I just learned a moment ago that "As of June 2015, we are proud to announce that NTR Metals is now Elemetal Direct!" I knew NTR Metals is one of the top bullion producers in the U.S. I know Elemetal Mint (a branch of the Elemetal precious metals company along with Elemetal Diect) as the producer of the awesome 2 oz Ultra High Relief silver rounds like the Privateer, the Liberty Island (and the entire American landmarks series), and the Cleopatra) Did anyone else know that NTR is now Elemetal Direct? .
So, my question is then, will Elemetal Direct continue to mint bars with the previous NTR designs or have they / are they going to drop the NTR name altogether and produce bars with an Elemetal Direct design? .
I believe I also read somewhere that Provident has been absorbed into this corporate structure to serve as their PM/bullion retail arm.
If that happened in the last few months, it would explain some recent and not customer friendly changes at Provident.
Google, people.. https://elemetal.com/about See: ELEMETAL DIRECT - Formerly NTR Metals ELEMETAL REFINING - Formerly OPM Metals ELEMETAL ONLINE I thought NTR & OPM was common knowledge? As for the 3rd one, I remember reading somewhere that they had taken a minority stake in Provident back in 2014. Probably up'ed it at some point along the way to either majority-owned or more-or-less completely owned. Nobody noticed that "Provident Mint" had disappeared a while back & Elemetal took its place? Think there were even some YouTube vids on it..
Common knowledge to smart people perhaps.....I guess that explains why I didn't know it! :lol: But seriously, it's news to me. So if "OPM" and "NTR" branded bars won't be produced any longer (and I'm not sure either way if this is the case), maybe some OPM and NTR branded bars that were once readily available will be able to be sold in the secondary market for a premium some day. .
OPM and NTR bars and rounds are mass-produced, extruded/stamped things that number in the many (if not dozens of) millions. I suspect all of us will be dead, buried or creamated and forgotten long before any OPM or NTR bars command any premium (if they ever do). Those things are melters. We're not exactly talking about old, scarce Engelhard or J-M pours here. Under any circumstance, "some day"--yeah, probably--long after all of us are long gone and forgotten, and Mad Max and Auntie Entity are the ruling figures in Oz. Still, I can already see the wordings in the Ebay offerings later this year---"Low mintage!"--"Gem condition!"--"Key year!"--"Last one-you'd best do a wire transfer right now!" Aside from all of these obvious facts --- How likely is it that mass-produced, extruded/stamped "blobs" will ever command premiums of any significance in our lifetimes? I think it's not at all likely.
Right, probably not likely the stamped bars will command a premium any time soon....although, if they are melters as you say, and many get melted, then maybe there is a chance in like 150 years. Or, someone with great promotion skill could perhaps get some people to pay higher premiums for OPM / NTR stamped bars now that they are no longer being produced. .
A quick Sold-search on eBay is showing some dated NTR Lunar bars (minted 10-oz) getting a decent premium, anyway. Of course, probably safe to assume that there are way fewer of those than the regular ones which are pretty much only a play on spot for the next 50 years or so.
OPM/NTR/Elemetal bars are the lowest-class, mass-produced, extruded/stamped "blobs" in the PM/bullion world today. "Blob" haters--please chime in here and stop me if I'm wrong! To any ordinary mortals waiting for such "blobs" to command any premium beyond being welded at the hip to spot---I say this is a fool's play. On the other hand--any and all immortals would probably do well to invest in such "blobs". After a couple "blob" centuries, who knows? TO DA MOON!!!
