TIN Bullion stamp

I've had 1 kilo bars of pure Tin on sale for a few weeks now and even though people buy them, I think people want them with the stamp of what the metal is, the weight and what purity. Which is fair enough.  Especially as Tin looks very much like Silver.  I think Tin is softer than Silver.  You can just about scratch Tin with your fingernail.

1 Kilo Tin bullion bar

Here is a render of the stamp I'm having made to stamp the bars of Tin.  Excuse it looking a bit weird.  It was late at night when I finished the model, and the stamp on the finished bars would be more central.

1 Kilo Tin bullion bar

As you can see the text is embossed and is very defined.  This is because Tin is quite a soft metal and less tonnage is needed to make a mark. Unlike Copper which is soft but needs 100tonnes pressure to make a mark.

I think Tin is possibly a better investment than copper.  I say that because, Copper is about 1/4 the price of TIN, so by the time it gets to you the cost of the postage is smaller compared to the metal value.  

As these ingots are cast by hand the price gets cheaper the more that get cast.  

So if you see the prices of these bars come down over time it is because more bars are being cast, and not the actual price of the metal going down.

I don't think we'll see the price of metals go down for years.

http://buycopper.co.uk/

Ebay scroller showing products

Barrick goes for copper, not gold, with Equinox Resources deal

Barrick Gold has taken the first step towards rivalling global mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton by buying an Australian copper producer for C$7.3bn (£4.6bn).

More here

Restruck copper bars!

Not satisfied with the stamping of the 85 copper bars I took them to a another pressings workshop.
They do prototype pressings for Aston Martin, McLaren, Jaguar and many other top British brands.
It was amazing to be honest.  The chap put the copper bars on an enormous press and pressed each bar with 100tonnes.  He took care restamping and not one bar was double stamped, which was something I was quite worried about.
It instantly cured the problem of the missing 'O' from the word Kilo and the missing 'R' from the word copper.
The bars are all as bright as a button and I've placed them in a zip lock bag to keep the oxygen out.

America
There seems to be a lot of interest from America and I've not sold to America before so I phoned FedEx to see how much it would cost to send to Texas as an example.  The price I was quoted was
£118 for 10kilos which is quite expensive per kilo
£286 for 50 kilos which works out quite cheap at £5.72/ kilo
So if there are any American traders out there interested in wholesale amounts of these copper bullion bars, send me an email from http://buycopper.co.uk/ and I'll get the best possible price.

I'll see about having the British VAT removed from bars for exporting to America.  Tax is a bit of a minefield on this side of the pond.
Here are some photo's I took of one of the new copper bars.  I put it on the window sill in the light because using a camera flash with reflective metals tends to make it look very dark.  

One Kilo bar of polish copper bullion

You can see the reflection of the camera and the trees in the garden in this photo.  

A one penny piece added to the photo to indicate a rough sizing of the bar.

I hope you like the look of the bars.  I'm very pleased.  

Rich 

http://buycopper.co.uk/

'We view silver as gold on steroids' - Telegraph

Silver is a better bet than gold in the current precious metals bull run and has been described as "gold on steroids" by one asset manager.

Brian Ostroff, the managing director of Windermere Capital, a Canadian investment firm, said he was bullish about the prospects for all precious metals because the world's central banks were printing money. But he was particularly upbeat about silver.

"We love silver. It has definitely come into the forefront. The physical market characteristics are very positive," he told the Gold Report. "Ultimately, we view silver as gold on steroids. When you're in these uptrends and everyone's looking at precious metals, silver tends to perform much better [than gold].

More on the link below

'We view silver as gold on steroids' - Telegraph

One Kilo copper bars in stock, but a slight problem.

Spring is here, the leaves are blooming and I hope everyone who is reading this is enjoying some sunshine.

Well the 85 One kilo Copper bars are in stock but there's a slight problem in that they weren't stamped quite hard enough.  Which means, the 'O' on the word 'Kilo' is missing on most bars.  The polishing is beautiful as always though.
I was at a pressings workshop today to try a solution and tried a much heavier press and we pressed at 100 tonnes getting a beautiful result on one of the faulty bars so, fingers crossed they'll be re stamped and will all look perfect.
I'm selling the bars at a discount should anyone not mind a missing O.

We also tried stamping a 1 kilo ingot of Tin at 100 tonnes pressure.  It didn't work out quite right.  It spatted it!  :)
An expensive mistake but it was funny.

