3. Inventories

Inventories consisted of the following:


	September 30,		December 31,
	2011		2010
	(Dollars in thousands)
Raw materials	$	82,672	$	63,856
Work in process		47,276		38,684
Finished goods		113,373		99,527

Total inventories	$	243,321	$	202,067

In the production of some of our products, we use precious metals, some of which we obtain from financial institutions under consignment agreements with terms of one year or less. The financial institutions retain ownership of the precious metals and charge us fees based on the amounts we consign. These fees were $2.6 million and $1.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, and $7.3 million and $3.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, and were charged to cost of sales. We had on hand precious metals owned by participants in our precious metals consignment program of $225.5 million at September 30, 2011, and $205.7 million at December 31, 2010, measured at fair value based on market prices for identical assets. At December 31, 2010, we had delivered $28.1 million in cash collateral as a result of the market value of the precious metals under consignment exceeding the credit lines provided by some of the financial institutions. At September 30, 2011, no cash collateral was outstanding.