A guide to storing bullion

What are my bullion storage options?

Whether you’re storing your coins and bars professionally or keeping them at home, you’ll need to make sure your bullion is properly protected from theft and damage.

Once you’ve bought gold, silver or platinum, the next important question is how best to store your new bullion purchase. Secure and safe storage is one of the most important aspects of owning any bullion.

You basically have two options to store your precious metals. You can either take delivery of the bullion and look after it yourself, or you can entrust a professional to store or vault it for you.

Storage at home: what do I need to consider?

1. Many people aren’t comfortable keeping bullion in their homes in case of theft or damage. However, if your personal preference is to store your bullion at home, you should consider the following:
2. The amount of space the coins or bars will take up.
3. Making sure it’s correctly stored in the right environment; away from damp and other corrosives.
4. Not discussing its location, even with friends and family. The fewer people who know you are in possession of bullion, the better. However, with home safes it is often suggested that one other person has the information to access your bullion in case anything ever happens to you and you are unable to access it for some reason.
5. Not storing gold and silver together. Keeping them together can cause damage and tarnishing of the metal.
6. Whether or not you have adequate insurance. Your contents insurance may not cover your bullion portfolio. You may need to consider specific insurance policies.

If I’m looking to purchase a safe – what do I need to consider?

You firstly need to make sure you have somewhere to position the safe where it will be locked away safely and out of sight, ideally where you are able to attach it to the floor so that it is not freestanding. If you are looking at purchasing a safe, you also need to ensure the value which it is rated for is enough to cover the value of the items which are stored within. Generally, a safe is given a ‘cash rating‘. A cash rating is the level of cover that an insurance underwriter will give to the cash contents of the safe. This is usually multiplied by 10 times for jewellery and bullion or similar valuables. A cash rating is therefore also a very good indication of the security level of the safe, the higher the rating, the more security is offered.

You should also consider if you require a safe to be fireproof and waterproof as these safes can also offer protection for other valuables such as paper documents. Many people choose a fire and waterproof safe due to the heightened level of protection although you should pay close attention to condensation which may build up inside waterproof safes. Some people put desiccant packs (moisture absorbers) inside the safe to prevent this.

Third party storage: what do I need to consider?

Security

Make sure security is high enough and that your bullion is protected from theft and damage.

Ownership

Do you keep guaranteed possession of your specific bullion?

Accessibility

Find out if you can access your coins or bars at any time or withdraw them in some instances.

Protection

Make sure your precious metals are protected from contamination.

What are the benefits of storing with The Vault™?

If you buy certain gold, and silver coins or bars as well as most platinum bars from royalmintbullion.com, you can take advantage of storing your bullion in The Vault™. The benefits of doing so are:

1. Your physical bullion is held in The Vault™, behind the gates of our secure site
2. The location is guarded 24/7/365 by trained security staff, offering you unrivalled security and a service promising absolute confidentiality and discretion
3. Your bullion will be given a serial number and will be fully allocated to you
4. Your coins and bars are fully insured
5. You can choose to take delivery at any time
6. Your Royal Mint Bullion coins are fully segregated and stored in individual serialised tubes with a tamper-evident security seal

Review The Royal Mint's secure storage options to help you decide which storage option is right for your precious metals investment.