The sight of gold can make anyone’s eyes sparkle with undisguised greed. However, very few – meaning the super rich and famous – will actually get to see a genuine gold bar.
If you’ve watched action thrillers featuring daring heists on such gold depositories as Fort Knox, you have the general idea that gold bars consist of this precious metal, which have been molded into specially shaped bars.
There are two methods by which gold bars are manufactured, namely casting and minting. Casting simply involves purifying and liquefying the gold, which is then poured into a mold, giving it its desired shape.
On the other hand, with minting, after the gold has been cast, it is then cut into specific dimensions and its value marked on the surface by mechanical presses. Most gold bars have a standard weight of 400 ounces or 12.44 kilograms. The gold bars that are in storage in central banks all over the world are known as “gold tola bars”, because they are weight in tolas (an Indian unit of weight equal to 180 grains troy or 0.375 ounce troy).
Gold bars have become ideal investments. People invest by buying these gold bars. These are then later sold when their values reach a high on the market.
