Gold is staying strong in the mid nine hundreds range, and still climbing, silver remains around fourteen to fifteen dollars an ounce, platinum is still in the neighbourhood of twelve hundred dollars an ounce, while palladium stays around two hundred twenty dollars an ounce.

The shortage of 22 karat gold blanks at the US Mint continues, but they do plan to resume sales of the 2009 ultra high relief gold Eagles within a month or so. If you haven’t yet, you may want to take this shortage as an opportunity to begin investing in whatever metals you don’t already hold.

While most coin investors go straight for gold, they’re not the only investment grade coin available. When you buy precious metal coins in various metals, you simply provide yourself with more options, so when platinum has a particularly strong week, you’re free to sell a few platinum coins off while holding onto your gold and silver. Likewise, if silver experience a decline for a week, you can buy a few while watching your other metals continue to climb in value.

Of course, the other reason the Mint offers investors the opportunity to buy precious metal coins in silver, gold, platinum and palladium is to make the coins more accessible to investors in all income brackets. Buying a few dozen platinum one-ounce Eagles certainly takes a pretty penny, but you can buy a smaller palladium coin for under two hundred dollars, and some of the silver coins for less than the money you have in your pocket.

Couple this with the fact that, when you buy precious metal coins, you are pretty much giving yourself the very best financial security policy you can buy, and there’s simply no excuse for anyone not to stay safe throughout this recession and the next one.

Of course, alternately, you can simply buy precious metal coins in whatever size and metal you like. Investing in metals really is a low-stress investment option. You don’t have to read the spot prices ten times a day or keep your stockbroker on speed dial. All you need to do is buy as many coins as you’re comfortable buying, and then relax. Check the spot price now and then, buy some more when you feel it is prudent to do so, and sell a few now and then likewise.

Simply put, the option to buy precious metal coins is accessible, it’s convenient, and it’s safe. It’s no wonder it’s finally caught on in light of this recession, but it’s likewise unfortunate that it took a recession for us to see such boosts in investor demand.

In essence, that’s really all that needs to be said. With precious metal coins, you offer yourself peace of mind and a variety of options. This is true of so few investment opportunities during a recession, but it always seems to hold true when you buy precious metal coins.

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Janet Villalon

Aug 24, 2009

For those holding precious metal retirement accounts, our advice is to hold a little in each metal. Platinum and gold where you put the big money, of course, but the convenience and accessibility of silver and palladium cannot be overestimated.

Besides the convenience of having smaller values of metal in your retirement fund, there’s also the fact that, while all metals tend to correlate in terms of performance, so, while gold is up, so is silver, and so on, they don’t always correlate perfectly. In other words, silver might see an exceptionally strong week while gold remains level during that period. And so, it’s nice to have the option to buy any metal seeing a slow week, while selling any metal seeing an unusually strong period.

Say you need to dip into your precious metal retirement accounts to put a down payment on your dream home. Hypothetically, we could say that most analysts are predicting that platinum is currently peaking while gold is still gaining steam. By having both metals available to you, you can sell some platinum, while holding onto your gold in order to reap the full benefits of the metal’s growth.

Of course, if you like, you can simply pick your favorite metal and put all of your money into it. It’s a good idea to keep investments in each of the precious metals, but regardless of what you choose, you will wind up with a nice, solid, secure investment should we run into another recession between now and the time you retire.

The fact is that there are quite a few ways to manage your precious metal retirement accounts. You can stock away some money and simply forget about it, or you can enjoy the thrill of watching the spot prices like a hawk and maximizing your investment dollar. The truth is that precious metals are there to provide you with peace of mind. However you are comfortable investing in your precious metal retirement accounts, that’s the right way for you to invest in them.

If you like, you can even completely ignore what the analysts say about your favorite metal, and simply do as you please with it. So long as you do have some money tucked away in your precious metal retirement accounts, you don’t have much to worry about.

In other words, when you buy gold, silver, platinum or palladium, you’re not simply buying metal, you’re buying comfort, and you’re buying the best insurance policy you could ask for in case of recession and other economic crises. That’s exactly why metal has remained a strong option for investors, and it’s exactly why precious metal retirement accounts are catching on more and more these days in light of the recession we’re currently facing. Metals provide comfort, security, and peace of mind, and in the end, that’s the most you could possibly ask of your investment dollar.

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Janet Villalon

August 9, 2009

Gold remains in the nine hundred dollar range, silver stays around fourteen dollars an ounce, platinum stays in the eleven hundred area, and palladium sticks in the lower two hundreds.

Of course, here’s the thing about precious metal prices: These prices do not represent the true value of the metals.

The true value of gold is that it’s worth its weight in gold. The value of silver is that it’s worth its weight in silver, and so on.

Because we tend to use dollar as a signifier of value these days, we forget that a dollar really has no inherent value. It is only in the faith that we put into the dollar that it has any value whatsoever. Gold, on the other hand, has inherent value whether you believe it or not. You can print more money, you cannot print more gold.

So precious metal prices are really an interesting, almost philosophical thing to look at. Gold isn’t worth nine hundred dollars an ounce, that’s more like what we pretend it’s worth. Again, gold is worth its weight in gold.

Platinum doesn’t have price jumps, rather, the dollar declines, and as a result, it takes more dollars to buy an ounce of platinum than it did previously.

We’ll skip the “brain in a jar” theories of what is real and what isn’t and just say this: Know that the money in your pocket is only money if both you and the person you are trading with believe it to be money. The fact is that a dollar bill really has no value but the value of the paper it’s printed on.

This is why precious metal investors are wise to hold onto their investments in any financial weather. The dollar will always have its ups and downs, we’ll always see inflation and deflation, we’ll always see surges and crashes, but the value of metal, in fact, never goes down.

