Why Do Precious Metals Have Value?

So, Poland was a representative democracy 1000 years ago? Somehow, I don't think so.

It's pretty simple. DVCollector said it best here. Gold has desirable properties that make it workable. It doesn't tarnish or corrode, it shines, it's dense and portable, it's soft and can take any form. People save it and wear it as status symbols. It's recycled like crazy and is expensive so as to dissuade any reckless wastage. It's hard to mine - it's a dirty job and can damage the environment around the mine. Very few industrial uses means that it's not being dug up to satisfy mindless consumption the way fuels do.

These are all factors. Silver will tarnish and it's not as desirable in color, therefore, it's worth a bit less than gold - in status - but works kind of similar to gold. Platinum is just rare and has a high melting point so needs more time to work with. It doesn't make these metals "money" but they do have some worth depending on what form they take (ore, ingots, jewelry, industrial applications, etc...) So right now we're talking ingots/bars as investment vehicles and you have to look at that point in time of the manufacturing stage because that's what we're all betting on, however, they are all interconnected.

Yes but name something rare that is highly demanded that is not valuable?

My poops are rare at times, sometimes they are red, other times green and I only produce a few of strange color a few times a month. However even with their rarity nobody wants them.

Vincent Van gogh he produced paintings about on par as my rare body excrement, perhaps a few a month. However people DO want them. Therefore the rarity combined with the demand will drive prices.

Quote: "Yes but name something rare that is highly demanded that is not valuable?"

Honesty and Respect for starters!

Original Star Wars figurines. They might be rare and highly demanded by others, but that has a minimal impact to me who just sees them as toys.

I often have had people who want to sell stuff like baseball cards say "But it's worth $150". My reply is "who offered you $150 for it?" This invariably leads to "But the book says...", at which point I tell them the address of the writer is in the book, I'm sure they'll be happy to buy it from you, have a nice day.

If you want to find what something is "worth", take $100,000 worth of it and try to sell it. If it's PM, you should be able to get $98,000 or so. Now see what offers you get on $100,000 "worth" of something else.

I bought an entire closet full of *Wars stuff from a collector. Sold a couple 12" unboxed figures for about twice what I paid for everything.