Argor-Heraeus

Argor SA was initially formed in Switzerland, in the southern town of Chiasso. The company was formed as a precious metals refinery, and quickly grew to a prominent size. In 1973, the company was acquired by UBS, one of Switzerland's most prominent banks. At that time, UBS was involved in the retail precious metals market, a market with started to grow significantly in the early 1970s. Argor-Heraeus became the manufacturer of UBS precious metals products, including gold, silver, platinum and palladium bars for its investors. 

Argor-Heraeus is a one-of-a-kind refinery that combines the Swiss reputation for focusing on consistent quality with the century-old reputation and steadfast innovation of one of Germany's top family-owned businesses.

As a result, Argor-Heraeus produces some of the finest bullion you can get your hands on, and you can trust that every bar and coin will be expertly crafted to ensure satisfaction.

The History of Argor Heraeus

To discuss the history of Argor-Heraeus, you have to discuss the histories of two separate companies; after all, it’s a joint venture marrying German ingenuity with Swiss craftsmanship. Let’s start with the older of the two base companies.

Heraeus, one-half of the company's namesake, was founded in 1851 by Wilhem Heraeus. He had taken over his father's apothecary shop in Hanau, Germany, and at first, he followed in his father's footsteps as an apothecary for the public and regional counts. However, that changed in 1853 when the local jewelry industry hit a roadblock. Suddenly, platinum was introduced and in high demand. However, it was far harder to smelt and shape than the traditional gold jewelry material was.

Using his available equipment and his lifelong apothecary knowledge, Wilhelm Heraeus utilized a gas torch with oxyhydrogen to successfully make a flame hot enough and large enough to smelt large amounts of platinum with ease. At first, he was able to make 30 kilos of refined platinum at once. Over the next few years, he'd increase that to 1000 kilos of refined platinum. This changed the focus of Heraeus to refinement operations, and it rippled throughout the globe as Heraeus expanded to international endeavors, but the company still has a place in the medical industry and multiple other industries. Heraeus is also still a family-owned business ran out of the same headquarters in Hanau, Germany. The Argor-Heraeus venture is a joint operation separated from Heraeus itself.

As for the Argor part of the name, that is the Swiss counterpart to Heraeus. In 1951, 100 years after Wilhem Heraeus first took control of his father’s shop and reshaped the refining industry, Argor SA opened its doors as a Swiss refinery producing high-quality bullion. However, it didn’t last long in that exact state.

The UBS bank, a staple in the Swiss refining and minting sector throughout the late twentieth century, assumed ownership of Argo in 1953; just two years after it initially launched. UBS successfully managed Argo until 1986. At this point, the Heraeus partnership began.

Heraeus leveraged its long-standing reputation in the refining sector, along with its unparalleled growth over 100 years of operations, and bought shares in Argor; splitting ownership with UBS for several decades to come.

In the earlier parts of the twenty-tens, Argor-Heraeus faced a high level of public backlash and scrutiny when it was accused of using conflict gold in its refining process. Conflict gold is mined via controversial methods in Congo. While these accusations were unfounded, Argor-Heraeus had a hard battle ahead of them to prove their innocence.

This major accusation damaged Argor-Heraeus substantially for quite some time, but a 2015 decision would eliminate concerns and clear the company’s name; restoring its once pristine image.

It's unclear why the accusations were made, but the company's recovery and Heraeus's outstanding reputation helped make it the go-to source for many bullion investors it is today.

In 2017, Heraeus decided to take full control of Argor-Heraeus to oversee operations on its own. It did this via a full stock purchase that eliminated UBS from the partnership. However, Heraeus kept the Argor-Heraeus name in place, and it maintained the facilities the company had been using for decades prior.

Now, for all intents and purposes, Argor-Heraeus is a branch of the well-known and highly-reputable Heraeus company, and it has produced more than 800 tons of gold per year since Heraeus assumed full control of the company. It produces bullion bars and coins, and it has implemented the newer Kinebars and some other innovative options that are sure to entice and satisfy collectors and investors alike.

