Rhodium

Historic highs happened when Russia stopped sales, so that's the big play.

Have you found someone other than kitco who makes a market? No reflection on them whatsoever, but here are their options:

Rh stored in Canada, fairly close markups, but you might as well have a paper contract.

Rh in your fat little fingers, but fairly substantial penalties and assays before you can resell.

Either way, with the choice of one market maker, no matter how reputable, your exit strategy is at their mercy. If they fold (bigger places than Kitco have folded), then where do you sell, and at what price? Apples and pencils on the street corner, OK, but 99.99% of gold buyers wouldn't have a clue what to do with Rh.

Yes, they are coming out with the Palladium "Mercury" coin in 2012. I also have been thinking thatl the demand from the mint could make it more popular as an investment option. I would assume that it will be released somewhere around $200 above melt. My thinking is that ingots may try to track the coin prices somewhat. Who knows. I guess time will tell.

If it was me, I would skip the Rh and invest in something that is more conventional. Pt, for example, can be bought and sold just about anywhere that PMs are bought and sold. People know what it is and how valuable it is. Add to that, it is priced less than Au right now, which is not usually the case.

For a similar coin or bar at less than 1/2 the price of Pt, consider Pd. It has many of the same features as Pt as far as an investment goes but is cheaper. It would be great if the US mint were to come out with Pd coins in 1 oz and fractional oz. sizes. I am sure that they would do well in the coin market. I'd be interested in collecting some 1/4 or 1/2 oz. Pd coins.

Both platinum and palladium are used in many of the same industrial goods that rhodium is used in (catalytic converters ect) so they too will generally rise and fall with the level of consumption along the same lines as rhodium though since they are much more heavily traded than rhodium they are subject to price fluctuations due to speculation as well.

From what I have read most white gold pieces are Rhodium plated, and I saw some Rhodium plated sterling silver pieces for sale on TV today. Somebody must be buying physical Rhodium. I called my jeweler, who is a really good repair guy. He said that he doesn't re-plate white gold himself, but sends it in to a company that handles it.