It's not quite as bad as you might think. Yes, the price difference between silver and say...copper is relatively significant- but I really wouldn't call it prohibitively expensive. My copper Phantom mod has pure silver pos and neg contacts - not to mention a pure silver, raised logo on the tube and it was no more expensive than any high quality authentic mod. Also, I am buying a second set of contacts from the modder and yes, they're a little expensive for contacts ($25), but def not prohibitively so.Solid silver. However, that would be prohibitively expensive so copper or silver plated copper would be best.