Market notes

From the desk

Short, practical notes on how bullion actually trades — written for counterparties, not for the market page.

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Reading a doré assay certificate

A doré certificate carries more numbers than most buyers read. Three of them decide what the lot is worth: the gold fineness, the balance of the alloy, and the sampling method used to establish both. Get the third one wrong and the first two are decoration.

This note walks a real certificate line by line, shows where the two common misreadings occur, and explains why a second assay on arrival belongs in every contract — not as distrust, but as the only way to settle a dispute without a lawyer.

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What escrow actually protects

Escrow is not insurance and it is not a guarantee of quality. It protects one thing: the sequence in which money and metal change hands. Here is what to agree before funds move.

Freight and insurance, who pays what

CIF, FOB and DAP mean specific things about where risk transfers. A plain reading of the incoterms that matter in bullion movement, and the one clause buyers most often miss.

OECD due diligence in practice

The five-step framework is short. Applying it to a real supply line is not. What a genuine chain-of-custody file contains, and what a thin one leaves out.

Cast or minted — what the premium buys

The spread between cast and minted is not arbitrary. It pays for the strip, the strike, the card and the guarantee. When each of those is worth paying for.

What a serial number is actually for

Hallmark, serial and assay reference do three different jobs. Which one settles a dispute, and why a photographed seal is worth more than a scanned certificate.

Onboarding a new counterparty

What we ask for, why we ask for it, and how to make three to five business days into two.

Notes are issued in full to counterparties we trade with. To receive them, write to the desk.

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Notes go to counterparties

We circulate these to the counterparties we trade with rather than to a public mailing list. Write to the desk and we will add you.

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