Oh sure, precious metal prices can go down, but to put that into perspective: a dollar, by the gold standard, was worth, to take the 1933-1971 US standard, 1/35 of an ounce of gold, with an ounce of gold being fixed at $35 during that time. Now, a dollar is worth whatever people say it’s worth. In other words, you can’t really value an ounce of gold by how many imaginary fractions of an ounce it’s really worth. Right now, a dollar is worth something like 1/900 an ounce of gold, and that’s likely to change by the time you read this.

Of course, it’d be foolish not to keep an eye on precious metal prices, as, like it or not, we all have to use official currency to make it in life, and the dollar will simply have to be our closest approximation to grading real value, as ridiculous as the whole notion really is. Still, the important thing to remember is that an ounce is always an ounce, no matter what the precious metal prices might say.

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Janet Villalon

Jul 12, 2009

None of this has come as any shock whatsoever to those who chose to buy precious metals late last year or early this year. The recession we are now smack dab in the middle of was a long time coming, with many ready to declare a recession as soon as the market started taking an ugly turn earlier this decade.

The fact is that many financial analysts and experts were ready to declare an official recession years before the government made it official during late 2007. We can choose to blame the federal government, blame the unscrupulous and irresponsible businessmen who may well have gotten us into the mess, or simply blame fellow Americans for overspending on credit cards and defaulting on home loans that they knew they wouldn't be able to pay off. That would, of course, be understandable, but rather than laying blame and worrying about the recession, some chose to protect themselves. They chose to buy precious metals, and they are now enjoying the growth we've seen in precious metal prices, as opposed to simply saying "Gee, I should've chosen to buy metals a little earlier."

Those holding larger metal investments have seen a real boon over this, although even those who choose to buy precious metals one or two coins at a time are enjoying the reaping of benefits these climbs have bestowed.

And of course, even the most pessimistic forecasts have it that the demand from those looking to buy precious metals certainly hasn't peaked yet. The American dollar may recover over the course of the next couple years, but it will be a long and uncertain climb back up to its pre-recession spending power. In the meantime, we can probably expect the climbs in metal values to keep going, as investor demand for the commodities remains strong.

It would be foolish to say that metals are an invulnerable investment. Certainly, there are those rare, twice-a-century instances where metals do experience a significant decline, but metals are, for the most part, largely recession proof. In that the value of gold, silver and platinum tends only to go up when the value of currency goes down, metals are amongst the very, very few investment options which tend to remain strong during times of economic hardship.

Interestingly, fortune-telling businesses such as palm readers and 1-800 psychic hotlines tend to do very well during a recession, as well. People are hoping to find that secret lucky number for the lottery or get some sort of supernatural advice to make the right decisions. Luckily, it doesn't take a fortune-teller to know that coins and bars are a great way to guard yourself against this and future recessions.

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Janet Villalon

July 1, 2009

The reasons for these peaks are simple; We are seeing an unprecedented boom in consumers and investors looking to purchase precious metals, paired with fewer supplies than in previous years.

The only downside to these peaks? The US Mint is running out of metal to make coins with. Notably, the American Gold Eagle is actually having sales temporarily suspended for the time being due to too many people looking to purchase precious metals and not enough 22 karat gold blanks to go around. Of course, if you know a little something about supply and demand, then you know to read this as an upside rather than a downside.

Luckily, you can still buy precious metals if you're looking into precious metal bars and of course coins besides Gold Eagles or you can buy certified coins from a source besides the Mint. Furthermore, you can top off and purchase precious metals at a time when demand is at an all time high and continuing to skyrocket. Historically, metal prices have always had a general tendency to go up but especially during periods such as these.

If you are one of those gold investors disappointed by the shortage on American Eagles, our advice is simply to use this as an opportunity to look into other precious metal options. Whether you're looking at gold, silver, platinum or palladium, all of these metals offer a solid backbone for your finances. Whether you hold precious metals as the backbone of your savings or simply keep a stash of gold for a rainy day, it's a good idea to keep a diverse savings when you purchase precious metals, splitting your metals investing money up between the commodities of your choice. This gives you the option to take your pick should you have to sell a bit off on a rainy day for home repairs, or simply to explore other business ventures. By keeping a variety of metal investments in your possession, you have the option of, when you do need to sell some of it off, selling only the metals that are peaking while holding on to the ones which are still climbing in the hopes that they gain some more steam before you cash any of your coins or bars in.

Of course, regardless of any declines in supply or jumps in demand, the important thing is simply to invest in metals at your own pace. Don't be suckered into the "Buy Now! Sell Now!" mentality. The main reason to invest in precious metals is to give yourself peace of mind and you can only attain that by using your assets to build a solid foundation for your investments to stand on and then... simply not worrying about it too much. Buy some more metals when you feel it's prudent to do so, cash a little in here and there when you need to and rest easy knowing that you're covered in the event of any financial crisis. As long as you invest wisely, providing yourself not only with financial independence but peace of mind really can be as simple as that.

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Janet Villalon

May 16, 2009

Nanotechnology relies upon the unique properties that metals and other elements exhibit when made very, very small. The ability to manipulate materials a few atoms at a time into new materials is one of the most exciting fields in materials science, attracting some of the best scientific talent worldwide. Nanotech is usually defined as creating and manipulating molecular structures that are 100 nanometers across or smaller – often much smaller.

The development of fullerines and carbon nano-tubes in the 1980s were the first major developments in this field that was proposed by Nobel Prize-winning physicists as early as the 1950s. Metal oxides were the next development, allowing so-called “quantum” effects to be noted by researchers. At this scale, the laws of physics that govern the very small become more apparent, sometimes with astonishing results. Gold, for instance, turns to a reactive liquid at room temperature on the nano-scale.

