What is a precious metal?
The term ‘precious metals’ simply describes high value pure metals. Although these chemical elements are naturally occurring, they’re typically quite rare. They also have shared qualities that increase their value.
Precious metals are usually quite ductile and less chemically reactive than other metals – properties that make them useful for manufacturing purposes. They’re also usually known for their lustre, this describes their notable brilliance and shine, which is why they’ve been used for millennia in currency, jewellery, and decorative art.
While the value of precious metals is always changing, depending on the demands of society, their usefulness and popularly combined with their scarcity has made them incredibly valuable. Many people choose to invest their money into precious metals because they can hold their value better than a national currency.
You might be thinking that gold takes first place when it comes to value, but you’d be wrong. Although gold is one of the most valuable metals, it misses out on the top spot. Read on to find out which metals are more valuable than gold!
What are the most valuable metals?
Below you’ll find the top five most valuable metals…
5th Place: Platinum
Platinum is one of the least reactive metals which is why, alongside its popular use in jewellery, it plays a key role in the manufacturing of pacemakers. Like some of the other metals on this list, platinum can be found in catalytic converters, too.
4th Place: Gold
Known for its unusual yellow colouring, the most well-known precious metal, gold, is a popular investment commodity. Not only used in decorative art and jewellery, gold is also actually used across many industries, including electronics and aerospace.
3rd Place: Palladium
This precious metal has the lowest density and melting point. It’s often used in jewellery, dentistry, electronics, and car exhausts. It’s also found in catalytic converters, one of the reasons why thefts of this item are so common.
2nd Place: Iridium
An extremely rare precious metal, iridium is the second most dense naturally occurring element. More iridium is recovered from meteorites than is found in the ground; this scarcity is the main reason this metal is so valuable.
1st Place: Rhodium
And the number one spot goes to… rhodium! Extremely resistant to corrosion, rhodium is highly valued for its use in vehicle manufacturing – despite being a lesser-known metal. With a high melting point, rhodium is one of the key materials in catalytic converters like palladium and platinum.
Where can I sell my metals?
If you’ve got metal that you’d like to sell, there are a number of places you can sell it (and a number of places to avoid)! Remember that it’s illegal to deal in scrap metal without a scrap merchant license, this is why Facebook Marketplace and similar local online trading platforms are to be avoided.
Look for a local scrap merchant. They’ll be able to weigh and evaluate your metal and transfer the value of your scrap. In order to stop illegal trading, scrap merchants are legally required to ask for ID when trading metal and they can no longer offer cash.
If you want to sell your scrap metal in Manchester – Singleton’s Scrapyard is in Openshaw, roughly three miles east of the city centre. While we don’t trade in gold, we do accept catalytic converters! We will sort, weigh, and evaluate your scrap while you wait. We promise top prices for scrap metal, and we will pay for your scrap there and then.
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