A man who was emptying out a storage building owned by a company that installed security alarms found a storage cabinet stocked with 200 unused key pads. He got excited and got them tested, only to find out that each of them contained less than a dime’s worth of gold. But then there was the guy who emptied out a factory where production lines were designed and installed; he found unused thermocouples that turned out to be worth more than $1,000.

Let’s start today’s post with a riddle for you to answer . . .

What looks like spaghetti but is made of platinum, tungsten, gold and other precious metals?

We are willing to bet we didn’t fool you with that one. The answer to the riddle is thermocouple wire.

Have you ever worked for a company that was run in a somewhat unusual – maybe even crazy – way? Here are some stories of companies that were . . .

Do you know any couples who have gotten engaged recently? If you do, chances are good that their engagement rings were made of platinum, not gold. Perhaps even more than the size of the diamond, the beauty of the platinum that was used to make the ring is what is attracting attention today.

If you are in the business of demolishing buildings, you know that the first order of business is usually to “just knock it down . . . make it disappear!”

There is a reason for that. The sooner most old buildings are gone, the sooner they can be replaced with a new shopping center, apartment complex, parking lot, or other income-generating project. So you follow the instructions of the developer that hired you and as quickly as possible, that old building is reduced to rubble and trucks start to haul it away.

“How to Eliminate the Middleman and Make More Money from Your Used Catalytic Converters” is one of the most popular posts we published on this blog. Although we published it back in 2014, the advice it contains is still relevant today, and we urge you to read it.

If you are investing in platinum, chances are you are thinking about military spending these days. You know that platinum is widely used in armaments and military aircraft. So, if U.S. production of armaments and planes that will be sold in Saudi Arabia is cut back, will that make the price of platinum drop?

We Will Be Here Tomorrow . . . Be sure to entrust your precious metals to us

We learned that Republic Metals Corporation filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on November 2nd. Republic, one of the largest gold and silver refineries in the United States, was one of our competitors.

Let’s say that you want to give your favorite person a really special present for the holidays – something that stands out. Let’s also assume that you want to give a present that is made of platinum, because platinum is especially beautiful and memorable.

As a precious metal investor, you are already on the lookout for platinum scrap. You are also on the lookout for sterling silver, even though it is worth much less per ounce than platinum is.

But what about sterling platinum? What is it, and what do you need to know about making money from investing in it?

There are many legends about people who decided to hide their treasures in wells. One of the most common tales is that at the end of the Civil War, wealthy southern families tossed their silverware down their wells to prevent roaming Yankees from finding it.

Are you interested in making money in platinum scrap? There are plenty of reasons you should be. The biggest could be that the new tariffs on items imported from China seem poised to raise the cost of platinum-containing items.

You might have heard rumors that the U.S. Government operates a secret program to recycle precious metals. That rumor holds that the government, unknown to U.S. citizens, is processing vast quantities of gold, platinum and silver.

You have a pile of mixed metal scrap - shavings, powder, scrapings, what have you. You know that the batch probably contains quantities of platinum, gold, silver and maybe even platinum family metals like rhodium and osmium.  And you also have a strong suspicion that your pile of stuff contains small quantities of stainless steel, aluminum, copper and other low-value metallic scrap.

Platinum has many wonderful properties. It is bright, shiny and resistant to oxidation.

But did you also know that platinum combines with a number of other elements to form chemical mixtures that are useful as catalysts in chemical processes, and also in plating and other industrial processes? And did you also know that in many cases, the platinum that those compounds contain can be extracted by a precious metal refinery like Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners?

If you go shopping for platinum jewelry, you are going to find an awful lot of it. You’ll find it listed in online local ads and on online auction sites. You might even find platinum engagement rings listed in ads in local newspapers. And if you peruse the display cases at an antique store or mall, you might see that is labeled as platinum.

The trading price of platinum is not about to go down. One reason? With every new year, platinum is finding new applications in healthcare and medicine.

Let’s take a closer look.

Maybe It’s Time to Protect Yourself

Have you ever seen the silent movie “The Great Train Robbery” that was produced by Thomas A. Edison back in 1903? Even today, it is an exciting film to watch, showing thieves stopping a train and making off with bags of money and jewelry that they take from passengers.

Not long ago, we had a call from a man who had bought a box of 16 rolls of gold-plated jewelry chain at an auction where the assets of a closed jewelry manufacturer were being sold to the public. “I weighed the box,” he told us, “it weighs about 12 pounds . . . so what is it worth?”

After you send your platinum scrap to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners and we extract the pure platinum it contains, where will that platinum be used?