In fact, long before the curious promise of nano-tech was conceived, scientists began their experiments in non-active, first generation nano-particles in the 1910s with precious metals. Gold was first to be studied as a colloid and described, though the research was largely theoretical, “pure” science, it laid the groundwork for the second-generation carbon research that developed decades later.

One recent development with platinum nano-wires is very exciting for precious metal investing interests. With the new-found ability to manipulate this very expensive and rare metal into wires that are thousands of times longer than previously thought, the ability to bring platinum-catalyzed fuel cell technology to the masses becomes much closer to fruition.

Commitments to fund “green energy initiatives” by the Obama Administration are another piece of welcome news to those who are leveraged in all the precious metals. Investing in the specific technologies that utilize precious metals are also bolstered into relatively safe investment options for those who wish to diversify their portfolios beyond physical precious metals bullion.

Silver nano-particles are used extensively as a disinfectant, protecting everything from counter tops and food containers to silver-impregnated fabrics that resist odors. In fact, the latter use has become widespread enough to create concerns among some over the toxicity of these particles. It is thought that their unregulated release into the environment and watershed, coupled with their ability to continue working at sewage plants, may have unintended deleterious effects on the beneficial microorganisms that life on Earth relies upon. One such example are the beneficial bacteria that are used to treat waste water such as that coming from washing machines.

With precious metal investing in gold and silver strong, platinum and palladium have sunk to historical lows over demand concerns, specifically from the auto industry. However, in an effort to comply with directives from the government to invest in carbon-free technologies, interest in both platinum and palladium investments as a means of achieving these major leaps in technology are increasingly being seen as a viable concern spurning precious metal investment in the coming years.

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Joseph Morton

April 18, 2009

The platintum group includes the more common “transition metals” such as cobalt, iron and nickel, all of which are important in industry and commerce, though hardly rare. Much more rare are iridium, osmium, ruthenium and rhodium, in addition to the more commonly traded platinum and palladium. These metals all have high melting points and most are reactive with hydrogen, making them useful as catalysts in many types of reactions.

Indeed, they are very often found together in the very same deposits, the others usually considered a by-product of platinum mining, even if the other metals are actually worth more as precious metals. Gold and silver are chemically and physically distinct from the platinum group metals, though are sometimes found near or even in platinum group metal deposits.

Rhodium is perhaps the most widely used and traded of the “other” platinum group precious metals. Investing in this commodity has been a tumultuous ride for well-heeled investors over the last two decades. Its use in very specific technologies and industries, such as mammogram machines, neutron detectors and the industrial production of acetic acid.

With prices reaching as high as $10,000 per ounce in early 2008, the collapse of financial markets in late 2008 took the price of rhodium with it. Less than two months later, the price had fallen to less than a tenth of its previous historic high. Though once considered a safe investment, the drop off in physical demand for the product is very keenly felt in the spot price.

Like rhodium, iridium is also a very hard and brittle metal, preventing it from being used as jewelery in all but the most limited manner. Iridium is particularly notable for its ability to resist tarnish, even at high temperatures, making it very useful in high temperature industrial applications, especially where conductivity is important. It is also very dense and hard, making it a component in plating many industrial valves and devices. Other uses include high-end optics, the production of anti-mater and many other medical and scientific applications when alloyed with platinum.

Very rare in the Earth's crust, it is thought that due to its unique property of seeking out and binding to iron, most of the iridium on Earth is actually found in the inner core of the planet. Interestingly, it is found in relatively large measure within nickel-iron alloy meteorites, and it is believed that for this reason much of the available iridium is actually extraterrestrial in origin.

Ruthenium and Osmium are both extremely hard and tarnish resistant, often being used as an alloy in very tiny amounts to add durability to other metals such as titanium. Both of these metals are highly useful in very specific use, but care must be maintained when handling them, as they easily create highly toxic tetroxides when exposed to air in their elemental form.

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Danny Burns

April 12, 2009

Earlier this month we saw a very small rise in the stock market for the first time in quite awhile. This could be the first flutter of life before a full revival of stocks as a viable, reasonably safe investment, or it could have been a fluke. Only time will tell.

The fact of the matter is that it is nearly impossible to accurately predict how long this stock drag will last, or how long we have until we climb our way out of this recession. Even some of the most well respected financial analysts have been reluctant to make their predictions too narrow, and often fall back on the old routine of “Don’t take my word for it, but maybe what we’ll see is…”

The point is that the future is somewhat beside the point when you want to purchase precious metals. Gold is one of the best investments around not because its value is going up, not because precious metals investing is currently booming, but because an uncertain future is much less a worry when you can fall back on your stash of precious metals. Silver, likewise, provides investors with a certain peace of mind.

When is this recession going to be over? Maybe a few months from now, maybe a decade from now. There’s simply no way of knowing right now. The fact remains, however, that our sitting president is in a position where the only option left is to keep adding to the national deficit. These stimulus packages we’ve been hearing so much about may very well wind up working, or they may amount to little more than wasted money. The point is, though, that when investing in precious metals, you will most likely be safe in any economic weather.

It may seem as if we’re shining a hard light on investment routes like stocks, real estate, and so on, and part of that is that, yes, it really is hard to make money on those investment options these days. Options that were a great investment choice ten years ago are often no more than a money pit these days. However, perhaps the best thing that precious metals investing can do for you is simply give you more money to pursue interests outside of gold and silver.

For example, if you see your gold take a ten percent boost over the course of a month, you can take the money you just made on your gold and put it into increasing the value of your home. You can even afford the risk of putting it on some stocks, all the while leaving your primary investments in metals.

That’s what metals provide: A solid foundation from which to pursue any financial goals you might have in mind.

