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This site is all about precious metals, with a very
heavy focus on gold bullion. At the same time, I cannot deny the rally happening in base metals
as well. After you have a core position in precious metals, branching out into some base metals
such as copper, aluminum, bronze, brass, and
lead may make some sense. To the left is Jetco Minting's Ebay store. If you are interested in
exotic bullion bars in base metals, there is not better place to make your purchase than Jetco
Minting.
Why Invest In Base Metals?
The US dollar is facing heavy inflation. Our Federal Reserve messed up. They lowered interest
rates too far in the late 90s and early 2000s causing an unprecedented housing bubble and extremely
risky lending. They
are now faced with a conundrum. Raise rates to stifle inflation and the bubble bursts and the
economy breaks down. Or, Leave rates at low levels (and even lower them more) to save the economy but
introduce rampant inflation. The Fed has chosen option two. This is the main reason I feel an
investment in precious metals and commodities makes so much sense. Each day the dollar is worth less
and if you don't protect your savings, you will have much less wealth and purchasing power over
time. Base metals are simply another way to hedge against inflation. It's important to
diversify your portfolio and Jetco makes this easy with their one of a kind bullion bars. Don't
get me wrong, I definitely would not overweight your portfolio in base metals unless you really
know what you're doing. At the same time, a complement to your existing holdings may make a ton
of sense.
Other Ways To Invest In Base Metals
Jetco bars are a great first step in your quest to diversify into base metals. The largest downside
of base metals however is they take up a lot of space. You can't fit your bars in your safe deposit
box. Nor, do you want too many bullion bars around the house. The solution? Consider investing
in shares of base metal mining companies. Two of the largest ones are
Alcoa, an aluminum producer, and
Southern Copper Corp, a large copper producer that
has appreciated in value quite substantially (and also offers a very solid dividend). The same
general principals that apply in selecting
gold stocks
also apply in your base metal analysis.
Copper Bars Make Neat Gifts
©iStockphoto.com – monomov
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I believe in giving gold
coins as gifts. However, gold is very expensive these days, trading in excess of $900 per ounce.
Giving a 1/10 ounce gold bullion coin is still a very expensive gift coming in at around $100. A
less expensive alternative is a copper bullion bar. You are giving a very unique gift, a large
brick of copper. At the same time, you don't have to break the bank paying for gold. In addition
to base metals bars, silver
is also a great alternative as a gift due to its lower price. I expect silver to rally
tremendously over the coming decade.
Tips On Making Your Purchase
Currently, I have only found Jetco products on Ebay (see store at top of this article). Ebay is
super easy to use and very simple to sign up. In general, I am very careful who I trust on Ebay,
especially when dealing with investments in metals. That's why I recommend only buying Jetco
bars from the official Jetco store on Ebay both for
buy it now and also auctions. As a side note, when looking to buy gold or silver, I recommend
exercising the same level of caution. Only buy from power sellers that have very high levels of
feedback. Preferably, only enter auctions sponsored by stores that have been in the business a long
time.
Here's the fun part: bidding strategy! In general, I recommend participating in the Jetco auctions
rather than using the buy it now feature. Buy it now in general will end up costing you a lot more.
In terms of knowing your maximum bid, look up the current value of the metal your are buying. Then,
multiply the value by the size of the bar. Knowing the bar's true value will allow you to make an
informed decision. You will typically have to pay more than the bar's metal value due to costs in
minting. This is ok but know what you're getting into and as a rule of thumb I wouldn't recommend
paying too much more than 10-20 percent over the metal's raw value.
My Personal Experience With Jetco Minting
I recently purchased a 1 kilo copper bar from Jetco using the buy it now feature on Ebay (see store
at the top of this article) to test the process. My order took around one month to arrive. While
this wait might seem a little long, it's actually very consistent with my other experiences purchasing
bullion online. Now that I have received my bar, I must say it was well worth the wait. The bar
is so cool. I know I will be buying more!
My copper bar was shipped in a USPS Priority Flat Rate envelope. The envelope was very well taped all
around. This is a clear sign that Jetco knows what it's doing when shipping its bars. Inside the
envelope, the bar was meticulously wrapped in two layers of protective wrapping. The outer layer
was composed of about 10 pages of newspaper. The outer layer was molded to the shape of the bar and
very carefully wrapped and taped shut. The inner layer was composed of bubble wrap, again very
strategically and carefully placed. Because of the careful wrapping, my copper bar arrived
absolutely perfectly.
The bar has an amazing luster and shine. It says ".999 Jetco USA Cu 1 Kilo" on the top
and also "2007" on the side. To prevent my copper bar from tarnishing, I placed it in a
Zip Lock plastic bag and stored it carefully also inside an air tight container where I keep the
rest of my copper collection. I'm looking forward to buying more bars from Jetco (and getting
some better deals by bidding in the auctions on Ebay). I highly recommend that all copper bullion
investors take advantage of the rising copper price and buy a few copper bars from Jetco Mint. You won't
be disappointed!
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