Good Delivery bar
A Good Delivery bar is a gold bar that meets LBMA standards for the wholesale market: ≥99.5% pure, 350–430 troy oz (~10.9–13.4 kg), produced by a refiner on the LBMA Good Delivery List. These bars are the unit of wholesale gold trading. Retail buyers usually purchase smaller bars (1 g – 1 kg) from the same refiners.
The Good Delivery bar specification is the foundation of the institutional gold market. Central bank vaults, ETF reserves, and inter-bank trades all transact in Good Delivery bars.
Retail buyers do not generally buy Good Delivery bars directly because the unit value is ~$1M at current gold prices and they're too heavy to ship by FedEx Priority. Instead, retail buyers buy smaller bars (1 g – 1 kg) refined by the same Good Delivery refiners.
Related terms
LBMA Good Delivery is the international quality standard maintained by the London Bullion Market Association. A refiner on the LBMA Good Delivery List has proven its bars meet strict purity (≥99.5% gold, ≥99.9% silver), weight, dimensions, and assay accuracy — making the bars universally accepted by major dealers.
Fineness is the purity of a precious metal item, expressed as parts per thousand. A 1 oz Gold Maple Leaf at .9999 fineness is 99.99% pure gold. Investment-grade gold for VAT exemption in the EU must be ≥99.5% fine (995/1000). Common levels: .999, .9999, .99999.
Investment-grade gold is the legal category of gold bullion that qualifies for VAT exemption in the EU: bars and coins of ≥99.5% purity (gold) or ≥99.9% (specific silver products), in standard weights, minted after 1800. The category is defined by EU Directive 2006/112/EC, Article 346.