With 50 grams of fine gold, this bar is a popular bar with private buyers. Moreover, 50 grams is the smallest bar size that is also offered cast and not only stamped.
Many manufacturers have bars with this weight and a purity of 999.9 in their assortment. Some even produce them with special security features and as a fair trade version, this large selection often leads to better prices than with special sizes, which are only offered by a few manufacturers.
Who makes 50 gram bars
Probably all gold refineries that produce bars will also produce a 50 gram bar, in Switzerland the following refineries are certainly the most important:
Argor-Heraeus
Metalor
Pamp
Valcambi
Px Precinox
Bars sold by banks under their own logo are also made by these refineries. The bars of the Zürcher Kantonalbank, for example, come from Argor-Heraeus.
How 50 gram bars are made
As already mentioned in the introduction, there are two production processes: stamping and casting. In both processes, gold is first refined to a fineness of 999.9. Then the ingot is produced.
In the casting process, a precisely weighed quantity of gold granulate is liquefied and then cooled in a mould. It does not matter whether the gold is poured from a crucible into a mould in a heated state or whether the mould itself is heated with the granulate. In any case, the result is an ingot that is given a shape on the upper side that is typical for this production process.
For stamping, a long gold strip is first made from an ingot or strand, which is already very close to the future ingot in both width and thickness. From this gold strip, 50-gramme plates are punched out, which are then embossed with the product and manufacturer information.
The purity of the 50 gram bars
Nowadays, gold bars are almost exclusively produced in Switzerland with a fineness of 999.9. The purities of 999 and 995 are still regularly found in older bars. The fineness 999.5 usually used for platinum is rather unusual for gold.
The lowest purity that just meets the Good Delivery Standard defined by the LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) is 995, which is probably why the fineness of 995 is the lowest purity for bars that is still exempt from VAT under the Federal VAT Ordinance. Bars whose fineness does not reach 995 are subject to VAT.
What are the security features
50 gram bars are usually sold sealed in plastic, so-called blister packs. The certificate is also included in these blisters. When buying precious metals, the customer should make sure that the blisters are sealed and the certificates are still present.
Kine bars are special bars from Argor-Heraeus which are decorated on the whole backside with a laser engraving, which also serves as protection against counterfeiting.
The price of 50 gram gold bars
The price of 50 gram gold bars is based on the gold price on the stock exchange. The production costs for such a bar are largely identical to those of a larger bar. The costs must therefore be passed on to a smaller turnover than for a 1 kg bar. This leads to a larger spread between the buying and selling price. Nevertheless, the spread for 50 gram bars is usually much more attractive than for smaller bars. This makes it so popular with private buyers.
Occasionally it is said that a cast bar is cheaper than a stamped bar due to lower production costs. However, this statement should be taken with a grain of salt and is not always correct.
Technical data
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