400 oz
(12.5 kg) bar
There are only 55 active
manufacturers worldwide whose 400 oz
(12.5 kg) bars are accepted internationally
as London Good Delivery.
400 oz London Good
Delivery bars are permitted to weigh between 350 oz and
430 oz. Minimum gold purity: 99.5%. Around 150,000 are
made each year. Central banks normally hold gold in the
form of these bars and are believed to hold 2.5 million
of them.
Kilobars
The kilobar (1000 g) is the
worlds most widely traded small gold bar. It is
popular among investors and fabricators as it is normally
traded at an extremely low premium above the prevailing
value of its gold content.
While most kilobars have a flat
international shape, traditional kilobars in
the shape of a brick are still preferred by
some investors and fabricators in Europe.
The Exhibition displays the
kilobars of 53 manufacturers which are approved by the
worlds major gold dealing exchanges in London, New
York, Tokyo and Zurich.
Tezabi Bars
These rough cast bars are
manufactured by thousands of small backyard
bar manufacturers in Pakistan to a theoretical
99.9% purity. The bars are not made to any
precise weight but depend on the variable amount of gold
available, usually old gold jewellery, to be melted in
the crucible.
They resemble the earliest known
gold coins made by the Lydian kings of Asia Minor in the
7th century BC. The method used by Pakistanis in the
manufacture of tezabi bars is not believed to
have changed in over 2,000 years. The Exhibition displays
tezabi bars manufactured by Saleh Mohammed in Pakistan.
Tael Bars
A tael is a Chinese unit of weight.
One tael is equivalent to 1.2 oz or 37.4 g. Tael bars,
ranging from 1 tael to 10 taels, are widely traded in
Chinese-speaking countries, mainly Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Cast tael bars are manufactured in
3 shapes: biscuits, doughnuts and
boats and a variety
of tael bars from manufacturers in Hong Kong.
Boat Bars
Tael bars, described as
boats, range from ? tael to 10 taels.
The traditional boat shape is known to
have been used for silver and other Chinese coinage
as far back as the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD).
Biscuit Bars
The most popular tael bar
weight is the 5 tael biscuit cast bar (6
oz or 187 g). 5 tael biscuits,
manufactured in Hong Kong and accredited to the
Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange (founded in 1910),
are traded in large quantities. Minted tael bars,
normally made outside Hong Kong, are also available.
Doughnut Bars
Tael bars, described as
doughtnuts, are available in 3 small
sizes. The doughnut
shape is a traditional Chinese shape for coinage. The
hole enables many bars to be securely stacked
together on wooden rods or bound together with
string.
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