Best precious metal to invest in?

15,050 lbs. (Approx.) Fired 7.62MM brass
shell casings contained in (5)…See below







[TD="class: value"]Internet Auction[/TD]


[TD="class: value"]10/05/2012 12:00AM Eastern Time[/TD]


[TD="class: value"]10/09/2012 05:00PM Eastern Time[/TD]


[TD="class: value"] 23 Days, 18 Hours, 44 Minutes[/TD]


[TD="class: value"]Fort Knox, KY[/TD]

[TD="class: pad-top-20"]Opening Bid:[/TD]
[TD="class: pad-top-20 value"]$150.00[/TD]

Quantity in Lot:	15050 (View Details)
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15,050 lbs of clean (USG verified) brass...that's over $50,000 worth of brass! ...for $150! :devil: (Sweet!)

Assuming you got a big truck and live near Ft. Worth.

 

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Since when is copper a precious metal?

 

No, but I can tell you where - with a little effort on your part - you can pick up "rounds" at well under melt. It's at this really crazy place called the "bank".

No offense, but unless you're looking to resell to fools, this is a waste of money IMO.

 

You could collect scrap copper and aluminum and sell it to recycling centers. However, it's not going to be profitable. For example, 2 weeks ago I helped my brother clean out his basement. We hauled alot of stuff to the local dump and I sorted through and kept the scrap aluminum. The local recycling center pays 44 cents per pound for aluminum($2.10/lbs. for copper). I made just about $40. For 6 hours of sorting through old junk, gas to drive to and from the recycling center. For $40 it's not worth the time and effort. Plus, I was able to get a good amount of aluminum because my brother's basement was packed full of stuff. Getting that much aluminum again in one shot in one day would be difficult. So with the recycling centers paying alot less then melt it's not a good idea to buy these metals slightly above melt value and try to resell it. Stick to precious metals. As for which ones you should buy I have no idea. For myself, I like to buy silver and hold it for years and years, I'm not into reselling it quickly for a slight profit. I'de love to buy some more silver but it's way to high. The past few years have seen some of the highest precious metal prices ever. I'm waiting a long while to watch the precious metal prices before I buy more. Good luck and all the best on whatever you decide.

 

I said it a little earlier if you believe economy is headed for temporary rebound platinum may be a good choice? Granted i think you may be a little late to get on bandwagon since prices are already at 1705 (it was as low as $1380 a month ago...

 

Always the pessimist... :rollling:

 

Actually there has been reconsideration of the mantle plume theory of Yellowstone.

Google ~ Farallon plate Yellowstone.

If true, it reduces the idea of a supervolcano reaction.

 

Robert Kiyosaki: Why Silver Bullion Is The Biggest Investment Opportunity Ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D4zjkv1Ssw

 

Just throwing this out there to guys wishing to invest in copper. If you buy romex wiring on sale at your local mega mart, it tracks the copper market very well. However, the trick is when selling. You need to find an electrician who needs it enough he wished to pay close to market price for it.

It may sound weird, but my father is an electrician and this is how he plays the copper market when he believes its going to go up.

 

Not at all. It's already in a form that is ready to be used and the majority of the cost of romex is in the copper.

I'd say the only thing better would be copper pipe, because copper comprises a higher portion of the cost. But since pipes are hollow, they're not as dense as romex, so you'll likely need more storage space to hang onto them while you wait for them to appreciate. They're also easy to damage and you might not get top dollar for them if they're oxidized.

I've picked up a fair amount of romex and copper pipe from the free section of craigslist over the years. :yes:

 

Very good post. I'm a strong believer in the raising price of silver myself, although over a very long timeframe (20 years and more). The current strong prices have yet to prove to be sustained in the mid term (5 years and more), depending on the central bank driven market and ongoing financial repression this can surely go on for many years and possession of pm is a good insurance in case things turn really ugly. Whenever sudden price spikes are observed waiting some time to make further decisions is a rational choice. If someone wants exposure to the potentials of higher industrial demand and insurance against false policy, silver and platinum are a much better choice than aluminum and copper, density of value and liquidity is much higher compared to the base metals.

With raising demands in emission standards (like Euro-6-Norm) the further use of platinum in catalytic converters for diesel type engines is pretty much posed to grow, also strong dependence on a single supplier nation with a market share of 76-80% (hope I'm not wrong here) and known uncertainties to sustain stable mining operations is a huge plus in my book. I'm quite bullish on the long term trend of platinum, even if it may hurt short term.

What is also to be observed is the sudden disappearance of market available supplies with sudden strong price breakdowns (at least with German dealers/raffineries) -is it the same on the American market?

 

The answer really depends on who is investing and how much money they have to invest. I would say that gold is the best and silver follows so depending on how much a person has will determine which one they choose.

 

As with all supply/demand scenarios, most ignore incoming alternatives. As long as platinum , palladium, etc, were "relatively" cheap ( lets say below $800-1000) there was little push to find alternatives, but after the large rise in price and inconsistent supplies, alternatives are being developed, after all catalysts are a chemical entity and not limited to just one element. here is a recent blurb about using silicon carbide crystals as a replacement for platinum. Our knowledge of silicon carbide chemistry has increased tremendously. It can be synthesized into synthetic moissanite ( more sparkle than a diamond, more heat resistant, hardness of 9 - 9.5 ( diamond is 10). fairly large size.

Don't think that demands of industrially used metals will remain high, as new expertise will focus or cheaper and more readily available substances.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/...Cheap-replacements-for-Platinum-and-Palladium

 

Platinum is always "too expensive", the first approaches to find a replacement for Platinum are going back to the 80s. In recent times new breakthroughs in basic research are being reported periodically, but in the end it needs to be transfered to a doable industrial process. Even Palladium was once seen as a "cheap" replacement, today with prices skyrocketing the advantage seems to be melting away more and more, which is not surprising with supplies being limited (total ground reserves are if my memory serves right even more limited than that for Platinum). If it would be possible without little difficulty to find a very cheap replacement with similar levels of usable technical efficiency and greatly reduced financial expenditure it's like a dream come true and would have been done a long time ago.

Technical development will move forward, and the search will continue eventually they may find something or not, who knows. If a solution should emerge, it will take a good time from lab to product in my opinion.

 

Great post. I hope they are successful, and Pt crashes in price. It may be my favorite metal, so I am hoping for a huge price correction so I can afford more.

 

No worry.

 

I'm not sure how you can consider that the tulip madness wasn't a bubble. People traded their entire livestock and homes for a single bulb to such detriment to the actual economy (trade and manufacturing) that the government had little choice but to intervene when ship building and public safety was threatened. The main driving force was futures contracts, which the government annulled, causing the end of the bubble.

BTW - the strange varieties were due to a virus and could not be reproduced by conventional means.

 

I'm hoping the same for silver. Despite being in a position where I could profit handsomely if it goes up, I'd rather it go down in the short term so I can get MOAR! There are so many awesome coins, rounds and bars out there that I don't have in my collection yet.

As long as it does go back up eventually that is...

 

There are many who disagree with this, but I am not one of those.
Along with nickels, I stack anything with silver in it.

 

Aluminum! Because when the stuff hits the fan and everyone loses it all, they'll still be buying beer.