About Precious Metals

Gold
Gold is always at the top of the list of precious metals. It has fascinated mankind for thousands of years and is one the most valuable substances on earth. Gold is extremely malleable can be formed into a variety of valuable items, from jewelry to ingots and coins. Gold metal conducts both heat and electricity extremely well and does not easily corrode. For hundreds of years, gold has been used to back up world currencies and is even been used as currency itself in the form of coins. Grades of gold are based upon the metals content according to the amount of gold mixed with other metals, pure gold is 24K gold, 22K gold is 92% gold mixed with other metals or metal, 18K gold is 75% gold mixed with other metals or metal, 14K gold is 58% gold mixed with other metals or metal, 10K gold is 41.7% gold mixed with other metals or metal.

Silver
Used for hundreds of years to make jewelry, silverware and coins, silver is a strong, shiny precious metal that is a solid investment. Its high level of ductility makes it especially valuable in industrial applications as well, such as photography, soldering, electrical contacts and dentistry. Silver can be mixed with other metals to increase hardness.

Platinum
Platinum is used in a wide variety of products from jewelry to industrial applications that include dentistry, lab equipment and even catalytic converters used on cars.. This precious metal is silver-white and resists tarnishing, unlike silver. Platinum looks a lot like silver but is priced on the same level as gold. In fact, platinum is generally considered one of the most rare of the precious metals.

Easy to buy and easy to sell bullion bars and ingots containing precious metals offer an excellent way for precious metals investors to actually retain physical ownership of their investment. Popular sizes for bullion bars and ingots containing precious metals are 1 Ounce, 10 Ounce and 100 Ounce. Bullion for investment purposes contain .999 percent of the precious metal that they are marked as. Popular metals for bullion investors include gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Engelhard and Johnson-Matthey are trusted brands in producing bullion bars for investors.

Gold and silver bullion coins are some of the the best investments for gold and silver investors. Find information on buying and selling gold and silver bullion coins. U.S. Silver Eagle and U.S. Gold American Buffalo bullion coins are 99.9% pure in metal content.

Gold and Silver Bullion Coins

Junk Silver Coins

Many individuals are not aware that the weight of precious metals traded on world markets is in troy ounces not the standard ounce. A troy ounce is 2.75 grams heavier than a standard ounce. This might not seem like a big deal but a person buying or selling large amounts of precious metals could loose substantial amounts of money by not being aware of this.

1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams or 480 grains

1 standard ounce = 28.3495231 grams or 437.5 grains

Investing in precious metals is an option investors to diversify their investments. Silver, platinum and gold are considered to be popular precious metals with worldwide interest. Just like any other investment investing in precious metals does carry some risk.

Methods of investing in precious metals include mutual funds that specialize in precious metals, stock ownership in mining companies, certificates of ownership that allow you to own them with them being stored elsewhere, futures contracts for precious metals and actually owning them in the form of bars, ingots or bullion coins.

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