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Victoria Lopez

April 11, 2009

For those wise enough to purchase precious metals, the obvious answer to this is: That’s what we like about them. Nobody gets rich overnight with precious metals, gold, silver or platinum, but can you name anyone who lost everything in one bad week for their favorite metal?

When you invest in precious metals bullion, it’s a safe investment. Does that make it the best investment?

Put it this way: You never really want to put all your eggs in one basket. If you talk to a smart financial advisor, one of the first things they’ll tell you to do is buy up some gold, silver and platinum. And then they’ll tell you not to be afraid of taking a chance on non-metals investment.

Precious metals bullion can keep you safe, but it’s rare to see the kind of overnight surge in metals value that would put you way ahead in a short amount of time. With precious metals, silver and gold in particular, it’s all about safety. It’s not a way of going from rags to riches, but a way of taking what you have and making certain you don’t lose it to one bad week.

What else to invest in, besides precious metals, is, of course, up to the individual investor. However, in a recession such as we’re experiencing now, it would be a tad foolish not to keep a healthy portion of your savings in something safe and solid like gold or silver bars or coins. Beyond that, your options really are limitless.

Over the course of a few years, gold and silver tend to be worth more over time. If you invest in gold today, you’re very likely to have more money than you do now when 2012 comes around. This surplus can be put towards any other financial pursuit you so choose, leaving a healthy sum in gold so as to protect yourself should a certain other investment go belly up.

Simply put, you don’t take risks with your primary savings account. You build that up until you can afford to take some of it out and put that into a slightly riskier investment. To put it quaintly, precious metals is simply a great way of allowing yourself to make money on other investments without having to “bet the farm” as it were.

The only real questions regarding precious metals right now: Why did it take investors in the US so long to catch on? It really wasn’t until the last year or two that we really saw that big boom in metals investing.

With any luck, the investors of today have learned from the past decade or so, will learn from this recession, and will choose to keep much of their assets in a solid asset like gold and silver in the future.

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Martha Cooke

April 5, 2009

Palladium wasn't even discovered until 1803, when English chemist and physicist William Hyde Wollaston was working on a better way to refine platinum. He also discovered rhodium, a newly emerging rare Earth and very precious metal that has found its way into several different types of high-end electronics. Palladium is found in many of the same objects as platinum, including automotive catalytic converters, jewellery, dentistry, electronic components and fuel cells.

However it's use in coins, and especially those suited for precious metal investment, remains quite limited. This is partly because it is rather more difficult to work with as a metal for coinage, being even harder than platinum and therefore causing many mistakes with striking. Precious metal investing in palladium is most often done with coins, but bars are also available.

Surprisingly it was the tiny nation of Tonga that released the world's first palladium coin in 1968 to celebrate the 50th birthday of their ruler, King Topou IV. This Hau coin was only minted in tiny numbers, but led to the minting of the first investment grade palladium coins, produced by the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Palladium coins, for those who purchase precious metals for the sake of investment, are most commonly issued from either the former Soviet Mints of the Russian Bank after the early 1990s.

Other palladium coins of note include a very small run of Canadian Maple Leaf coins that were minted in 2005 as a one-ounce coin with a face value of $50. Despite having limited reserves of palladium, China has also issued two palladium coins in one-ounce and half-ounce (15.5g) weights in the 1990s and 'aughts. The US will be issuing a palladium Eagle coin for precious metals investing purposes, starting in 2010. These coins will feature the high-relief St. Gaudens Double Eagle design made popular in the early 20th century.

Because palladium is found in only a few places in the world, Russia, the United States, Ethiopia, Canada and South Africa; the price of this commodity can be quite volatile. For instance, instability in Russian production led to a steep rise in prices over $1,000 per ounce in 2000. Since that time, the spot price of Palladium has wavered as low as $159 per ounce and recovered briefly in early 2008 to nearly $600 per ounce before dropping to historically low levels again late in the same year.

Precious metal investing with palladium can be quite a wild ride, but picking coins you actually like and will be happy to keep in your collection for a long-term investment make it all the more likely that you'll be able to hang on for another palladium high.

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Joseph Morton

April 4, 2009

This custom seen as quaint by some in the Western World could be the very thing that maintains wealth in a serious crisis. However, more likely, it will always have an intrinsic value and will occasionally be very valuable, sometimes when that comes in very handy.

While the act of keeping silver jewelry in a state of high luster does remove some of the metal content over time, such pieces are not often stamped with a weight. Often they contain stones that need to be removed when calculating the weight if one decides to sell. However, because silver fetches such a small fraction as compared to gold and other precious metals, silver jewelry is usually sold last when prices sky-rocket as they did briefly in the 1970s.

There are some who believe that silver jewelry actually represents a larger part of the world's demand than is commonly believed because of short selling on the part of silver electronically traded funds (ETFs). Were these funds actually backing their investors with physical silver, there would have to be over 100 million ounces of silver stored somewhere. For those with precious metal investments in the electronic or paper-silver market, it might be wise to consider cashing out and purchasing the physical commodity if you wish to remain with precious metal investing.

Precious metals investing still takes the form of jewelry in much of the world, and where silver is the native metal, it is the dominant form of precious metals investment. Much of central and South America is rich in precious metals; gold, silver, platinum, palladium and several other rare earth elements.

Silver jewelry is very commonly available for investment and enjoyment in those countries. In fact, a tradition of silver jewelry-making is found just about anywhere except Africa and Australia, where there is far more gold to be found. Precious metals investing in the form of mint-issued silver bullion coins is a relatively recent phenomena for the average investor. In earlier times investments had to be a bit more flexible in the absence of banks.

