5 gram PAMP Lunar Dragon 2012 gold bar

History

PAMP Lunar 5 gram gold bar Year of the Dragon

The Chinese lunar calendar is today used by many for Taoist cosmology. It is believed that, depending on the year of the zodiac when a person is born, a special relationship exists between the person’s personality and the animal that constitutes part of the Chinese zodiac. The animals in the zodiac are supposed to be of symbolic nature, where each animal is a representation of a specific group of characteristics and traits that can be found in every human being. There are twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, with the year 2012 belonging to the dragon.

Those born in the year of the dragon are considered to be persons who are vigorous and strong, highly self-assured and proud, and their enthusiasm in embracing challenges and risk inspires confidence and trust in other people. Their energetic way of life can make them somewhat short-tempered and they do have a tendency of being rebellious. Although the year of the dragon is coupled with power and determination, the inner energy of people born under this sign will often manifest itself as personal warmth and kindness, making them especially generous towards the people they care about. It can therefore be seen that the Australian Gold Lunar Year of the Dragon gold bar is an ideal gift for whoever you love or respect, since giving a Gold Lunar bar means that you are showing affection by immortalising the person’s year of birth and particular virtues in pure and precious golden artwork.

The “Swiss made” PAMP 5 gram Lunar gold bar

Switzerland’s reputation for producing high quality luxurious products is not limited to the watch industry but applies equally to investment gold. Switzerland is to gold what France is to wine, a statement supported by hard facts which show that most of the world’s gold is refined in this prosperous alpine country. Information from the London Good Delivery List shows that six refineries hold 90% of the gold market and four of those, including PAMP, are based in Switzerland. On average, Switzerland refines between 65-75% of the world’s annual supply of gold, making it the number one country in the world when it comes to refining gold and manufacturing bullion bars. The reason why Switzerland commands this position is because of the country’s high level of security, efficient logistics, a strong financial system that accommodates some of the world’s leading international banks, and, most importantly, stringent laws that set high standards regarding the quality and purity of finished bullion products. For example, every PAMP gold bar contains an assayer’s stamp, seen on the reverse as “ESSAYEUR FONDEUR”, which guarantees the purity of the bar. To be able to put this marking on its bars, PAMP needs to comply with strict Swiss federal laws (Precious Metals Control Act) and employ an affirmed assayer who has acquired the needed federal assayer’s licences. Affirmed assayers must keep proper account of the determination of fineness that they perform and at any given time must make their books available to the authorities for inspection. In other words, every PAMP gold bar has its purity accredited by government and industry bodies, its quality complies with the highest industry standards and is perfected by the best Swiss engineers, resulting in a product with golden integrity that surpasses all standards of excellence. After all, it is Swiss made.

Minted  bars  refer  to  the  manufacturing  process  that  is  applied  to  create  them.  The  process begins  by  heating  gold  material  in  a furnace  until it  turns  to  a  molten  slurry.  During  the heating process, all unwanted impurities in the slurry are removed until only molten gold of high purity is left, most often at around 99.99%. The molten gold is then poured into moulds, usually in the shape of large bars, where it cools and solidifies. The solid gold is then inserted into  a  mill  that  rolls  the  gold  into  panels  with  a uniform  dimension.  Afterwards, the  gold panels are inserted into a blanking press that punches blanks out of the gold panels. The next step  involves  the  weighing  of  each gold  blank  to  ensure  that  it  is  neither  underweight  nor overweight and those that pass this test are then polished for them to obtain a shiny surface. The  last stage  involves the  minting  process where the  gold  blank  is  inserted into a  minting press  that  presses  its  die with  huge  force  to transfer  the  design  from  the  die  onto  the  gold blank. The result is a  minted bar. The newly  minted gold bar is then inspected before being sealed in a transparent tamper-proof protective package.

PAMP was founded in 1977 in Switzerland, and has since then grown to become the world’s most significant manufacturer of bullion bars, ranging in weights from 1 to 100 grams. PAMP’s main facility is located in the picturesque Swiss village of Castel San Pietro where it operates an advanced refinery and fabrication plant that applies the highest Swiss engineering skills and latest cutting-edge technologies in the refinement and production processes of its famed bullion bars. Hailed as a market leader in innovation and in the fabrication of retail precious metal bars, the company was the first precious metals manufacturer to grace the reverse side of its gold bars with different aesthetic motifs. One of them, the beautiful motif of Lady Fortuna, the Roman Goddess of Fortune, became a world hit and is today the hallmark of PAMP’s excellence as a fabricator. It is no wonder then that the acronym of the brand PAMP (Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux) means artistic precious metal products. PAMP’s high purity and quality bullion bars are accredited by the Swiss National Bank and the LBMA (London Bullion Market Association), making them the preferred choice of leading financial institutions, central banks, investors and collectors worldwide.

PAMP a member of the London Bullion Market Association

The LBMA, or London Bullion Market Association, was established as an independent oversight body by Britain’s Central Bank in 1987. The roots of the LBMA can be traced back several centuries to the 1700s when London started to emerge as the world’s leading trading hub for precious metals. Referred to as the “London Gold Market”, it was self-regulated by the London’s foremost bullion traders and fabricators who oversaw the market by accrediting precious metal refiners to the London Good Delivery List. Only those refiners that met the quality and purity criteria set down by the “LGD” list were allowed to enter the London bullion market. Today, more than 135 companies, which include some of the largest precious metal refiners, storage providers, manufacturers and bullion traders, are members of the London Bullion Market Association. They all form part of the LBMA, the world’s most respected and trusted international authority that monitors the production and refining process of gold and silver bullion. LBMA’s primary role is to manage the Good Delivery List which is today the international standard for the quality and assaying of gold and silver bars. PAMP has been an LBMA member since 1987.