Home » More

Platinum & Palladium Coins and Bars

Platinum and palladium are both scarce, while being widely used in industry, jewelry, and other areas. Platinum and Palladium are also becoming increasingly popular with bullion and coin buyers, but those who want to stack or collect platinum and/or palladium don’t have nearly as wide a range of options as they do for gold and silver.

Three coins tend to dominate the platinum bullion coin market. They are the American Platinum Eagle (which until 2006 was available in four sizes like its gold counterpart, the American gold Eagle), Canadian Platinum Maple Leafs (which were also minted in fractional sizes until 2001), and Australian Platinum Koalas, which were later replaced with Platinum Platypus coins.

The American Platinum Eagle is minted in a 1 oz. proof for collectors with a new reverse design each year in addition to the 1 oz. bullion coin whose design does not change. Other platinum coins are minted around the world such as in some years the Chinese Platinum Panda and other coins, but the ones from the U.S., Canada, and Australia are seen most often.

Platinum is more commonly traded in platinum bar form, and the stacker has quite a few choices when it comes to high-quality and purity Platinum Bars from the world’s leading mints and precious metal refiners such as PAMP Suisse, Credit Suisse, and Valcambi. These bars are sold at a small premium over their melt value, typically a little lower than the premium for platinum bullion coins, and they are a great way to acquire physical platinum.

Palladium is another precious metal that is popular with bullion stackers, and it too is traded as Palladium Coins and bars. Canadian Palladium Maple Leafs are likely to remain the most traded bullion coin in this area, and there are also Russian Ballerina coins and Chinese Pandas made of palladium as well as coins from some other countries. With a rather small number of palladium coins being made, bars are the most traded form of this metal too.  And they are available in various sizes from the leading manufacturers.