Undoubtedly the largest sector of the physical silver market is industrial use. Many industries have declined in their use of silver, most notably the silver nitrate used in the film production industry with the advent of digital technology. On the other hand, several fledgling industries rely upon increasingly large amounts of silver, causing an overall increase in the use of industrial silver in 2008.

There are many manufacturers of silver jewelry today that make pieces large enough and fine enough to be used for precious metal investing purposes. Many pieces are available without stones. It is always a good idea to check the silver content before buying a large piece of silver jewelry for investment purposes. Though nearly all silver jewelry is stamped as being 92.5% pure, not all of it is.

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Martha Cooke

March 26, 2009

Precious metals in their smallest form do not normally have nearly the impact that jewelry does on the commodity market. However, as the precious metals investment from the jewelry sector continues to weaken, the amount becomes relatively more important. This is partly due to the increase in the useful technology and unique availability.

If one collects enough of these minuscule precious metals, bullion prices may justify putting such products in the melting pot, but there are markets for many “small” gold products. The uses of precious metals when they are as tiny or thin as dust, flakes or leaf, often represents significant mark-up from the commodity price.

Some of the application of precious metal investing in dust, chips and flakes is in up-and-coming industries that are likely to survive economic troubles due to governmental spending. Green technologies like solar panels and fuel cells currently use platinum dust in what amounts to a large quantity, even in tiny amounts per panel.

Happily, just as there are uses for platinum dust, there is a ready-made source for the platinum that is free for the taking. Platinum is applied to the roads as people drive, as the platinum in the catalytic converter is consumed during driving and fused with unburned hydrocarbons (or lead or any number of metals or reactive organic chemical) to be come road dust. Over time this adds up to a fairly large amount of this extremely rare metal that can be vacuumed up along with all the rest. It would certainly look nice if the roads were kept manicured at a profit.

While gold and silver are more commonly used than platinum, all types of precious metal dust and flakes are able to be recovered from the floors, tables and air filters in rooms where people manufacture jewelry. Though some states, such as California, consider this to be hazardous waste (due to hazardous “fine powder” silica that can permanently damage lungs), other states allow jewelry shops to collect and send their gold dust in for processing into recovered precious metals. Investing in the equipment or processing facilities to recycle platinum, gold and silver is likely a growth industry in an economy that is otherwise on the rocks.

Gold (and silver, to a lesser extent) is used in food items. It is dusted on chocolates and floating in liqueurs. These are also found as incredibly thin precious metal leaf – the very same that is used to cover statues. Sometimes the markup on edible gold and silver flakes is so high that they can be sold at the same price. Professional grade gold foil is usually about twice as expensive when sold as actual gold.

Though it remains to be seen how many people will be so ostentatious as to continue to consume precious metals in this way, The mark-up for one gram of silver “sprinkles” (left over from the foil-making procedure), is over 100-times that of the average 2008 spot price, which was already somewhat high. Food grade “glitter” on the other hand, commands only a fraction of that price.

One may also purchase precious metals to be applied to the outside of the body. Precious metal dust may be used with mica to create a chemical-free, mineral powder. Even in small quantities, a sufficiently fine gold dust can create a dramatic glow that is guaranteed to be hypoallergenic. Precious metal investing will have to take into account formerly minor uses if large swaths of the investing public is going to disappear for any length of time.

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Martha Cooke

March 24, 2009

The use of precious metals investing as a hedge against market losses in other fields is gaining popularity among large- and small-scale investors, alike. However, as novice investors race to purchase precious metals, there are plenty of hucksters who will happily separate fools and their money. Learn some of the common types of scams and protect yourself from making an unsafe investment.

One term that is commonly heard is “gold filled” or “pure filled gold.” This usually pertains to a coin or piece of jewelery that is made from a base metal (such as copper, nickel, zinc or even lead) that is covered with a thin coating of precious metal. Silver is least likely to receive this treatment, with gold and platinum fakes being far more common. However, some shady coin dealers have been selling coins under these terms leaving less-educated buyers to suffer the consequences.

Other terms that often come up, especially in the case of gold, are “gold overlay” and “rolled gold plate.” These are also combinations of precious and base metals, differing only in the typical thickness of the precious metal layer. Plating, for instance, is most often described as a layer about 175 microns thick. Even thinner are the precious metal deposits left when piece is “washed” or “flashed.”

Though also a type of plating, “vermile” is a thickly applied layer of alloyed gold and silver, making it more durable than many of the other types of gold plating that exist. Still, these are still base metal items coated with a layer of precious metals – bullion should be nearly pure for investment purposes.

There are certainly good deals to be found online from reputable coin dealer, but many of the scams that have taken in folks new to precious metal investing and the elderly have been perpetrated over the Internet. Local shops with a long track record, on the other hand, have a reputation to maintain among other local businesses and tend to steer well clear of such coins.

According to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), investments in physical precious metals, that promise quick and high returns are also signs that an investment isn't really what it seams. Such precious metals investing plans are carried out by telemarketers and late night infomercials. Such investments are very often scheme that underestimate the risks involved, overestimate the returns and sometimes even fail to actually purchase the precious metals that you're being charged a “storage” fee for safely keeping the “physical gold” for you.

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Linda Hess

March 19, 2009

Gold is, of course the most commonly traded metal on the world-wide jewelry trade. In North America is is usually alloyed with a significant amount of another metal, such as silver or copper, to produce a durable product for a relatively low price. For purposes of precious metal investing, jewelry in gold, platinum and silver are most desirable at high purity. Platinum and silver are both easy to handle without scratch losses than the ultra-soft, 99.99% pure gold.

Of the 2,400 tonnes produced annually (with world production numbers falling since “peak gold” in 2000), nearly 2,700 tonnes of gold is used in the production of jewelry, alone. Add to that the relatively large number of people who purchase precious metals as rounds or arguably less decorative precious metals bullion. As the international importation of gold to be used for jewelry has dramatically dropped off in 2009, the demand from investors has filled in a massive gap with slight gains in demand over that time.