Tax
I get a lot of American people wanting to buy a lot of copper bars but I haven't worked out the tax VAT implications. In UK we're taxed VAT at 20% and it's difficult for a small trader to have that removed, which may mean Americans paying British VAT and American import duty, which can make the bars very expensive.
I'm sure it's not too difficult to figure out though and it would be good to supply to America at a decent price.

Silver hit another 30 year high today of $42.82.
Chinese inflation has jumped again raising prices on food.
Moody's have downgraded Ireland's credit rating again.

Basically the world is in trouble.  If you leave your money in a bank, the Pound, Euro or Dollar you had at the start of the year will be worth I believe 95pence, or cents by the end of the year.

http://buycopper.co.uk/

Copper bars being stamped tomorrow. Probably!

Sorry about the delay on the production of the Copper bars.   I can't get them made fast enough.  They tend to sell out within 2 weeks and it takes over a month to get them produced. But, I've been told they will be stamped on Monday 11th April and there will 85 bars.
Coin developments

50gramme Copper coin

50gramme Copper coin www.buycopper.co.uk

I refined the model of the 50gramme Copper coins that will be made.  They're actually going to be 52grammes. (Better slightly over than under). Yes, they will be made from commercially pure copper. .999 or above.
I don't know how long it will be before they're on sale and I don't think there'll be more than a few hundred made this year.

News
The world of metals is getting more heated.  The Telegraph says Australia is pretty much on a gold standard because it's currency is backed by it's huge wealth in gold, aluminium, and all the other ores it has.
Silver has broken through the $40/Oz barrier.  I think it will rise to $50/Oz this year, (probably more)
The Buy Copper silver coins are still a bargain for Brits but nobody is noticing.  : )
Portugal has asked for a bailout, and Spain says it's economy is doing just fine.  I don't believe it personally.
Copper is expected to get more expensive soon as global supply squeeze takes hold.  (Tell me about it.  I saw the price rise by about 25% in a month! )
I'll get a FAQ page on the site to give some rough prices for shipping to different parts of the world. I get a lot of emails about shipping costs.

My address
I had a delightfully rude email from somebody calling me a moron(amongst many other swear words) for not putting my address on the site.  There is a reason for not supplying an address.  The moment any metals trader puts their address on their site is the day before their house is ransacked and they get kidnapped and tortured.
Traders will use PO box addresses and mobile phones. All metals are kept at secure third party locations.  I removed my mobile phone number from the site because I had alarming messages left on it.
I know a jewellery maker who keeps concentrated sulphuric acid nearby in case of break ins.
In Britain only the crooks have guns and until recently possession of an illegal gun often didn't send criminals to jail.

Thats it for now.  It's a lovely day and hopefully I'll have 85 copper bars for sale this week.
http://buycopper.co.uk/

Copper coins

Piedfort coins

Hello ladies and gents,

Yesterday I had a chat with the pressings chap about making coins in pure copper and he said I should make a model and he'll get a price on making coins.  

pure copper coin model

Coins are made in a coin press (suprise, suprise) and they exert up to 400 tonnes of pressure. 

So I'd like to make a run of copper coins but I'd have to make a run of a lot of coins to keep the price reasonable. 

As you can see from the pictures I had a little play around with one design in Solid Works (a CAD modelling programme). I thought it would be good to have a coin that is fun to own, maybe drill a hole so it can be a keyring or something, and most coins out there are very intricate and ornate so it would be nice to see something a bit different.  
I also think it's wise to differentiate this coin from actual currency because the government may get a little annoyed with coins that are actually worth something as they print our currencies into oblivion.   
The weight I'm thinking of for a coin would be 50grammes.  The reason being is, there is a type of coin called Piedfort which means something like heavy weight.


*I read yesterday that a 2pence coin made before 1992 was actually worth 3pence because it was actually made of 97% copper.  


Gallium
You may notice that I've finally got around to selling Gallium http://buycopper.co.uk/one%20kilo%20rare%20earth%20Gallium.html
Using plastic syringes I was able to dispense exact amounts of melted gallium in a mould placed on a digital weighing scales.  The lower weight pieces are more like splats as I can't find very small silicon moulds.  
Gallium acts quite like water. When its solid it expands by 3%
As it solidifies it looks quite frost like as it crystalises.
It also melts quite like water. In that, it doesn't go soft and viscous like chocolate but it's either solid or liquid.  It has quite a high surface tension as well.  
It really is very interesting, and when it's all used up in electronics, mankind will have to mine the rubbish dumps to try and get it back again.  


That's it for now.  The 1 kilo copper bars should be ready next week and I'll put a deal up for people who want to buy ten bars at a time.  


http://buycopper.co.uk/