How We Verify a Bar at Intake: Weight, Dimensions, Ultrasound and Paper

Clients sometimes ask why intake takes as long as it does when a bar arrives with a refinery certificate. The answer is that the certificate proves what left the refinery; our job is to prove that the same bar arrived in Warsaw, that nothing happened to it on the way, and that it is exactly what your record says it is. The intake process is where your chain of custody begins, and it is worth understanding.

The first step is identity: the person delivering the metal is checked against our register of clients and authorised representatives, and the delivery is matched to a pre-notified intake or, for walk-in deposits, logged as new. Both the depositor and the receiving officer sign the intake sheet, and both names are recorded on the deposit — you will see them in your portal under 'deposited by' and 'received by'.

The bar is then weighed on calibrated precision scales — to the gram for kilobars and to the hundredth of a gram for smaller pieces — and the reading is compared to the weight stamped on the bar and printed on the certificate. Gold is dense, and a genuine bar's weight and dimensions are tightly linked: we measure length, width and height and compare them to the refinery's published specification for that product. A bar that is the right weight but the wrong size, or vice versa, is not admitted.

For cast bars above 100 grams we also perform an ultrasonic test. A transducer sends a sound pulse through the bar and measures the time it takes to return from the far side; the speed of sound in gold is known, so the reading confirms that the interior is solid gold rather than a tungsten core with a gold shell. The test is non-destructive and takes under a minute.

Every bar is photographed on both faces at high resolution, with the serial number legible, and the images are stored against the deposit record. Where the bar arrived with a refinery or assay certificate, the certificate is scanned and attached; if it did not, we note it and, with your agreement, arrange an independent assay before the bar is admitted.

Only then is the bar assigned to your segregated position and the deposit record completed. The portal entry shows the deposit reference, date, depositor, receiving officer, bar count and total weight, and a bar-level list with serial, refinery, fineness, form, weight and certificate number. The deposit receipt is generated as a PDF and uploaded to your documents.

The reason we are strict is simple: a bar with a complete, contemporaneous record is worth more than one without. When you sell, a refiner or dealer who can see a serial number, a certificate, intake photographs and a signed custody chain will take the bar at full value without re-assaying it. That is the difference between an asset and a question mark.