Platinum has been used as an investment since Egyptian times, but more recently, was made into jewelry on a mass scale in the late 18th and early 19th century. Though few examples exist, they are highly prized by collectors at prices far in excess of their melt value. Many times more rare than gold, platinum has been trading just above the spot price of gold since 2008. While the price has been recovering from the drop-off in industrial uses such as new automobiles, the price is more dependent than ever upon the actions of investors. The market for platinum, like silver, has fewer players. This makes both platinum and silver, still generally safe long-term investments, a bit more turbulent.

Many brides planning on 2009 weddings reported at the beginning of the year that they intended to spend less overall on their weddings, but increased the portion of the money spent on durable goods, such as jewelry. In fact, 81% of brides favored platinum jewelry. Another advantage to using gold, platinum, palladium or silver jewelry for precious metal investing is its value outside the commodity market.

Aesthetic appeal is important with precious metals. Silver, gold and platinum jewelry that's just ugly is always the first to go into the melting pot when times are tough. Therefore, choosing pieces that have a timeless style and are aesthetically pleasing make them a more sound investment. The odds are that much greater that you'll actually hold on to the pieces long enough to be profitable. When investing, you need to do your homework and really understand which pieces will have an additional aesthetic or historic value.

There is a finite amount of gold that consumers are willing to part with at any price, so the domestic stocks of gold for jewelry production will dry up in non-production countries first. An increased commodity price for precious metal investing and speculative purchase of mining company stock should encourage world production to continue at a very slowly declining or slightly increasing levels.

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Arthur McGuire

March 17, 2009

The gold market is rather different in India, with over thirty times as much gold being held in private hands than on public exchanges and electronically traded funds (ETF) gold shares. This massive private holding is spread across nearly several hundred million households. As such, there is definitely a seasonal demand in precious metal investing that coincides with the wedding season.

Much of this is purchased from the international market each year as jewelery or as bullion to be made into jewelry, since India has no gold deposits of its own. In fact, through most of the 'aughts, India has imported between 700-800 tones of gold per year. Usually about 90% of this has been imported from the world's largest producers, including the US, South Africa, Russia, China and Peru. In fact, India has been the largest importer of gold in the world for many years.

Mumbai is the center of India's gold economy, with the largest bullion market in the country found there. Prices, even during the busy wedding season between October and March, tend to remain very near the spot price of gold, partly due to a soft local currency with respect to the dollar. As the wedding season approaches and people are selling their old jewelry in droves, domestic recirculation is more than plenty for a significantly lowered domestic demand.

Like other countries, India has experienced hardship as a result of the worldwide economic crisis of 2008. Thus, more people are willing to sell coupled with a general lack of interest in purchasing the commodity while prices are so high. Perhaps more importantly, many consumers in India are simply foregoing the monetary exchange entirely and having their own gold recast as needed.

However, professional market watchers have almost universally predicted a big rally for gold in 2009, presumably exacerbating the situation in India. What little imports have been made are almost certain to slow down to nothing as 2009 progresses. However, the impact even this major restructuring will have on the actual price or movement of gold will be insignificant as compared with the much larger market forces that are predicted to impact precious metal investing.

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Arthur McGuire

March 12, 2009

The common wisdom when investing in precious metals is that they serve as a hedge against major market and currency melt-downs. Therefore, much of the movement of these commodities is as a result of how speculative investors believe economic news and market data will affect their fellow speculators.

Metal-impacting economic data can be domestic or international in scope since commodity markets are global by nature. Indeed, both gold and silver spot prices can be greatly affected by even a single economic indicator that can be only vaguely construed as having an impact on inflation, currency values or the performance of other commodities. For instance, unemployment numbers in the US or any of the major industrialized nations is often taken as an indicator of financial trouble, and the price of gold often rises.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, often called the Obama Stimulus Package) is notable for the wide ranging impact that it will have on both the supply and demand of precious metals. Moreover, the sheer volume of the money that is to be spent (the final bill could double due to borrowing and the subsequent compounded interest), could destabilize the US and other currencies. Of course, any number of things threaten to do this on just about any day of the week, but coupled with the vast size of the economic troubles already at hand, many people who are not normally prone to such theories are bandying the idea around.

Because precious metals are used in industry and manufacturing, the general state of the economy does also affect their ultimate commodity value. As business slows down for just about every industry in the larger economy, demand for all types of raw materials has fallen off. With the investment in technology and technological infrastructure, for instance, there is a direct demand established. All this, without once directly providing any funds for exploration, extraction, or processing in the text of the bill.

Indeed, gold and silver spot prices have fluctuated wildly since the ARRA was proposed, with gold topping $950 per ounce in the run-up to passage of the bill. The interest in these metals among both private and public investors has seen a rise not seen since the 1970s. Whether the Stimulus Package actually does set off a currency crisis or not, investors are likely to keep pushing up the price of precious metals. To what heights, though, remains to be seen.

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Brian Patterson

March 10, 2009

There are a few things that a collector of jewelery will want to keep in mind, no matter what precious metals is involved. For starters, you want to make sure you have some guarantee how pure the piece is. Some professionals estimate that as much as 30% of the gold jewelery sold in the US has less gold than is stamped on it. Also, as time goes by, normal wear on gold and silver pieces can cause significant enough loss to actually change the weight of the piece notably over time. Silver, of course, is prone to tarnish, and its use with precious stones is very limited except when alloyed with gold.

Both platinum and palladium, on the other hand, are harder metals that retain much of the malleability of gold. Platinum, for instance, is able to be worked in much more detail than gold, and is also far more resistant to wear and scratches, even when put into daily use. The same is true of palladium, but it is only about half as dense as platinum.

