Behold! 1 oz Rhodium Bullion in my Hands!

My first attempts to own rhodium failed. First I attempted to purchase it; yet it existed no where for the layman slash everyday investor to buy. My search took me to the dark, undercover areas of Tokyo, Japan. I was given a tip in Osaka that rhodium was available in small vials in "sponge" (powder) form, but I came home empty-handed. Imagine the horror. During this 2008-09 search rhodium was at just $750 an ounce.

Next I attempted to buy bulk, looking for 4 other investors to go in with me and we each pay 20% and each get one 2 oz bar. I only found 2 other people. Finally, my search led me to Eitan Cohen, owner of the Cohen Mint. We spoke on the phone and I learned he had rhodium coins on the way! But, not only were they only one gram, I received several emails from buyers who had to wait months to have their orders filled (no, I'm not affiliated with Cohen Mint, but I assure you a) it's damn hard to make a rhodium coin and b) they WILL get it to if you're patient). Either way, I decidedI'd buy my 1 gram coins from an Australian reader of this blog. I didn't know him, but I trusted him enough to buy a few coins. The product was good, so I bought the rest of what he had.

Cohen Mint 1-Gram Rhodium Round

But I was still several grams away from one ounce! So, when finally Cohen announced the 1 ounce rhodium bullion bar I contacted the company and made arrangements to purchase one. You need a cashier's check sent overnight (to make sure there's no huge price fluctuation) or else a bank transfer. I chose the former and FedEx (man, I hate FedEx!) didn't inform me that the don't ship to P.O. Boxes. So, I didn't get my cashier's check back until the next week because FedEx sucks. Then I had to pay to ship it with the Post Office. It was a pain getting my $30 back from FedEx too! Next time I do bank transfer!

1 oz Rhodium Bullion

Email communication with Cohen Mint was good. Many readers of this site expect hourly replies. Sometimes that just isn't possible and I understand that, so I don't mind waiting a few days for a reply. After 2 months, my 1 oz Rhodium bar showed up at the local post office! I picked it up on my way to work and left it in my glove box where I thought it would be safest. Never had a break-in but the rhodium bar is worth nearly as much as the car!

Cohen 1 oz Rhodium Bullion

The coin is well-formed and smooth. There are intricate details on the coin that I wasn't expecting. I would have been happy with a slab of it stamped "Rh .999 pure" and a "Cohen Mint" somewhere on it. That's how Engelhard did their silver; and it was fine for most of us. Needless to say, it's a beautiful piece of rhodium. The bar is smaller than 1 oz of gold, which makes sense considering rhodium's density is 12.41 g·cm⁻³ and gold is 19.3 (UPDATE: I was told I'm wrong on my physics here, but I'll just keep it that way for now!) Here is the size of the one ounce rhodium bar vs. the 1 gram rhodium coin. Notice the paler color of pure rhodium vs the nickel and quarter.


When I made this purchase Cohen Mint was kind enough to inform me that they could not sell me a coin because they hadn't designed any yet, but that they had some in the works. I feel this is really respectable because if I had wanted a coin I could have waited for one (or four, actually, so that I'd have an ounce). Truthfully I kind of like the bar, but here's a preview of what the Cohen Mint has up its sleeve!

Yes, that's a man on a horse stabbing a dragon. Let's hope they can make it this awesome!

1 Ounce Rhodium Bar Coming Soon!! (1 oz rhodium bar)

1 Ounce Rhodium Bar Coming Soon!! (1 oz rhodium bar)

MARCH 16, 2010 UPDATE: Sorry guys, I lied. These 1 ounce bars are not available and have for nearly a year said "coming soon." I'm sorry to disappoint everyone with the following article.

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That's right, folks, our friends over at Cohen Mint are planning to release a 1 oz rhodium bar within the next month!

Cohen Mint is by far the front runner in the rhodium coin market. In fact, the company has no rivals. If you're looking to invest in rhodium you either invest in stocks of a nickel mining company that has palladium, platinum, and rhodium as by-products, or you invest in a company like Stillwater Palladium Mining or Impala Platinum which also pulls some rhodium out of the ground, but neither of which focuses on rhodium (note: I haven't researched how to invest in stock of companies that mine rhodium, so understand that there may be more ways than I mention).

But, in the spring of 2009 Cohen Mint started producing one gram rhodium coins! Now, we're going to get a quarter of 1 ounce rhodium coins and 1 ounce rhodium bars! Here are a few photos of the current 1 gram rhodium bullion coins.

Front of 1-Gram Rhodium Bullion Coin

Rear of One Gram Rhodium Coin

To read all about the 1 gram rhodium coins which
have been available most of 2009, click here.

One Ounce Rhodium Bullion Bar

The proposed 1 ounce .999 rhodium bar looks like it will be pretty nice looking! I like the design and love that it will be double stamped. What I mean by this is that the sheet of rhodium will be stamped on the front, after which it will be stamped on the back. Some bullion bars are only stamped on one side and while they are worth the same (the weight of the metal, the back sides aren't shiny).

The new Cohen Mint 1 Ounce Rhodium bar will have a small stamp showing Eitan Cohen's design of a night on the horse. This is a good choice because it's the same design that's on the front of the one gram rhodium coins. As you can see in the photo the proposed stamp will also state the chemical symbol of rhodium, RH, "Cohen Mint," "1 OUNCE TROY," and "RHODIUM .999 FINE."

1 Ounce Rhodium Bullion Bar

The rear of the coins take some styling from other bullion products, such as the Engelhard Silver Bars (see left). Engelhard has versions where the rear if the bullion bar has "ENGELHARD" imprinted into the bar. The angle of the writing is quite stylish. However, as you can see in the photo to the left, the bar has the rest of the bar stamped so that "ENGELHARD" is raised above the surface of the bar, similar to the date printed on the coins in your pocket. While this is more attractive, due to the intricate detail of the design, I'm expecting the marks will be recessed into the bar. But the Cohen Mint has surprised us in the past, so we'll see!

Quarter of 1 Ounce Rhodium Coin (1/4 oz Rhodium Coin)

When you hear the Cohen Mint is going to make a 1 ounce rhodium bullion bar, you're excited. But when you go the site, there's a surprise waiting for you: the Cohen Mint will also make a 1/4 ounce rhodium coin!

The 1/4 ounce rhodium bullion coin will look similar to the 1 gram rhodium bullion coin pictured above, however, since the coin is about seven times the weight it will have approximately twice the surface area of the 1 gram coins. To put this into perspective, if the one gram rhodium coin is a dime, the 1/4 ounce will be a quarter (no, that isn't the exact size, but similar).

And below you can see the proposed design. Very nice looking coins. We're hoping these will have less of a premium for fabrication costs because, it takes approximately as much work to make a 1 gram coin as it takes to make a quarter ounce rhodium coin or a 1 troy ounce rhodium bar.

Quarter Ounce Rhodium Coin (1/4 oz Rhodium Coin)

1 oz Rhodium Bar Pricing

I haven't contacted Eitan Cohen about pricing. He is, as you can guess, a very busy man! When the 1 gram rhodium bullion coins came out they were priced at $90 when rhodium was around $1500. Now that rhodium is around $2300, the coins are selling for $125.

For my prediction, I'm guessing the 1 ounce bars will be around $2900 with rhodium at the price its at today. I would say the 1/4 coins will be around $800. Now don't quote me or plan on these prices. These are my guesses and I wouldn't be shocked if I were off by as much as 20%.

UPDATE: the 1/4 ounce rhodium coins are selling for around $880 and the 1 ounce bars are $3300.