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8 results for “Fire assay” in Markets
Markets · 11 September 2026
The Last Audit: What We Actually Know About the World's Official Gold
…gramme, completed in 2017, was as much an audit as a move: every returned bar was melted, assayed and recast — the most thorough verification any major holder has published. · The audit gap does not prove gold is missing. It does mean the market's most-quoted supply number is, at…
Ingrid Sørensen · 22 min read
Markets · 20 June 2026
Bring It Home: Central Banks and the Great Gold Repatriation
…Gold in a domestic vault a thousand miles from the settlement system must be shipped, re-assayed if its bars are not Good Delivery, and re-entered into the chain of custody before it can do anything at all. · Domestic vault capacity is the binding constraint on repatriation. Bui…
Ingrid Sørensen · 14 min read
Markets · 8 August 2026
Moving Bullion: The Logistics Nobody Prices
…at leaves the chain — held privately, for example — can re-enter, but normally only after assay or re-refining, because the guarantee rests on continuous custody rather than on the bar itself. · Why do London and New York prices diverge? Because the two markets trade different th…
Ingrid Sørensen · 15 min read
Markets · 18 August 2026
The Vault Beneath the City
…. An earmarked bar is identified by a unique serial number, a refiner's stamp, a fineness assay and a weight, and it is allocated in the vault's records to one specific owner. It sits physically in a caged compartment assigned to that owner, stacked on wooden pallets in the same…
Ingrid Sørensen · 22 min read
Markets · 17 August 2026
Paper Gold: What You Own When You Do Not Own Bars
…n holding coins? It trades a set of risks rather than removing them. Paper removes theft, assay doubt and dealer spreads, and adds counterparty, custodial and structural risk. Coins remove counterparty risk and add storage, insurance, verification and a wide bid-offer spread. The…
Ingrid Sørensen · 23 min read
Markets · 8 September 2026
The Real-Rate Trade: Why Gold Moves When Bond Yields Do
…he bond market · The precedents: 1970s and 2008 · The real-rate framework was born in the fires of the 1970s. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, gold was allowed to float freely against the dollar. For much of that decade, the Federal Reserve was perceived as…
Ingrid Sørensen · 25 min read
Markets · 6 August 2026
Why Central Banks Started Buying Gold Again
…ower-fineness bars into current Good Delivery specification so they are tradeable without assay disputes. · Why the reported numbers lag Official reserve statistics are self-reported, published with a delay, and in several jurisdictions revised long after the fact. Some purchases…
Ingrid Sørensen · 14 min read
Markets · 2 August 2026
Who Actually Sets the Gold Price
There is no single gold price. There is a London settlement number, a New York futures curve, a Shanghai premium and a jeweller's counter in Dubai — and the distance between them is where the market l…
Ingrid Sørensen · 16 min read
