&gt; $2k at the department store is not $2k in the Antwerp diamond markets. The USGS prices are for wholesale markets, not retail mercury.<p>A <i>retail consumer</i> investor, who is storing it in their home, is paying <i>retail consumer</i> prices. They aren&#x27;t showing up at the cinnabar mines and tapping a spigot for bulk prices. My diamond analogy is exactly correct. That&#x27;s why it&#x27;s a scam: because you are paying inflated prices for something you cannot possibly sell at anything remotely like what you paid for it, and in the case of mercury, it&#x27;s worse than if you bought some diamonds because at least diamonds aren&#x27;t ticking timebombs.