Copper Bars

[FatherRosado]

I still don't understand why copper bars are retaining such a high premium?

[inflationhawk]

Me neither! Having one as a novelty maybe, but they seem way overpriced for an 'investment'.

[natsb88]

Old thread, but still relevant: www.realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8446

[inflationhawk]

Thanks, good info here. Helps me understand that you are buying a manufactured good and paying for the service and time it took to manufacture more so than the value of the copper. That's fine and the end product may even re-sell well, but hard to consider it a true copper bullion investment when you are paying more for manufacturing the item than the cost of the base metal. I think a copper bar is pretty cool and a neat novelty item, but personally I wouldn't consider it much of an investment for the sake of copper. If you want copper for copper's sake, scrapping or collecting pennies seems to be the better means to the end. Just my opinion.

[natsb88]

Just my opinion.

A perfectly valid one too. You're paying for the manufacturing with silver bullion too, it just works out to a much smaller percentage of the overall cost because silver is $22.39 per troy ounce and copper is only $0.22 per troy ounce. A lot of generic silver is $2 - $3 over spot per ounce right now, a lot of copper is $0.28 - $1.50 over spot per ounce right now. The premium on copper is actually lower in terms of dollars, but works out to a much higher percentage of the overall cost because of the relatively low spot price of copper.

[SilverDragon72]

Old thread, but still relevant: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8446

It was an older thread, and one worth reading.

It answered some questions that I had.

[Computer Jones]

Silver started out the same way.
It was just a novelty metal to make fancy tokens (and tea pots, serving dishes and "Silver"ware from.

The cost of manufacturing was a lot more than the cost of the metal, "back then".
When inflation drove the price of the metal up to par with the cost of manufacturing, "poof" no more Silver in our coins and we're stacking.

Copper will get there, just wait a while. The switch to Zinkers in '82 shows we're close.

If you want cheap(er) 100% Cu bars (or round objects), buy electric buss bars and get a hack saw and a file. A set of lettering/numbering stamps and some leather working tools too if you want to make them look fancy.

[68Camaro]

Further if you look at the price of just plain wrought copper in bulk (plate, tube, etc) you're talking 10-15 bucks per pound, or 3-5x spot. As has been noted before the spot price is for electroplate sheets that require additional work to get them into any other form.

[inflationhawk]

Just my opinion.

A perfectly valid one too. You're paying for the manufacturing with silver bullion too, it just works out to a much smaller percentage of the overall cost because silver is $22.39 per troy ounce and copper is only $0.22 per troy ounce. A lot of generic silver is $2 - $3 over spot per ounce right now, a lot of copper is $0.28 - $1.50 over spot per ounce right now. The premium on copper is actually lower in terms of dollars, but works out to a much higher percentage of the overall cost because of the relatively low spot price of copper.

Using the difference in weight is not a valid reason to justify the difference in cost. You would effectively be considering the value of the same weight of copper to be equal to the same weight of silver which is kind of silly. The percentage over the price of the base metal is the valid measure.

[scyther]

Just my opinion.

A perfectly valid one too. You're paying for the manufacturing with silver bullion too, it just works out to a much smaller percentage of the overall cost because silver is $22.39 per troy ounce and copper is only $0.22 per troy ounce. A lot of generic silver is $2 - $3 over spot per ounce right now, a lot of copper is $0.28 - $1.50 over spot per ounce right now. The premium on copper is actually lower in terms of dollars, but works out to a much higher percentage of the overall cost because of the relatively low spot price of copper.

Using the difference in weight is not a valid reason to justify the difference in cost. You would effectively be considering the value of the same weight of copper to be equal to the same weight of silver which is kind of silly. The percentage over the price of the base metal is the valid measure.

From the standpoint of a buyer, maybe so. But the point is he can't get it much cheaper even if he wants to. Copper bullion is just an all around bad investment.

[inflationhawk]

Oh yeah, definitely from the perspective of the buyer. I don't fault the seller for marking up as there is certainly manufacturing costs to consider. It's just inherently, copper bars make for high premiums and there are better ways to invest in copper for copper sake.

[FatherRosado]

thanks for answering the question. I still have one copper bar. They are cool. They are tradeable.

[FatherRosado]

After reading natsb88 I know understand why the copper bars carry premium. It's investment quality copper. Their is definitely a market for it. I know diversifying is good.