13 interesting Facts About Palladium

The team at Wholesale Coins Direct has scoured the internet to compile a list of the most interesting facts about Palladium. Read on to discover more about this precious metal.

1.    Palladium is 15 times rarer than Platinum!!  All the Palladium ever mined could easily fit inside a standard living room!

2.    Palladium was discovered in 1803 and was named after the Greek Goddess of Wisdom named Pallas Athena and also the asteroid Pallas which was discovered a year prior

3.    These Palladium coins are extremely difficult to strike.  They must be struck at least 3 times and a die only lasts for around 375 coins.  Compare that to a Proof Silver Eagle die that lasts for about 2000 coins!

4.    It takes 135 Metric Tons of pressure on each strike!  That is almost 300,000 lbs!!

5.    A common iPhone has about .015 grams of Palladium in it!

6.    Both the Obverse and Reverse design were originally the work of Adolph Weinman

7.    Adolph Weinman who designed both the Mercury Dime and Walking Liberty Half Dollar studied alongside of Augustus Saint Gaudens.

8.    The Mercury Dime was actually called the Winged Liberty Dime.  The cap she wears symbolizes Liberty and the wings symbolize freedom of thought.  More than 2 BILLION Mercury dimes were issued over 30 years.

9.    The Eagle on the Reverse originally was featured on his 1907 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal.  Interestingly, despite his fame as a coin designer, he identified himself as an architectural sculpture with many of his works residing in New York and Washington DC

10.Edmund Moy initiated the feasibility study for the Palladium series.  He felt that the US should have a patriotic and beautiful competitor to Russia and its dominance of the Palladium Market.  They supply 20-30% of the world supply. Source: Reuters 3-7-2022

11.Law states that the Palladium used for these coins must first be sourced from the US.  It can be sourced from other places only if the sourcing becomes either too expensive or too hard to source domestically.  Global sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine didn’t impact Palladium entering the country but one could imagine that the US Mint would avoid sourcing any Palladium from there given the optics.  No stated proof that this is the reason for the lowest mintage ever, but the timing of it is interesting to say the least.

12. Now that the semi-conductor flow to the auto industry is picking back up, this should also put pressure on Palladium supplies as most of the world’s Palladium is used in the auto industry for catalytic converters and other electronics.

13. Canada and it’s Maple Leaf coins are the only other currently struck Palladium coins.  You could count the number of different types of Palladium coins ever struck on your one hand!

14. BONUS - The vast majority of palladium, more than 80%, is used in these devices that turn toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide, into less harmful nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water vapour. Source - BBC.com