South Sea Dragon Rhodium Coin and a $600 Million Rhodium Theft!
Today I thought I might talk about a precious metal that all too often goes ignored. Some time back I came across a coin that was produced by the island nation of Tuvalu with a really cool dragon design in 2018. Not only is the coin an awesome looking work of art, it's one of the few government produced coins in the world made with one Troy ounce of pure rhodium.
Do I own one of these? No, but I wish I did! It would have been an excellent investment back in 2018, but I didn't learn about it's existence until relatively recently. Have a look:
Photos from Bullion Exchanges
About the coin
From numista.com
What's fascinating about this coin is that it is pure rhodium. Only 1,000 were minted and quickly were bought up and are very rarely seen for sale. Most I'm sure are locked up in vaults where they will likely stay. I couldn't find even one for sale after searching around the internet! It is really cool, and I would love to have one, but I know it won't ever come cheap! The metal content alone is worth $7,475, and then the premium wouldn't be small either...
Investing in rhodium is very tricky. The spread between bids/asks is $450, meaning that once you buy it the price would have to go up 6% to make a profit. It is principally used in the auto industry, manufacturing, and jewelry. Shortages are very common and have cause crazy price spikes over the years. First look at the one year price chart, then the five years.
Charts from Trading Economics
It has shot to $30,000 per Troy ounce before and will likely again. South Africa is the principal supplier currently, along with Russia. I've been investing in it for several years, it's very volatile, but when it goes up you can make a lot of money! Or lose it too... Just like crypto!
$600 Million Catalytic Converter Theft Ring
Recently a man from New Jersey, US pleaded guilty to charges associated with a crime ring that were stealing catalytic converters. Catalytic converters are used on petroleum powered vehicle to reduce emissions of toxic gases and contain very valuable precious metals. The thieves were cutting them off of people's vehicles and selling them to a refiner to extract the rhodium, platinum and palladium.
They were only caught when a police officer saw something suspicious in a pickup truck. It had over 130 catalytic converters in the back. Why they didn't tarp the load do better disguise it is beyond me. Not all crooks are smart... Of course, when they caught this first guy he made a deal to turn over the ring members. The prisoner's dilemma at it's finest...
Now the man who pleaded guilty is facing 14 to 17 years in prison. He also lost his yacht, his expensive sports car collection, real estate and $4 million in cash. Crime didn't pay for this fellow! Unless of course he hid away millions in overseas accounts, then maybe when he gets out he can return to his riches...
That will wrap up my post for today, I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below, and as always thank you for all of your support. I appreciate each one of you here on Hive! Have a great weekend everyone!
References:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces175035.html
Disclaimer
I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!
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I don't hear much about catalytic converter theft anymore. I wonder if auto manufacturers made them more difficult to remove?
That is a beautiful dragon!
!
It's still very common in certain parts of the country. As they are part of the exhaust system they are still relatively easy to access, although they should do something about that. Whether or not they will is another story!
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I guess the crooks didn’t think 130 catalytic converters would draw the attention of anyone Lol!😇🤣
Rhodium sounds like an interesting metal to add to the stack! I can see why all these coins were snatched up quickly!
I've invested in smaller amounts and even pooled account over the years and done well. The only problem with it is liquidity, there aren't a lot of dealers that buy/sell the metal.
We have two local coin shops in town. I’ll have to check and see if they deal in rhodium I would be curious.
I don’t think I would be buying any right now, I’m still buying the bitcoin dip!😇😊👍
Rhodium is the whitest of the Platinum Group Metals… I’m hoping it’s mixed in with my Silver and Gold discoveries…
It's a very pretty metal, but also much harder to extract. There are deposits in the US that haven't been worked in over 100 years. Now with more mining permits being issued maybe we will be a producer again finally! I hope you have some in your ore as well, that would be awesome!
I do suspect a chance of small amounts of the Platinum Group Metals…
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I've not looked into Rhodium at all! That is a wonderful design of a coin, @thebighigg!
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Thanks! Rhodium is fun to invest in, but liquidity is the one issue that can be difficult. This is one I have traded in pools in the past to be able to liquidate quickly and have done well. I usually prefer holding the metal in my hand, but if you plan to sell when it hits a new high that can be hard. I would still love to own one of the coins, but it's unlikely that one will ever come true!
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I don't think I have ever heard of rhodium before.
A lot of people haven't, although it's the most expensive of the precious metals and the rarest.
I thought I read the other day it comes from radioactive decay, is that right?
That's radium, nasty stuff! Rhodium is in the platinum metals group along with palladium. It's only found in platinum deposits and costly to separate it out, which is why it's so expensive. There are some deposits here in the US but haven't been worked in over 100 years.
Oh, okay. I guess I glanced at the article wrong then!