Precious metal investing in either palladium or platinum jewelery is most often done in the context of a collection. As such, most professionals recommend making sure you purchase pieces you actually like and find aesthetically pleasing. As a general rule, people are more likely to hold on to pieces that they’ll keep long enough to really appreciate in value.

Collections are most often either antique or modern, with the vast majority of collections including modern (since 1950) pieces. This is due to the relative rarity of platinum and palladium pieces being made before this time. While there are some rings made in the late 19th and very early 20th century, the widespread use of either metal in decorative objects tend to be relatively recent. Pieces made before that time are very rare and often command shockingly high prices.

Palladium is being touted by many as a very good substitute for gold. In wedding bands and engagement rings, for instance, it is valuable for being just as lustrous and workable as gold. Being much less dense than platinum, palladium also tends to weigh far less, making it a perfect substitute for a design that is made heavy by large amounts of the metal or large stones, as can often be in the case. It is also many times more rare, but the price remains rather low in comparison.

This is good news for those looking to scratch their precious metal investing itch with something unusual. The price of palladium has been hovering around historical lows for much of 2008 and early 2009, and seems to be set to rise just about any moment. At the same time, platinum has also maintained a spot price that is comparable to that of gold during the dame time frame.

Hanging on to platinum and palladium jewelery is the most important part of making it pay well in the long-term is to hold on to your investment for several years. Unlike cash and stocks, jewelery is not very liquid.

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Arthur McGuire

March 5, 2009

Many in precious metal investing have been horrified to see their platinum coin and bullion perform very poorly during the last months of 2008. The spot price of platinum fell from an all-time high of nearly $2,200 per once to little more than $800 per ounce in the span of less than a month.

Since platinum has never been used as a currency, it is highly linked to its physical uses. One of the largest of those uses is as the active catalyst in the reaction of a catalytic converter. Many industrialized nations require some sort of emissions control device on automobiles, with most of these devices using platinum. When the automotive market took a very steep decline in late 2008, the price of platinum fell along with it.

However, there is some hope on the horizon for beleaguered platinum investors who are still interested in recouping losses from an early- to mid-2008 purchase. Precious metals investing, as a whole, have performed well as a safe investment since the international financial crisis began, hedging against losses in just about every other financial vehicle.

Moreover, the outlook for some technologies that are likely to be heavily funded by governmental stimulus money. Billions of dollars have been made available by several countries that passed emergency economic stimulus programs in early 2009, such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) signed into law by President Obama. The ARRA, for instance, mandates spending for carbon-neutral energy investment. This will be spent on solar panels and wind turbines as well as the transport and storage systems that will support those technologies as part of the new, “smart” electric grid that is proposed.

Fuel cells are one important type of that technology to be used with hydrogen storage and delivery systems, and platinum is a major component in current fuel cell designs. That makes precious metal investing in platinum a potentially vast growth market, now that prices are near historic lows. A typical fuel cell of the current design use about 100g of platinum per fuel cell when used with vehicles.

Platinum, unlike the precious metals gold and silver, is also subject to be replaced by new technologies just as it benefits from them. The platinum fuel cell, for one, has been a target to eliminate by researchers for many years. Its inclusion adds considerably to the price of current fuel cell technology, putting it out of reach for the average consumer.

Precious metal investing has been impacted by many competing forces in the post-economic crisis economy. With the platinum spot price being pulled down by declines in older technologies, inventors are finding new uses for it all the time, many of which are in growth industries like green energy. Precious metal investing in more traditional gold and silver bullion is a strong lure for those looking for the best investment to park decimated market funds. However, putting your precious metals investment in platinum could prove to be very lucrative as the relevant markets change.

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Arthur McGuire

March 1, 2009

It’s first use as a coin dates back to 1966 when Tonga minted a palladium coin. Since that time, 92 different palladium coins have been issued, many of them in Australia, Russia, Canada and Portugal. Most are single metal strikes of high purity in 1-ounce, 1/2-ounce and 1/4-ounce sizes. Most are given a currency denomination, differentiating them from simple bullion. However, the most popular palladium coins are of bullion standards.

Among the most prominent recently minted palladium coins include a three year run of palladium Canadian Maple Leafs, ending in 2007. In 2006 they also made a very small minting of Constellation series coins, featuring a Canadian landscape and the pattern of constellations during each of the four seasons.

Some seemingly unlikely countries are producing palladium coins in the ’aughts. For example, the impoverished African nation of Malawi recently produced a run of several thousand 1g coins. The Isle of Man released its own commemorative palladium coins in 2004. The Cook Islands is releasing a 1-ounce HMS Bounty coin for 2009.

Many of these small nations rely upon the Perth Mint in Western Australia to mint palladium coins for them. Australia itself hasn’t issued a palladium coin since 1998 when several thousand Double-Emus were minted. Between 2003 and 2004, Slovakia produced a gold and palladium coin with a unique shape. And, in 2007, the British Virgin Islands minted a series of 999 small, quad-metal coins. These were manufactured at the Pobjoy Mint and were sold as collectors items rather than for precious metal investing purposes, and were a fine example of high-quality, modern minting technology.

And the United States, which is a major supplier of both coins and bullion products made from gold, silver and platinum, has only made one run of palladium coins – just 250 commemorative 1/2-ounce coins for the Poarch Creek Reservation in 2004.

Between 1988 and 1995, the Soviet Union (then continuing as Russia) produced a copious number of palladium coins for investment – tens of thousands per year during those tumultuous times while trying to raise western capital. Indeed, a destabilized national currency is a good reason for nations to sell of stockpiles of metals and other non-perishable commodities.

