MachineGhost wrote:
And the reason it is so relatively cheap is because it doesn't look like its from an authorized "chain of command issuer", unless things have changed recently.
"Each bar comes protected in a sealed assay card certifying its .9999 Gold Purity" - if you don't break the seal, you should be good.
"Chain of custody" pertains to larger bars, like 400 oz LBMA bars. If you take delivery of one of these, you likely won't be able to get anyone to buy it unless you get it assayed. The whole "chain of custody" thing is a way to avoid getting a bar re-assayed when you sell it. The catch is that you never take physical possession of it - you leave it in a vault run by an LBMA approved custodian.
Of course, if you're truly paranoid, you may not believe that leaving YOUR bar in the hands of an LBMA approved custodian is safe. You might think that the whole "chain of custody" thing is a scam, encouraging you to leave your gold in the hands of folks who might be up to no good. Are you the only owner of your bar? If you don't actually have possession of it, how would you know whether the custodian lists someone else as the owner of your bar as well as you? Or maybe 10 someone elses. The crux of the matter is that if you leave your bar in the physical possession of anyone, you're literally trusting whoever that is with your gold. Are LBMA approved custodians - folks like JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, etc - worthy of this trust?
400 oz is a little less than a monster box of gold coins (which is 500 oz). Would I rather have a monster box of gold coins in my physical possession or a claim check on a 400 oz bar held in a vault by JP Morgan? Hmmmm. Let me think.
[/align]