 

 

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Products

Argor-Heraeus has a fairly impressive product lineup. It currently offers a wide variety of bars and coins in various styles at consistent prices, and when paired with Suisse Gold’s customer-friendly benefits, Argor-Heraeus's products are great wealth-storage options that can be had at competitive prices.

Here are some of the most popular products you’ll find from Argor-Heraeus.

Argor Heraeus Bullion

Argor-Heraeus manufacture their own range of investment grade precious metals bars for retail buyers. These include bars in gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Argor-Heraeus bars are readily available in sizes ranging from 1 gram to 1 kilogram, and all bars also come in 1 Ounce size also. 

Argor-Heraeus bars up to 100 grams come sealed in their own certicard. This certicard helps to prevent damage to the bar. Larger bars are sold sealed in plastic. The above images contain minted bars, but Argor Heraeus also retail a range of cast bullion bars for investors, which sell at a slightly lower premium to the minted bars. 

Investors looking to buy precious metals bars should consider Argor Heraeus. The brand is well known worldwide, and is particularly popular in Europe. These bars sell at a relatively low margin, and are manufactured to a very high standard. 

Argor Heraeus Platinum Bars

The Argor-Heraeus platinum bar is a simplistic bar that focuses on getting the basics right rather than plastering the obverse with artistic depictions. The most popular size is the 1 ounce platinum Argor Heraeus bar.

On the obverse, you’ll find the Argor-Heraeus name and logo, its purity rating, metal type, and assay verification along with its weight. On the reverse, the Argor-Heraeus logo is imprinted in a repeating pattern.

Each of these platinum bars contains 1-oz of 999.5% pure platinum, is encased in protective platinum, and includes an assay card to verify their authenticity with ease. These are smelted in the company's Swiss refinery.

Argor Heraeus Silver Bars

The smaller sized silver bars are identical to Argor-Heraeus's basic platinum and gold bars; besides the fact that they are made of fine silver and labeled accordingly. The most popular size smaller silver bar is the 1 ounce silver bar. You will receive a packaged silver bar made from 999% fine silver and an assay card to verify its authenticity.

Given silver's lower overall value compared to gold and platinum, and the metal's relatively stable market price, these bars are great adding some portfolio diversification without moving into more valuable bullion such as platinum or palladium.

Like the platinum bar, the obverse of this silver bar is labeled with the Argor-Heraeus name and logo, metal type, weight, purity rating, and assay marking. The reverse is adorned with a repeating pattern featuring the Argor-Heraeus logo.

Argor Heraeus Gold Bars

The Argor Heraeus gold bar is very similar to the two we detailed previously. 

Each is a 1-oz bar of pure, 999% gold. The obverse of the bar has the same information as the previous two bars, and the Argor-Heraeus logo is once again printed in a repeated pattern on the reverse side of the bar. Sturdy, trustworthy packaging is included, and an assay card comes with the bar for easy verification of authenticity.

Gold is the standard for many investors for a reason. It has a reliable market price that consistently increases; making it a relatively safe investment with not only wealth storing power but also the ability to build wealth slowly. So, while it's much more expensive than silver bars of the same weight, it's a bit more stable in some respects.

The 1-oz bar is the perfect size for incrementally increasing the size of your portfolio, and it’s also easy to store.

Overall, these Argor-Heraeus gold bars are optimal precious metal investments for investors of all kinds.


Argor-Heraeus Cast Bars (Gold and Silver):

Cast bars are the simplest bars you can purchase. They’re made by pouring liquid metal into a mold. Their value is largely derived from the market value of the metal used to make the bar, and unlike minted bars and other bullion products, cast bars don’t depreciate in value when you remove them from their packaging and handle them.

Argor-Heraeus offers a range of cast bars; the most popular are 10-oz silver bars and 100-gram gold bars. These cast bars have an obverse featuring Argor-Heraeus's name and logo, the country of origin (Switzerland), weight, purity rating, metal type, assay marking, and serial number. The reverse of both cast bars is left smooth. Despite the simplicity of these bars, the clean, high-polish, surface allows the natural beauty of the metals to shine through without adding anything fancy that puts it above market value.

