Palladium is a rare metal prized for its durability, resistance to corrosion, and ease of use. A few bars confiscated from criminals in Taiwan’s southern county of Yunlin have fetched quite a considerable price at auction.
Bidding starts at NT$3 million (over US$100,000) at this auction and immediately hands go up around the room. The final price? Over three and a half million. But the item for sale is not a work of art or a precious antique – it’s palladium.
Palladium is a rare metal prized for its durability and resistance to corrosion. It’s also easy to work with, so it’s popular both with jewelers, who use it in rings and necklaces, and in dentistry, where it ends up in crowns and implants.
This batch was recently impounded by the Yunlin District Prosecutors Office in the course of a drug manufacturing case. Criminals were using the element in the form of palladium chloride to produce illicit substances.
Russia is a major exporter of palladium, and prices have soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Right now, a gram of palladium sells for NT$2,400 (US$84), much more than gold, which costs around NT$1,700 (US$60). That’s why so many people came to the auction, suspecting that the price will keep going up.
Mr Yeh, who won the bidding, says he bought the metal for another person, who intends to keep it for some time.
A total of 1.6 kilograms of palladium was sold at the auction. The estimated market value of the bars is NT$5 million (US$175,000). The bidding ended at over three and a half million, so the winner walked away with considerable profit, even after paying NT$60,000 for authentication.
This was the first time this metal appeared in a Ministry of Justice auction. If future bidding is this fierce, Taiwan could just be seeing the start of a palladium rush.
Tomasz Koper, RTI News.