Has anyone bought these baird and co bars...bloody ugly i received in the mail from an australian online dealer (no names given----and it wasnt goldstackers) and the bars look all scratched, dropped...then packaged. when i called after sending email with pics...the person said....i spoke to my boss and this is how they come from the supplier. Though on thier website the bars look great, you cant even see the marks. [imgz=http://forums.silverstackers....oads/thumbs/173_rhodium-bad2.jpg[/img][/imgz] [imgz=http://forums.silverstackers....oads/thumbs/173_rhodium_bad1.jpg[/img][/imgz]
Well I know zero about Rhodium but to my limited knowledge they appear to look like Aluminium. Maybe some one here whom has greater knowledge may state otherwise.
That's typical. It is not malleable at all - there's some proprietary tricks involved to get the bars minted - gold you can just roll, punch and stamp - this stuff is a dark art, which is why Baird & Co are the only manufacturer of minted investment rhodium bars in the world today. Cohen used to make sintered coins from memory (which is compressed sponge). Literally could snap them in half. These are minted using a different process. Rhodium is what gives a lot of white gold it's white - that and palladium are the two most common metals used for plating white gold (not the nasty nickel alloy white stuff). Polishing brings out the shine - but an investment bar is solid rhodium, not polished. Baird also make solid rhodium wedding rings now too.