Overall, these cast bars are great incremental investments for storing wealth over time.



The Kinebar

Argor-Heraeus has more recently begun releasing Kinebars; in terms of value, these aren’t very different when compared to the company’s standard mint options. However, they have one special feature that sets them apart and makes them somewhat more valuable. The Kinebar is a gold bullion bar that has a hologram inscribed with a laser on the back of the bar. A Kinebar gets its name by being laser-engraved with a “Kinegram”. That is a holographic pattern etched into the bar to prevent duplication and counterfeits. While this does little to affect its market value in noticeable ways, it does make the Kinebar a more trustworthy investment option, and it instills confidence in potential buyers when it is time for you to sell it.

These bars are identical in appearance to the standard Argor-Heraeus bars with the exception that they have a hologram on the reverese.

The obverse contains the Argor-Heraeus name and logo, bar weight, metal type, purity rating, assay marking, country of origin, and serial number. The reverse is where the Kinegram is etched, and it appears as a chromatic explosion of colors weaving together in a mesmerizing pattern. Not only does the Kinegram boost the bar’s security level, but it also adds a unique visual element you’re sure to love.

Argor Heraeus make their own line of gold kinebars. The refinery also uses this technology to manufacture kinebars for UBS, for the Austrian Mint and for Raiffeisen bank.

The design for each Kinebar is different. The Argor Heraeus kinebar design, pictured above, contains the Argor Heraeus logo in the middle. The UBS kinebar contains the 3-key hologram that is the logo of the bank. The Austrian Mint kinebar design features an image of a Leipzeiger horse. 

The kinebar technology is so unique because it is virtually impossible to replicate. This technology helps investors to guarantee the authenticity of the bar that they are purchasing. 

Generally, Kinebars are only available in smaller sizes, up to 100 grams. The Kinebar is currently only availabe on gold bullion bars.


UBS Bullion

One of the most prominent brands of precious metals that Argor-Heraeus produce are those for Swiss Bank UBS. UBS got into the precious metals market when it purchased Argor-Heraeus in the 1980's. Since that time, the bank has released their own range of gold, silver, platinum and palladium bars for retails investors. UBS bars, along with those sold by Credit Suisse, are some of the most popular and sought after precious metals bars available in the market today. 

Before the 2016 split of UBS from the Argor-Heraeus merger, the refinery produced UBS-marked bars due to the company’s involvement. Now, the bars are still made, but in fewer numbers; today they are rarer than most other bars. 

However, this fairly standard mint bar isn’t different from other gold bars just because of the UBS name. They’re some of the purest bars of gold on the planet with a 99.99% purity rating.

You'll find the standard information etched on the front of each bar. Unlike the other bars we've detailed in this overview, the UBS bars don't feature the Argor-Heraeus name. Instead, they have the Argor-Heraeus logo preceded by the UBS name, and that is followed by the general bar markings every other bar has.

These UBS bars are shipped with an assay card for easy verification, and they’re fully packaged for protection.

Argor-Heraeus is a brand that is approved by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the Comex. 


How to Buy Argor-Heraeus Bullion

Argor-Heraeus bullion is among the most popular bullion on the market, and the refinery even offers one of the rarer bars available in the bullion world. However, Suisse Gold makes getting ahold of such in-demand bars an easy process.

We offer all of the Argor-Heraeus bars listed in this overview; among many more from various other refineries. Furthermore, we accept 20 international currencies and 8 cryptocurrencies to ensure all of our valued clients can experience a quick and smooth transaction process.

Our clients enjoy high-security delivery options as well as storage in our top-of-the-line Swiss security vaults in the event they’d rather not store their own bullion.

For European clients, our VAT-free bullion storage offer clients the option to purchase silver, platinum, and palladium free of VAT.


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