Is This a Good Time to Invest in Silver, Gold, Platinum and Rhodium Bullion?
Do you like to buy silver, gold, platinum and rhodium bullion bars and coins?
If you do, you are making a prudent investment choice for these reasons . . .
You know exactly what you are buying, because they are precisely measured, and issued by governments and reliable companies that are generally trustworthy.
You can gauge whether your bars and coins are fairly priced, because you can compare their weight to current trading prices. (Note, however, that in most cases bullion bars and coins are sold at prices that are slightly higher than current trading prices.)
They are convenient investments – easy to buy. Plus, they are packaged in sealed plastic containers that protect them, and which can be easily stored in safety deposit boxes, safes and other secure locations.
You are all but assured that the precious metals they contain are pure.
You can enjoy volume discounts, because many dealers will reduce the price per unit if you buy 10, 20, 50 or more at one time.
Okay, those are good reasons. But do they mean that you are making the most profitable investment possible in precious metals if you buy bars and coins? We’ll return to that question in a minute. But first, let’s consider a different question.
What Bullion Bars and Coins Can You Buy Today?
Here are some bullion and coin investments you can make today.
Silver Bullion Bars and Coins are attractive because of the current low trading prices for silver . . .
10 gram Pamp Suisse Lunar Dragon bullion bar. These Swiss-made bars are stamped with an image of a dragon, and are currently selling for about $17.00.
1 ounce Chinese Silver Panda coin. These coins, which are minted in China and sold by reputable U.S. dealers, are currently selling for about $37.00.
Gold Bullion Bars and Coins . . .
1 ounce Scottsdale Mint bullion bar. Produced in Arizona, these bars are currently selling for about $1,500.00.
¼ ounce Maple Leaf gold coin. Manufactured north of the border in Canada, these coins are perennial favorites, currently selling for a little more than $400.00.
Platinum Bullion Bars and Coins . . .
20 gram Pamp Suisse platinum bar. These popular bars from a reliable Swiss mint are selling for a little less than $600.00.
1 ounce Kangaroo platinum coin. From Australia, these small coins offer a way to invest in pure platinum without breaking the bank. Now selling for about $900.00.
Rhodium Bullion Bars and Coins . . .
1 ounce Baird Mint rhodium bar. Bring your wallet if you want to invest in some of these. Produced by a reputable mint in England, they are currently selling for about $3,500. (If you check the prices against current rhodium trading levels, you will see that the price is not artificially inflated.)
1 gram Cohen Mint rhodium coin. These pretty and shiny little coins are currently available for about $200.00.
Can Bullion and Coins Be Fakes?
Actually, it would be pretty easy to forge bullion bars and coins. Forgers could easily produce fakes, simply by plating a thin layer of gold or platinum over a bar or coin made of silver or another less-valuable metal. (Note that nobody would plate silver over a blank, because silver prices are so low; also, it is unlikely that anyone would produce rhodium fakes because rhodium is both rare and difficult to work with.)
Because many people who invest in bullion tend to leave their bars and coins in the plastic cases they arrived in, the forgery might not be discovered until the coin is sold. Another caveat? Remember that nice-looking sealed plastic packaging doesn’t mean that the item it contains is genuine. A plastic box costs only a few cents. If you were a forger, wouldn’t you use one?
However, there are relatively easy ways to protect yourself from buying forged items. The first step is to buy from reputable dealers that offer a buy-back guarantee of authenticity. (You can find such dealers online; if you buy from them, be sure to ask about the warranties they offer and be sure to get something in writing or in a confirming email.)
Another way to protect yourself is to avoid buying from unverified individuals and dealers, who could be offering their bullion and coins as individual sellers on eBay or other sites. Pop-up and other “we buy gold” stores that haven’t been around for long could also be an unsafe source of bullion. The second time you visit them, they could have closed their doors and moved on, leaving you with bullion that is causing you to worry.
Are Bullion and Coins the Most Profitable Precious Metal Investments You Can Make?
Despite the reliability and convenience of investing in bullion, there are reasons why they might not be the investment you are looking for. Some reasons to consider . . .
As we noted earlier, many bars and coins are being sold for prices that are already higher than current trading prices. So in a sense, you are starting your investment at a slight loss.
The profitability of your investment is tied directly to current trading prices. That could work for you in the long term. But it could also work against you if trading prices fall, which has happened historically.
Liquidity can be an issue when you want to sell your bars and coins. Okay, your bar is worth, say, $1,000 at current trading prices. But what happens when you try to sell it? What price can you get? If you bought your item from a reputable dealer, you should be able to sell it back to them. If you are forced to sell your items quickly, on the other hand, you could end up negotiating on price with a dealer, or with buyers on eBay, and take a loss.
Our Proven Advice to You: Invest in Precious Metal Scrap and Make More Money
The beauty of investing in scrap is that you can often acquire it at very low prices, then unlock its value and take larger profits by having us refine it for you. If you can acquire a batch of old platinum sponge from a factory for a few hundred dollars, for example, it could be worth five times that much after we test and refine it for you.
Can you make that kind of return by investing in precious metal bars and coins? Not likely.
To learn more about making more money by investing in precious metal scrap, call our investment experts today at 800-426-2344.
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