What are the thoughts of fellow members regarding Platinum ? 0

[Joydeep]

There is an on going trend of dropping Platinum prices for some time now (below $800 per ounce at the moment of this post). Is anyone here worried and more importantly is anyone trying to take advantage of this (opinions appreciated both from a hobbyist/numismatic and investment viewpoints) ?

Edited May 29, 2019 by joydeep

[Mohawk]

Well....I have to be honest here.  I'm far more of a collector than I am a bullion person.  That said, I think that it is a bit unusual that platinum has stayed as low as it has for as long as it has.....I'm unsure of the reasons that platinum is staying this low.  Maybe someone who is more in touch with the bullion markets than I am will chime in on that.  It could be a good time to buy for people wanting to get in on platinum as bullion.  As for myself, I'm not trying to get into the platinum bullion market or anything like that.  The most I do with bullion is a bit of silver here and there, but I don't even do much of that.

[thebeav]

As a former jeweler,I remember when platinum was the hot jewelry material 12 or 13 years ago. This trend lasted for some years. Given that such a large percentage of marriages end in divorce, that puts a glut of recyclable platinum back into the market, what with weddings bands and such. This, along with electric cars, having no catalytic converters. Even so, these prices are a little surprising.......

[Mohawk]

6 minutes ago, thebeav said:

As a former jeweler,I remember when platinum was the hot jewelry material 12 or 13 years ago. This trend lasted for some years. Given that such a large percentage of marriages end in divorce, that puts a glut of recyclable platinum back into the market, what with weddings bands and such. This, along with electric cars, having no catalytic converters. Even so, these prices are a little surprising.......

Those thoughts do make a lot of sense regarding the supply of platinum and the decreasing demand.  Gold has, as it always has, gotten a lot of the attention the past few years, too.  Maybe gold has a better marketing department than platinum right now.....

[GW]

I enjoyed collecting bullion Platinum coins but I could only afford the 1/4 ounce. Now they only offer the 1 oz which is around $1,200 when Platinum is only $800. $400+. 

not sure what the u.s. mint is thinking when they make a price of a coin so high that an average collector can't afford them. 

if the u.s. Mint goes back to 1/4 ounce platinum I'll probably start my Platinum bullion coin collection again. 

[Mohawk]

I've given up on trying to make any sense out of what the US Mint does.  That's part of what I love about collecting ancients......it doesn't matter what any of the mints do.....my coins were struck long ago.

[Revenant]

I like the Platinum coins the mint produces. I don't like paying for them. I remember years ago platinum spiked to over $1,900 / oz. As I recall it was because labor strikes in South Africa caused mine closures, among other things going on at the time. At the time the platinum was going for about twice the price of gold. Crazy stuff. I don't know that we'll ever see that again though unless something else drastic happens. I have a bunch of silver bullion that I hope will be a long term position but I don't try to make much sense of the day-to-day, month-to-month movements of the metals. Those cycles run long.

[mumu]

4 hours ago, thebeav said:

As a former jeweler,I remember when platinum was the hot jewelry material 12 or 13 years ago. This trend lasted for some years. Given that such a large percentage of marriages end in divorce, that puts a glut of recyclable platinum back into the market, what with weddings bands and such. This, along with electric cars, having no catalytic converters. Even so, these prices are a little surprising.......

Side note question to your former jeweler side if you dont mind. What would be the best way to acquire some platinum jewelry at spot? I specifically want a usable cuban link chain for myself. But additionally I'd like to acquire some bullion in the form of jewelry because it seems any platinum coin bullion is still being offered at high prices. Would a pawn shop be the route or some sort of smelting place? 

This also answers the OPs question. I love platinum I would own a few coins if they werent being offered at higher premiums. I know platinum is harder to work with than say silver so im sure thats a part 

[Numismatic, A.A.S.]

8 hours ago, joydeep said:

There is an on going trend of dropping Platinum prices for some time now (below $800 per ounce at the moment of this post). Is anyone here worried and more importantly is anyone trying to take advantage of this (opinions appreciated both from a hobbyist/numismatic and investment viewpoints) ?

P+ will continue to drop, supply side issue not demand. I Only really focus on rare date platinum and there's no discount on those coins. 

Got plenty of bullion put back. Traders are shorting, somebody on Tuesday bought over $750,000 but others are selling...in that world it's common though...

[Numismatic, A.A.S.]

9 hours ago, gtw-123 said:

not sure what the u.s. mint is thinking when they make

I totally agree...seriously, they confuse me, I thought I had the west point quarters figured out....

[thebeav]

6 hours ago, mumu said:

Side note question to your former jeweler side if you dont mind. What would be the best way to acquire some platinum jewelry at spot? I specifically want a usable cuban link chain for myself. But additionally I'd like to acquire some bullion in the form of jewelry because it seems any platinum coin bullion is still being offered at high prices. Would a pawn shop be the route or some sort of smelting place? 

 

That Cuban link chain is going to be VERY difficult to find.  As far as finding some scrap, I'd check with any one that buys from the public. It's common to get 98% of melt for their scrap, so getting spot or spot plus a few percent may be attractive. Platinum jewelry is generally 90% platinum and 10% iridium. The iridium part used to be ignored, but at 1400/oz, it probably isn't ignored now.

[RWB]

Platinum is one of many metals used in commercial manufacturing. Its market cost varies with supply, demand and speculative direction.

Those who purchase bullion pieces made from platinum should understand they are buying the design/appearance and not really the metal.

[Mohawk]

7 hours ago, thebeav said:

 The iridium part used to be ignored, but at 1400/oz, it probably isn't ignored now.

Wow......the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary just became the most expensive marker of a mass extinction in Earth's history!  If I were a bird, I'd be upset that the remnants of the space rock that killed all of the other dinosaurs are worth so much money!

Edited May 30, 2019 by Mohawk

[World Colonial]

On ‎5‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 9:01 PM, Mohawk said:

Those thoughts do make a lot of sense regarding the supply of platinum and the decreasing demand.  Gold has, as it always has, gotten a lot of the attention the past few years, too.  Maybe gold has a better marketing department than platinum right now.....

I have expressed the opinion that the best explanation for the relative price between gold and other metals (especially silver) is that gold is viewed as a money substitute while the others really aren't.  Gold's current value certainly isn't based upon it's utility since unlike silver, platinum and palladium most of it is in bar or coin form.

On this coinage generally, I have also commented that I don't believe that most buyers are primarily (if at all) buying it as a collectible but for financial purposes.  Except for the 70 grades, it's a relatively low premium option with additional potential financial upside.

It's my opinion that the "real" collector base for any of these issues is very low, maybe in the hundreds at most.  If this is correct, these "low" mintages aren't really that low.  None of these coins are remotely actually scarce and it is invalid to compare the mintage to other coinage, especially circulating series.

As an actual collectible, it should be self evident that even at current depressed prices, these coins are hopelessly uncompetitive versus any non-NCLT in a similar price range. 

I am aware that a low number of the earlier AGE sell for high premiums even below a 70 and I'd also guess that  many who buy it hope for a similar outcome.

Edited June 2, 2019 by World Colonial