The accreditation behind the most trusted gold bars in the world, broken down in plain English.
If you have read a gold-buyer's guide in the last decade you have read the phrase 'LBMA Good Delivery'. Few buyers understand what it means in practice. It is the highest standard of bar quality recognised in the global bullion trade, and it is administered by the London Bullion Market Association.
Good Delivery bars must weigh between 350 and 430 troy ounces, be at least 99.5% pure, carry the stamp of an LBMA-accredited refiner, and pass a strict melt and assay process before being admitted. Only roughly seventy refiners worldwide currently hold the accreditation.
“Good Delivery bars must weigh between 350 and 430 troy ounces, be at least 99.5% pure, carry the stamp of an LBMA-accredited refiner, and pass a strict melt and assay process before being admitted.”
For retail buyers, the practical relevance is sell-back: bullion from an accredited refiner with intact assay markings and serial number commands the smallest spread on resale, sometimes a full percentage point tighter than otherwise identical metal from an unrecognised source.
When we sell cast or minted bars under one kilogram we always source from refiners on the LBMA Good Delivery list — Umicore, PAMP, Metalor, Heraeus and the Royal Mint chief among them. The premium pays for itself the day you decide to sell.
