Posts

PAMP-ering You with this Post

avatar of @strenue
25
@strenue
·
0 views
·
4 min read

Silver and gold stackers and investors, you are going to be PAMP-ered by this post. Sorry, I could not resist the cheap dad joke. Fortunately there is nothing cheap about the precious metal items featured in this post.

Who is PAMP?

PAMP Suisse Bullion was established in 1977, they are located in Castel San Pietro, Switzerland. The Swiss Mint produces fine quality physical silver and gold investment and collectable products.

PAMP is an acronym for 'Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux.' ( English Translation: 'Products Artistic Metal Precious').

Featured

Featured in this post are four PAMP products that are housed in certicards also known as CertiPAMP™ packaging:

  • Fractional gold bar with the PAMP emblem of the Roman goddess of good fortune.
  • 1oz 2012 Lunar Dragon coin bar design.
  • 1oz 2013 Lunar Snake coin bar design.
  • 1oz 2014 Lunar Horse coin bar design.

As you will see from the close up photos of these silver and gold pieces, the quality and design detail of these minted pieces is exceptional.

Fractional Gold PAMP Coin Bar

The fractional gold coin bar features the symbolic PAMP emblem that is found on most of the PAMP minted products. I have a 10oz minted silver bar with the emblem and a mirror finish background, it is just great to look at.

I honestly prefer my gold pieces not to be in certicards, because I love to touch and feel the metal and it is that special metal that does not tarnish and never loses its lustre. If I am buying higher premium gold pieces or proofs, then that's a different story because you are preserving the collectability and making sure your grubby fingerprints do not ruin the clarity of the mirror background finish.

1oz Silver Lunar Dragon Coin Bar

The year of the Dragon is very popular for lunar coins. The designers seem to have more free will when working on designs of the mythical beast. Some of my favourite coin designs from around the world are dragon designs. The Perth Mint 2012 dragon and this PAMP dragon are among my favourites.

There is however a very unique dragon design released in 2020 by a German Mint that features two 1oz coins housed in a dual plastic capsule. The dragon design flows over the two coins and you need to align the coins in the capsule to get a true appreciation for the design. Very impressive!

1oz Silver Lunar Snake Coin Bar

Next up is not generally a fan favourite. Snake designs on coins do not seem to prove very popular. I believe it is largely because of their bad reputation and people's inate fear of them. I am definitely scared of snakes, but I still love the creates as I love their design on quality minted coins.

What is your stance, are you a fan or a foe of Snake designs on a coin?

1oz Silver Lunar Horse Coin Bar

One animal that does not have the same popularity concerns is the horse. Everybody loves a horsey, especially my daughters. They tend to be very popular as coin designs too, with many horse designs available and not only in the lunar year.

I am very excited to share in a future post about my collection of Australian Stock Horse coins minted by The Perth Mint. They are a very low mintage coin of 1,000 carded coins issued per year. The first issue in 2013 was sold out almost immediately. These days the first issue coin attracts quite a hefty premium.

The PAMP horse design is not my favourite of all time, the quality is great but I do not love the design of the horse. The detail of the tree in the background is great, but of course that is not the focal piece of the coin.

Storage

Keeping your precious metals investment safe and securely stored if obviously very important. The certicards are great because they keep your metals away from the elements. This is crucial for silver items that you want to keep pristine as silver does tarnish if exposed to oxygen or moisture.

I also like to keep my metals in plastic containers for added protection. I like the PAMP plastic case I have as it stores them nice and neatly. It also has open slots that motivate me to keep searching for more quality PAMP products to add to my stack. 🤑

Fakes

In recent years the certicards have been targeted by scammers creating very convincing Fakes. Always be very careful when buying physical silver and gold, do your due diligence, only buy from trusted sellers or direct from mints. It is just too costly to buy a fake. Always remember if it seems too good to be true it most likely is.

There are also many tools and technology now available that you can you to make sure you are buying the genuine metal. I will write a future post about this tools and also share with you a horrible story from my experience and how I was taken advantage of by a scammer.

Be safe out there, have fun and just keep stacking.

Post authored by @strenue.