Key takeaways
- Cast bars prioritise efficient production and trading; minted bars prioritise precision and presentation.
- A kilobar is a 1,000 g bar; retail markets also use gram and troy-ounce sizes.
- The traditional ten-tola bar is approximately 116.64 g.
- Tradeability depends on more than weight: refiner, fineness, serialisation, assay and market acceptance matter.
Cast vs minted bars
Cast bars are produced by pouring molten metal into a mould. Their appearance can vary slightly from bar to bar, and they are common in professional bullion markets.
Minted bars are cut or stamped to precise dimensions and usually have a more uniform finish, branded packaging and retail presentation.
Common formats
- Kilobar — 1,000 grams; a major trading format in Asia and the Middle East.
- Ten-tola / TT bar — a traditional regional unit of roughly 116.64 grams.
- Troy-ounce bars — 1 oz, 10 oz and other ounce-based retail formats.
- Small gram bars — 1 g, 2.5 g, 5 g, 10 g, 20 g, 50 g, 100 g and larger sizes.
- London Good Delivery bars — large wholesale settlement bars, around 400 troy ounces for gold and around 1,000 troy ounces for silver.
What should be marked on a professional bar?
Requirements depend on the market and standard, but professional bars commonly identify the refiner, purity and serial number. LBMA technical rules set specific marking standards for Good Delivery bars, and the LBMA/SGE kilobar specification includes refiner identity, serial number, weight, fineness and a Certificate of Analysis.
Why brand and documentation matter
Two bars with the same gross weight and purity can have different resale liquidity if one is from a widely accepted refiner with clear documentation and the other is difficult to verify. Professional buyers therefore assess both the metal and its chain of verification.