Platinum

It hit $2005. this afternoon, wow how high will it go!!! If Gold is at say $900. per oz and Platinum is approx. 35 times rarer, well who knows!! I wish I had ordered some Plat. coins now, oh well!!

 

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One of the strange things aboout all of this is that the last time gold was up close to this level ($850 as I recall in about 1980), silver was at $50.
Now silver is only $17. Only one-third what it was then.
Strange.

 

and closed at $2056!!

 

I think a lot of people think it has peaked but I don't think platinum has yet. Just look at this chart of Rhodium that went from $500 to over $7000 in a single run. Now a lot of people are selling platinum coins but I don't think it is enough to slow the rise for now. I own some Platinum coins and am not selling but may if it goes to $4000 an ounce.

 

Platinum is in a rocket because of supply and the power problems facing the mining companies in S Africa.

I own a complete set of APE 1/10th oz coins in proof and unc up to 2007 and a few 1/2 oz coins as well as a few 1/4 0z coins....I am with ya on the 4000.00/oz maybe even before!

RickieB

 

I hear the power problems will persist will 2013 apparently! I guess platinum wont be dropping down too rapidly until then!

 

Not necessarily till 2013. Zimbabwe has a significant amount of platinum and it has a potential of raising over 1 million ounces of platinum per year where current production level worldwide is at 6 million oz+ at the moment. Problem is with negotiating with the current Zimbabwe government as well as infrastructure. But yes, in the short term, platinum is likely to raise as it's just difficult to replace platinum from catalysts as about 50% of platinum goes straight to catalysts, 20%+ to industrial usage etc. More information can be read at Johnson Matthey: http://www.matthey.com/ The story in South Africa is different - while power supply is one issue, the real issue is with the technological difficulty as some mines are already hitting 2 kilometers underground and miners are demanding better pay and health care, raising operation costs greatly. You don't want to know how much people get killed yearly for PGMs.

Tell me more about it - I bought 1/2 oz pt when it was at 700usd/oz a few years ago. Thought that was expensive but now it isn't.

 

A major difference between conditions in 1980 and today is that in 1980 the Hunt brothers were trying to corner the market on silver. At one point they controlled over 50% of the world's silver, driving the price from $2/oz to over $50/oz in a few short years. No one is manipulating the silver market to that extent today (to my knowledge).

 

Platinum is more rare than gold, and now sells for a higher price. Yet, I recall times in the past when the price of gold was higher than platinum. Less known is that there are fewer ounces of silver in above ground inventories than there are gold ounces, yet gold sell for many times more per ounce than silver. So there is more to price than rarity; otherwise silver would sell for a higher price than gold. Platinum has reached record highs. Gold has reached record highs. Silver has not. Now maybe the Hunt brothers buying drove the price of silver far higher than warranted, but silver sold above $20 for several years and is probably the most underpriced of the three metals at this time.

 

Supply and demand remain the primary determinants of price. There may be more gold in inventory than silver (I'll take your word for that) but most of it is locked away and is not available in the marketplace. Literally tons of gold are currently stored in the vaults of Fort Knox and the Denver Mint and the vaults of various foreigh countries. If all this gold was suddenly released into the marketplace what do you think the effect would be on the price of gold?

 

You can't really predict metal prices by looking at side by side comparisons through history. If you look back far enough, aluminum was at one time worth more than gold and silver in bullion. Wonder how many invested in that folly?
Guy~

 

I rate the probability of that happening about the same as the probability that the Fed will call me up and ask if I want any free gold samples. What if everyone sold their house at the same time? What if everyone sold their car at the same time? What if everyone sold all of their stocks and mutual funds on the same day? What if everyone did just about anything at the same time? The question isn't really relevant to normal market conditions.

 

I read somewhere that if you put all the gold in the world into an olympic sized swimming pool, you'd end up with three swimming pools full. If you did the same with platinum, it would fill one pool just up to your ankles. I assumed they meant mined and processed gold and platinum.

And another interesting fact is that all the platinum concentrations in the world are located around old meteor impacts. Because of this, they also suspect there's a large amount of it on the moon too, so the minute someone builds a moonbase up there, sell sell sell!

 

You completely missed my point.

Being extant and being available are two different animals. Take the 1933 Double Eagle. Some guy bought the only one available to the public for something like $7.5 million. We know there are 10 more examples being held by the Feds until ownership is determined. There may be more out there somewhere. But for now only one of these coins is available although there are 11 known coins.

So the 1933 Double Eagle is worth $7.5 million. That has been established. Does that mean ALL 1933 Double Eagles are worth $7.5 million? I don't think so. If the other 10 known examples were made available to the public I would venture to guess the going rate would be substantially less than $7.5 million.

Likewise, if some or all of the gold held in government vaults were released the price of gold would drop. Supply and demand.

What if the Feds confiscated a hoard of 1,000 1933 Double Eagles but still only one remained legal to own? Does the existance of that many coins that are not available to be bought affect the price of the only one that is legal to own? Probably not. Supply has not changed by adding more coins that are not available to the market. (Admittedly, the value of that single legal example may be pushed down by the prospect of addtional coins being given legal status and released into the market.)

 

Was just seeing a documentary on mining in SA... at 2 kms down, temperatures are 120 F generally and Air conditioning apparenty brings it down to a managable 98 F with 100% humdity... They say to go deeper they HAVE to have robot miners... and you cant blame them! With random rock explotions, power cuts, etc... you suddenly wonder about the price other people pay for you to get your gold/platinum....

 

If all of anything comes on the market at the same time, the price will go down. This isn't new information, and it isn't likely to happen either. There is no reason to think central banks value their gold less than other holders, but there is reason to think they are more willing to sell if they think the price is high, since this has been their habit for the past decade or two. So I don't think the fact that central banks hold gold is relevant to the market price other than they might be holding it down a bit.

 

That 2007 APE 2 coin anniversary set is looking better every day. My first and only platinum set. Seems like it is paying off.....so far.

 

Im still mad I didnt by 1 ounce when it was at 1300. I had the chance, but bought silver instead. lol
now look, its at 2100.
(but the dollar is down... so yeah)

 

On an impulse I bought a 10.5 gram solid platinum ring on eBay just before Xmas for a little less then melt.

For a week or two after I was kind of regretting the purchase because it was a little pricey and Xmas was just around the corner, but right now that ring is worth almost twice what I paid for it!

I keep telling my girlfriend it's my insurance policy. When everything goes to hell and all the banks shut down, this ring will buy us a couple of tickets out of here.

 

A word of caution

Platinum pricing right now is being driven up on paper. The demand hasn't changed for the metal. I read an article the other day about how Palladium is starting to be substituted for Platinum because of the pricing difference. Particularly in catalic converters for cars. If anything you will see the demand decrease as Palladium is substituted. I know from personal experience that dealers are real hesitate to buy any platinum at these levels. You are talking about a $700 dollar or so increase within 2 weeks. If any, and I mean ANY news comes out that supply issues aren't as bad as predicted...you will see a MAJOR correction. If you can find a buyer, you should sell it. Then buy it back after the correction. That's my 2 cents. Just think about it..would you be reluctant to buy Platinum right now? If your answer is yes, which it should be, do you not think that the consumers in platinum are thinking the same thing? Here is one of those articles

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page35?oid=46789&sn=Detail