The precious metals group is compromised of nine elements but you've probably only heard of silver, gold, platinum and palladium. Another, rhodium, is more obscure but still actively traded and is currently sitting at an incredible $10,000/oz. After rhodium the next most well-known is ruthenium, which is used in jewelry for making white gold and hardening platinum. However, unlike the others mentioned there's nobody yet making bars or coins out of it. Although it's as rare as platinum it only costs about half as much, at around $250/oz. Iridium is extremely rare and is used extensively in various high-tech industries. The spot on it is technically about $1,500/oz (if you're lucky enough to find someone willing to sell it to you). Rhenium is considered by some geologists the rarest of all the natural non-radioactive elements and most of the paltry amount that is recovered goes into jet engines and rocket nozzles. It's about $200/oz Lastly, osmium is the densest of all metals and competes with rhenium for the title of rarest of all precious metals. There's so little of it that if you were to put all the osmium extracted annually it would fit inside a bucket! It's also in the neighborhood of $600 an ounce. I'm of the opinion that ruthenium, osmium and rhenium will all increase dramatically in value over the next few years. The main reason they haven't been "discovered" yet by bullion and jewelry is because all three have extremely high melting temperatures so turning them into shapes like bars and coins is very difficult to do. However, it's only a matter of time before someone with big pockets takes the plunge and soaks up all the supply. You might think about picking up a little bit of these exotics which should be interesting to see what happens. Look only at solid metal beads and bars and not powder. Powdered metal forms of all these are the cheapest to get by weight but are not good for trading. Powdered osmium in particular is very toxic so should be avoided. Rasiel
With ruthenium i believe merrickmint uses it Extensively with coins. And I can't recall anymore but I think back in the old days rhodium was used extensively with cheap jewelry, specifically used right behind junk diamonds to reflect light back and make people think the diamonds were better than they actually were. you can find places that sell silver, gold etc that also sell these metals. They're quite widely available, just google it and pull out your wallet. http://www.libertygoldandsilver.com/rhodium.htm https://www.rwmmint.com/
A small bucket -- if you're looking at the US 2012 production figures, the first Google showed me, that year's production was a bit less than a gallon by volume. That bucket had better have a strong handle, though, because its contents would weigh around 165 pounds. The stuff's 17% denser than gold.
Way out of sight !! but this is such a small market it easy to manipulate, if you Donald Trump....LOL
That's why I like osmium so much. It's both cheap AND buying just a little you can still end up having a tangible impact in the overall supply chain!
This place sells it as powder. Stay away from that stuff. It's a ripoff. How would you ever resell it? Plus it's bad for your health if you breathe it in.
Back in the 60's I used osmium tetroxide as a heavy metal stain in college electron microscopy work for chromosomes of Drosophlia and bacterial species, and it is very bad stuff!!! My wings still flutter when I hear the name Jim
Osmium's a really weird one. Super-hard, super-dense, super-high melting point, super-low vapor pressure, and super-unreactive -- except, for some reason, with air. It sneers at concentrated acids (even aqua regia), but leave it sitting out, and it forms an oxide -- and that oxide is volatile (evaporates easily), and is an extremely powerful oxidizing agent, which makes it highly toxic. It got the name "osmium" because it stinks. If you get a sample for your element collection, keep it in a sealed bottle.
Jeff, that's only for micron-sized particles (powder). An object big enough to see with the naked eye will stay untarnished indefinitely. Here's an ounce turned into a pendant.
If I remember correctly, inhaling osmium tetroxide can cause it to plate out inside your eyes causing irreversible blindness...
I think you'd die first, which of course also causes irreversible blindness. It does attack the cornea from vapor exposure. In case Lovecraft just isn't enough any more to scratch your horror itch, here's one lab's guide for using osmium tetroxide: https://www.chemistry.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/safety/sop/SOP_Osmium_Tetroxide.pdf Cliff's notes summary: don't.
Certainly it was more enjoyable to use gold sputter in a vacuum bell to coat the tiny creatures' parts. It was either work in the lab or work for Unc. Sam in Nam. Jim
Yeah, I would've taken my chances with the OsO4. At least there wouldn't have been anyone deliberately spraying it at me.
As Rasiel said, Osmium in a sponge or powder format is not ideal. Now in a solid cube as sold on luciteria.com it is perfectly safe. I handle mine all the time and no problems at all. It is a beautiful metal, as it has a blueish tint to it. No other metal like it.
I think the problem with these metals is the extremely high buy/sell spread if people want to invest in them. Finding them to buy is hard enough, ( and at sky high premiums versus "market", but where do you sell? I like these metals, and was looking to buy, just not kidding myself about their investment potential.
