Palladium Soars! Sell Now?

As I sit here, personally not making many precious metals moves other than purchasing some rhodium, I'm quite happy with my 2008 purchase of Palladium Canadian Maple Leaf coins. The price was $200 then; $600 now. This blog includes a lot of my opinion which I guess you could say is "investment advice" (though I don't view it as advice in the sense of advice of journalists who have never owned precious metals in their lives. Plus I blankly state when something is my opinion).

However, my idea of buying palladium in 2008 and selling when it reaches a high point, if implemented by selling today, would net the seller 200% profit. If you paid $250 for a coin in 2008 you could likely sell that coin for over $600 today. You make $350--nearly 200%. Multiply your earnings by the number of coins you bought and sold.

I'm really happy to see palladium soaring. Silver, platinum, and rhodium are all up, but palladium is three times up from its 2008 price. (Well, I guess rhodium is too, but rhodium wasn't available for purchase in 2008, so it doesn't count.)

I'm not envisioning palladium to jump much higher, though. I think silver breaking $21-22 will be needed to see palladium break $650-700. So if you're looking to make some money, sell your Pd now if you paid under $300 for it. Or, as I've been saying, sell ANY other precious metal and purchase silver. It's $18 per ounce, but a case could made that it should be at $50 per ounce or more. If I get some bucks I'll buy more for myself, perhaps even sell some palladium or gold to do so!

On gold, I don't see it moving anywhere but in the $1100-1200 range in the next few months, thus no more than 10%. Sell to buy silver? Not a bad idea! Would have been a better idea a few months ago!

Group Buy: 2 oz Rhodium Bullion Bars

Many of us have been wanting to buy physical rhodium for some time now. The Cohen Mint gave us rhodium, but there are some problems: they're only 1 gram (31 grams = 1 oz), inconvenient if you're looking to own a couple ounces, and very expensive because there isn't much of a discount if you buy 31 of them. I have respect for the Cohen Mint for marketing these coins and I even own a few grams myself, but I'm looking to own a single, heavier piece of rhodium!

Rhodium 1-Gram (0.032 oz) Coin

So I've been in contact with and have received two phone calls from American Elements - "World's leading manufacturer of engineered and advanced material products" (www.americanelements.com). I wanted to buy about 1-2 ounces of rhodium for myself, but even with AE I discovered that there'd be a few problems:

1. The fabrication costs to create the bars is much more than I was expecting
2. They only make 2 oz bars because the fabrication charges of 1 oz bars would be even more
3. There's a minimum order of 10 ounces (5 bars)

With the fabrication charges and "metal production charges" each 2 oz bar would cost $8073 plus shipping. And remember you have to buy 5 of them, so that's $40,365. I certainly don't have nearly that much, but I think I could swing the $8073. That's about $4000 per ounce, or 33% over spot, which for something this rare is, well, I don't want to say it's reasonable, but I don't really have any other choice.

Rhodium 2-Ounce Bullion Bar

So, I'm looking to do a group buy (or "purchase syndicate" if you want to be technical) with a few different people. Ideally I would need 4 other guys (or gals), each of us paying $8100 each (I'm rounding up and estimating to cover shipping costs). When we pay, the price will be locked in regardless if the rhodium spot price fluctuates. Or, if a certain member would like two bars he would pay double and we'd only need 4 people.

Before doing this I'd recommend we exchange phone numbers and any other information so we feel secure with each other. If we don't trust each other I'd rather choose another person to be member number five. My goal here is to own 2 ounces of rhodium. If that is your goal too and you don't have the $40,000 we'd be helping each other obtain that. Ideally, I'd receive the payments by bank check or bank transfer into my bank account. You could verify that the name and address on my bank account matches that of my driver's license which I could copy for you. If one member doesn't pay and we don't want to wait to find another, then I would return all the money to everyone.

When the $40,000 is in my account I will pay AE by bank transfer. They don't have these bars sitting around so it will take about a month for them to fabricate and send the bars. When I get the bars, I would send them directly to you by certified mail where you have to be present to receive the delivery. I don't want there to be any delivery problems so I'd like to pay extra for the most reliable shipping and have them delivered at a time when you can receive the package at your home or office.

This is a lot of money, so like I said I would even prefer it that we spoke on the phone enough that we trust each other. I'm definitely not the type to scam anyone but if you're anxious or have a problem with waiting the month for fabrication/delivery I think you'd agree that we shouldn't do this together. I'm not going to quote how cool rhodium is here or why you should buy it. I'm looking for four guys who already want to own rhodium and will be serious about having 2 ounces in their hand by May 1, 2010.

If you're with me, say "I!" My email address is under "AUTHORS & COMMENTS WANTED" in the right sidebar. If you've emailed me and not received a reply in a day or so leave me a comment by clicking on "COMMENTS" below this post.

You'll be getting one of these guys. I don't know about you but I'm keeping mine in the case!

Palladium Rhodium 2010

Readers and fellow investors,

I know several of you read the site regularly and haven't seen an update in months. I apologize.

However, in the coming few weeks I have plans for more articles regarding gold investing, silver investments, palladium bullion, and Cohen Mint rhodium coins.

Recently I've acquired some rhodium of my own. I've acquired more silver. I've switched jobs, made plans to move, and plan to trade and sell some of my investment metals, but ultimately, my stash should increase, because, as I've been saying, now is the time to buy.

I've read a lot more investment material and feel I'm even more able to predict future events regarding the economy. I don't have my own crystal ball, rather, I read the writings of those who have them. ;)

RE: the Cohen Mint

Also, I've been getting several emails and site comments regarding the late shipment of products ordered from the Cohen Mint. To those of you who've asked, I simply told you that I don't know. I personally have my hands on products created by Eitan Cohen, so, although I know many of you may not have received your shipments or haven't been responded to, I do assure you that the coins ARE being made, though I have no estimate of how long it takes to receive an order, fabricate Cohen rhodium coins, package them in their holders, and ship them throughout the world.

Do they take a long time to make? I'm sure they do. Is Mr. Cohen very busy? I'm sure he is. However, I've had no contact with Mr. Cohen since our Spring 2009 interview regarding the introduction of the Cohen Mint rhodium coins.

I apologize for any delays you may be having and I hope for everyone's sake we all receive our coins at the price we paid, even if delivery time takes longer than we'd expected. If you cannot wait, I'll sell you some of my coins as I have more on the way and am confident of their arrival. I won't cut you a deal on the price though as I'm also collecting them!


Thanks for your continued support. I'll be posting more soon!