Those looking to palladium coins to fill their precious metal investing needs will want to consider how widely the market price of palladium has wildly swung from $145 to over $1,000 during the ’aughts. It is considered a long-term investment, as it is not quite as liquid as any of the other precious metals.

Palladium for the purpose of precious metal investing may also purchased as bars, ingot or bullion rounds. Bars are available in sizes ranging from 1-ounce up to 100-ounces and are especially prized by small investors because they stack easily in a home safe. Ingot is typically less pure and, as such, even less liquid of an investment than palladium bullion.

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Arthur McGuire

February 9, 2009

Automakers use a great deal of platinum when they’re selling cars due to the use of the metal in catalytic converters. But, when auto sales fell off in 2008, precious metal investing sent the price of platinum downward due to lack of demand. Then, as if by magic, it surged above $1,000 an ounce in early 2009 in response to the $15 billion rescue package passed by Congress at the end of 2008.

As for the history of automakers and precious metal investing, the production of vehicles and speculation about platinum caused the price to reach record highs in 2006. The amount available also began to slow, causing demand to far outstrip production in 2007.

This potential shortage of platinum caused US automakers to stockpile the metal at nearly record prices, as they spent billions to keep it in supply as demand for cars and trucks remained strong. Shortly thereafter, precious metal investing promptly began a long crash that continued until a government-aided bonanza brought the price back up in early 2009.

Research that would drastically reduce the amount of platinum – as much as tenfold or more – and utilize different platinum-group metals has been performed in Japan. This technology may be seen in Mazda or Ford vehicles first.

In the meanwhile, US automakers have taken advantage of substituting the relatively less expensive palladium. However, European auto manufacturers, who make a far higher proportion of diesel vehicles, wind up using more than their fair share of platinum – nearly half the world’s supply as produced during the ’aughts.

Though the billions of dollars that were spent trying to temporarily corner the platinum market are long gone and perhaps small compared to some of the other things automakers spend the big bucks on, their influence is far from waning. It is thought that an increase in the proportion of diesel and electric vehicles (as well as technological advances), in part at the bequest of the incoming Obama administration, could change the way that platinum is valued for many years to come.

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Though not considered a major precious metal until rather recently, platinum is now a highly collectible type of bullion coin. Though the wildly fluctuating commodity price of platinum dictates the worldwide platinum coin market, there are still plenty of these coins to be had.

Platinum is not only a lovely metal that gives jewelery an unparalleled shine, but it is also a highly useful component of automotive exhaust systems and glass-making industries. Though considerably more rare than gold, this precious metal is harder to work with than gold, bears a strong resemblance to silver (but doesn’t tarnish) and doesn’t have the same long history as the “big two” precious metals.

That said, platinum investments are highly volatile and have been known to pay off many times over when purchased low and sold high. Because the prices can be so very high, its sale is often relegated to small coins up to (and very often exactly) an ounce.

When collectors are seeking platinum coins, they overwhelmingly invest in one-ounce coins due to the far lower mark-up rate over the commodity price than the smaller denominations are subject to. It is not uncommon, for instance, for a 1/10^th or 1/20^th ounce platinum coin to sell at 20% mark-up. One-ounce coins also have the advantage of being very easily tracked according to the commodity price.

The Platinum Eagles that have been issued by the US Mint since 1997 have proven to be among their most popular bullion coins until 2000, when the commodity price of platinum rose to such levels that the coins became difficult for a private investor to afford.

Canadian Platinum Maple Leafs are also 99.95% pure and are found extensively in the hands of collectors throughout North America. Produced by the same Canadian Mint that is responsible for stamping a very large number of gold, silver and platinum that are among the most sought after bullion coins in the world. However, low demand has prevented the platinum Maple Leaf coin from being minted since 2002.

Also commonly collected are Australian Platinum Koala coins. These are also legal tender that is valued at a fraction of the current commodity values, in the case of 1/20th-ounce has a stamped worth of $5. They are manufactured by the Perth Mint, though the larger denominations have also not been minted for several years. Current offerings include a unique colored commemorative coins featuring some of Australia’s unique flora and fauna.

While both China and the former Soviet Union experimented with platinum coins back in the 1980s, neither were satisfied with the utility and sales of these coins and quickly discontinued them. While they may be very collectible coins for numismatists, their rarity in North America make them less attractive to commodity investors.

The Swiss Banking system also commissions 10-ounce platinum bars that are available for sale in North America. When platinum was riding high, he price of even a singe bar was well over $20,000, putting such investments out of the reach of most investors.

I love all precious metals, but there’s just something about gold that makes it so mysterious and powerful. Since the beginning of recorded history, human beings have used gold as everything from currency and store of value to jewelry and ornamentation. It’s also the only commodity that people run to when an economy is weakening. Why? Because it’s been historically proven to increase in value when other products lose value. This alone could make it a powerful insurance from financial troubles that could mean a loss to someone.

Lets closely examine the records set by gold in the market. On January 21, 1980 gold hit its first record high price of $850 per ounce. It then hit its record low since it’s last high on June 21, 1999 closing at $252.90 per ounce. The initial record high was then surpassed at $865.35 on January 3, 2008. Since then, the current record gold price was set on March 17, 2008 closing in at $1023.50. That’s a lot of change from the "official daily price for gold" that was set in 1934 at $35 per ounce. Ever since then more and more debt has been put on our heads, and we face higher inflation every day. Historically speaking, gold can only go up from this point after manipulation in the market ends. All I know is that before it ends, I am going to get my hands on as much gold as I possibly can to preserve myself now and in the future. Look at history, it repeats itself and I would find it wiser to be safe than sorry.

Have a beautiful day everyone, and happy investing!

Arthur McGuire
Senior Staff Writer Precious-Metals.org