PAMP Suisse Silver Bullion Bars
PAMP Suisse silver bars - available in many sizes with a multitude of designs
Precious metal investors that intend to buy silver bars won't find any mint that offers a larger variety of choices than PAMP Suisse. Privately owned and based in Switzerland, PAMP is one of the world's leading refiners of precious metals and has made a name for itself in the bullion market due to the exquisite craftsmanship of its bullion bars. The PAMP in its name stands for "Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux" which is a fitting name since most types of PAMP Suisse silver bullion bars are adorned with artistic designs which are stamped into the bar with special dies. Perhaps the most common of these designs is the image of "Lady Fortuna".
All PAMP Suisse silver bars are produced at its state-of-the-art refinery in Switzerland out of 99.9% pure silver, the international standard for silver bullion bars. Out of all producers, PAMP Suisse offers perhaps the widest selection of differently sized silver bars on the market. Buyers can also choose between many attractive designs including religious and Chinese Lunar themed designs. Highly innovative products are available as well such as the Divisible Bars that can be broken down into smaller segments. American consumers that are investing in silver for their retirements can of course include PAMP silver bars in their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA's).
Why buy PAMP Silver Bars?
As one of the higher end producers of precious metal bars, PAMP Suisse produces both minted and cast silver bars. Minted silver bars are die-struck and usually bear an artistic design on the front side. They are produced in sizes ranging from 2.5 gram up to 1 kg. Cast silver bars are hand-poured and just display the PAMP logo, silver purity and weight, the assayer's stamp - Essayeur Fondeur - and a unique serial number on the front. There are only a few sizes of cast silver bars available though.
The table above lists all manufactured sizes of the minted "Fortuna" silver bars. Most of these bar sizes are commonly found in the catalogs of online precious metal dealers. The measurements of PAMP Suisse silver bars with other designs could differ from the sizes of the "Fortuna" bars. Most PAMP silver bar sizes are denominated in grams which is not surprising since PAMP Suisse is based in Europe where the metric system is predominently used. The smallest of these just weighs 2.5 gram but not all dealers carry such small silver bars in their repertoire. Since silver is much cheaper than gold, many dealers start with 1 oz bars and go up to 1 kg bars. In addition to the gram-denominated sizes, there are also PAMP silver bars that are denominated in troy ounces. The largest PAMP Suisse silver bar is a cast bar weighing an impressive 1,000 oz but this type of bar is rarely (if ever) sold online. Another type of silver bar product that PAMP Suisse offers is the highly innovative Divisible Bar. It is made up of segments that can be detached from each other. Only Valcambi Suisse offers a similar product with its CombiBar.
As far as the design of the silver bars is concerned, PAMP offers a larger choice than any other producer on the market. The most common design shows "Lady Fortuna" - the Roman goddess of fate and fortune. In fact, it was the first artistic design that ever appeared on precious metals bars. Other artistic designs found on PAMP Suisse silver bars have religious themes or show the zodiac animals associated with the Chinese Lunar year. That makes these bars with special designs highly collectible, something that is quite unusual for silver bullion bars that are normally only targeted towards investors. The PAMP Suisse icOns collection, ready-to-wear precious metal ingot pendants, is also attracting attention among a younger group of buyers. Besides the minted bars that often bear special designs, PAMP also offers a limited selection of cast (hand-poured) silver bars that are unadorned.
The quality of all PAMP products is checked by independent assayers that are accredited by the Swiss Federal Bureau for the Control of Precious Metals. All PAMP Suisse precious metal bars are individually registered and sold in tamper-proof CertiPAMP™ packaging with an assay card that guarantees the authenticity, weight and purity of the bar. Unique serial numbers appear on the bars and are repeated on the accompanying assay certificate.
The larger PAMP Suisse silver bullion bars (that are cheaper to produce) are of course available for lower premiums than the smaller bars.
Frontal Design
The front of minted PAMP Suisse silver bullion bars generally features some kind of artistic design. The image of a blindfolded "Lady Fortuna" - the Roman goddess of fate and fortune - holding a cornucopia filled with coins is perhaps the most common design. Other designs have a religious or Chinese Lunar theme, display a heart or flowers or the American Statue of Liberty.
Cast bars display the PAMP Suisse logo on top. The 99.9% silver purity and bar weight appears in the middle underneath the logo. At the bottom of the front side of cast bars appears the assayer's stamp - Essayeur Fondeur - and the unique serial number.
Reverse Design
The reverse side of minted bars features the PAMP Suisse logo, weight and purity information, the assayer's stamp - Essayeur Fondeur - and a unique serial number. Cast silver bars have a plain backside without any designs or inscriptions.
PAMP Suisse Gold Bars
PAMP Suisse produces both cast and minted gold bars out of 99.99% pure gold. The bars are manufactured at its state-of-the-art refinery in Switzerland in a wide variety of sizes ranging from a tiny 0.3 gram all the way up to giant 400 oz Good Delivery gold bars. PAMP Suisse gold bars are usually readily available from many dealers. Cast gold bars display the PAMP Suisse logo on top followed by the 99.99% gold purity, bar weight, assayer's stamp and serial number. This information appears on the reverse of minted gold bars which generally feature some kind of artistic design on the front. The image of a blindfolded Lady Fortuna - the Roman goddess of fate and fortune - is the most commonly found frontal design but Chinese Lunar, religious and even love-themed designs exist as well. PAMP Suisse gold bullion bars are eligible for inclusion in a Precious Metals IRA.
The PAMP Suisse Gold Bar page gives more information about the gold bars that PAMP Suisse produces and allows you to compare current prices.
PAMP Suisse Platinum Bars
PAMP Suisse offers both cast and minted platinum bullion bars in many different sizes. The bars are produced at PAMP's refinery in Switzerland out of 99.95% pure platinum. Minted platinum bars are available in sizes ranging from 1 gram up to 1 kg and with two different designs that appear on the front. The image of Lady Fortuna holding a cornucopia filled with coins is the most commonly used design. The other available design that is available for 1 gram and 5 gram PAMP Suisse platinum bars shows the American Statue of Liberty. Cast platinum bars are available in sizes between 1 kg and 6 kg. These larger bars just show the PAMP Suisse logo, purity and weight, assayer's stamp and in most cases a serial number on the front side of the bar. That info appears on the reverse of minted bars. PAMP Suisse platinum bullion bars are eligible for inclusion in a Precious Metals IRA.
The PAMP Suisse Platinum Bar page gives more information about the platinum bars that PAMP Suisse produces and allows you to compare current prices.
PAMP Suisse Palladium Bars
Compared with other producers, PAMP Suisse offers a fairly large selection of sizes of both minted and cast palladium bars. Both types of bars are minted out of 99.95% pure palladium. Cast bars are available in larger sizes ranging from 1 kg up to 6 kg. The front side of the bars displays the PAMP Suisse logo, bar weight and purity, the assayer's stamp and a unique serial number at the bottom. The minted palladium bullion bars that PAMP Suisse produces bear the image of Lady Fortuna on the front side and the logo, weight, purity, assayer's stamp and serial number on the reverse. Minted PAMP Suisse palladium bars are available in many different sizes ranging from 1 gram up to 1 kg. Divisible Bars out of palladium are only available as a part of the 16 x 2.5 gram Multi-Metal Multigram Divisible Bars that contain four 2.5 gram segments each out of gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Precious Metals IRA's are allowed to include PAMP palladium bars.
The PAMP Suisse Palladium Bar page gives more information about the palladium bars that PAMP Suisse produces and allows you to compare current prices.