. More and more car companies are making cars with fuel cells: they need palladium.

So, that's my quick explanation for the use of palladium. Check Wikipedia, The Market Oracle, and any of the other sites for info. Thanks for reading!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Gold, Silver, Platinum, or Palladium?

Are you looking to invest in the precious metals market? You've already made a great choice for investing your money! Now, what type of coin or bullion do you want to buy? Gold and silver are the obvious choices. Gold is your safe bet, and you have silver which is more volatile. But then you have platinum and palladium. Both silver in color, and just or even more volatile.

If you want an investment that will move up and down slowly, then you should choose gold. If you want something more volatile that in the past few months has lost nearly half of its value, you want silver or maybe even platinum. If you want something volatile, rare, mysterious, at the bottom of its price range, and with the highest chance to double, or even triple, you want palladium.

Gold (50 grams)
Tanaka Melters, Japan

We've watched gold and even more silver and platinum fall in the past few months. I don't think any of the four main investment metals--gold, silver, platinum, palladium--will lose much more than 5% of their current values. Gold, if it rises to where it was, will go back to $1000 an ounce, a 25% gain. If platinum, palladium, and silver return to what they were a few months ago, you get a 45% gain.

Silver (Various Size Bars)


However, palladium has been over $1000 per oz before. I personally don't think it will go that high again anytime soon, but if you figure it the same way I figured the rest, you'd be at 75%, meaning it will gain 75% of its old $1000/oz value (or rise 400%). Any of the four are sound investments, as they are all as low as they will be for now. But, how much do you want to make off of your investment?

Platinum (10 Grams)
Tanaka Melters, Japan

Gold: was at $1000 oz (over $30 per gram). It went down below $750, and is up around $830 or so today. Now, if gold returns to $1000 an ounce, are you going to make a killing? Not exactly.

Silver: was at $22 a ounce. Now it's down to $12, and was even around $10.80 for a while. Does this have a chance to double? Absolutely.

Platinum: was at $2200 and ounce and is at $1100. You don't need me to tell you it's on sale. Get it while it's cheap!

Palladium (One Ounce)
Pamp Suisse, Switzerland

Palladium: fell from $550 to it's low of $230 today. That's over a 50% drop! Now, does this have potential or what? Remember, it is the only metal that had ever reached FOUR TIMES of its current value. With palladium you get the best of both worlds: Likely to double like silver and platinum, but also the chance to increase to 4 times its value. I'll take some!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Should You Buy Palladium Online?

So you're thinking about investing in precious metals with the market down? Now is the time to invest. With a stock market crash closer than ever and stock prices down, gold coins, silvers coins, and platinum coins will skyrocket. But what about palladium? Palladium coins and palladium bullion are also available for collectors. Why Paladium coins? Palladium, like platinum and silver, follows gold. Palladium is fourth in line though. Gold's risen $100 per ounce in the past couple days after the Leyman Brothers and AIG government bailouts. Palladium bullion prices haven't risen yet. Palladium is slower, and gives you time to think about your investment. That's how some investors see it anyway.

With this site I'm going to introduce you to the different types of palladium coins, palladium bullion, and palladium pools you can invest in. For collectors, there are palladium Russian Ballerina coins, palladium Canada Maple Leaf coins, and Pampa Suisse palladium bars. I'll address these all in the future. I'll also look at places to buy palladium online, palladium ebay, and other sources. Stop back often!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

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