5 gram PAMP Lunar Ox 2021 Gold Bar

History

The Year of the Ox Bullion Series
The Year of the Ox bullion series is the latest collectible edition of PAMP’s highly successful Lunar Calendar Bullion Collection. Featuring our signature design illusion minted upon both the ingots’ reverse and obverse sides, the series is available in 999.9 fine gold, .999 pure silver, and a variety of sizes and weights, and collecting options. Distinctive red CertiPAMP assay packaging makes the Year of the Ox ingots ideal for gifting or collecting during the entire Chinese New Year.
 
Year of the Ox 2021 Design Details & Symbolism
PAMP is thrilled to present the latest edition of their popular Lunar Calendar Bullion Series, an annually issued collection of minted ingots celebrating the token animals associated with each particular Chinese New Year – 2021, the Year of the Ox! It is believed that the characteristics associated with the Ox will influence the coming lunar new year from February 12, the Chinese New Year, through to January 31, 2022. The Ox is the second symbolic animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Oxen were essential to agricultural societies thanks to their great strength and persistent yet cautious nature. People born in a Year of the Ox may seem slow to take action, but that is an illusion. The Ox is indeed industrious, yet it understands that along with physical endurance, caution, self-reflection and patience are also necessary to achieve successful results. The Ox knows that all seeds, properly planted and cultivated with diligence and patience, will grow into bountiful crops. The Ox is strongly associated with a ‘big’ or fruitful outcome if properly respected.
That symbolism, among other traditional attributes, are evident in PAMP’s handsome Year of the Ox minted ingot design. The reverse side depicts a powerful Ox as it pauses from its work to drink from a calm pool of water, which also reflects its image, indicating the Ox’s thoughtful, self-reflective nature. Each of its two powerful horns is echoed by the branches of a peach tree, as the numbers 1 and 4, and any combination thereof, are considered lucky to the Ox. Peach blossoms are also fortunate to the Ox, and here, the flowering tree is only beginning to bud, again an indication that the Ox intuitively understands that the tree is sure to bloom at the right moment, the right time. The Ox faces southeast, its lucky direction.
The obverse side reveals that beyond the hill, ‘big things’ await in the form of a wooden cart nearly overflowing with gold coins. Indeed, metals such as gold are strongly associated with the 2021 Lunar Year. A detached wheel seems to await repair, but here too, the Ox is aware that in due time, all will be set right. Throughout many cultures, the wheel represents the cycles of time, and the patient Ox has faith in its high work ethic, strength and endurance.As always, the Lunar Calendar series ingots arrive sealed within striking red, CertiPAMP packaging; red being the traditional color of gift-giving throughout the Chinese New Year.

Minted  bars  refer  to  the  manufacturing  process  that  is  applied  to  create  them.  The  process begins  by  heating  gold  material  in  a furnace  until it  turns  to  a  molten  slurry.  During  the heating process, all unwanted impurities in the slurry are removed until only molten gold of high purity is left, most often at around 99.99%. The molten gold is then poured into moulds, usually in the shape of large bars, where it cools and solidifies. The solid gold is then inserted into  a  mill  that  rolls  the  gold  into  panels  with  a uniform  dimension.  Afterwards, the  gold panels are inserted into a blanking press that punches blanks out of the gold panels. The next step  involves  the  weighing  of  each gold  blank  to  ensure  that  it  is  neither  underweight  nor overweight and those that pass this test are then polished for them to obtain a shiny surface. The  last stage  involves the  minting  process where the  gold  blank  is  inserted into a  minting press  that  presses  its  die with  huge  force  to transfer  the  design  from  the  die  onto  the  gold blank. The result is a  minted bar. The newly  minted gold bar is then inspected before being sealed in a transparent tamper-proof protective package.

PAMP was founded in 1977 in Switzerland, and has since then grown to become the world’s most significant manufacturer of bullion bars, ranging in weights from 1 to 100 grams. PAMP’s main facility is located in the picturesque Swiss village of Castel San Pietro where it operates an advanced refinery and fabrication plant that applies the highest Swiss engineering skills and latest cutting-edge technologies in the refinement and production processes of its famed bullion bars. Hailed as a market leader in innovation and in the fabrication of retail precious metal bars, the company was the first precious metals manufacturer to grace the reverse side of its gold bars with different aesthetic motifs. One of them, the beautiful motif of Lady Fortuna, the Roman Goddess of Fortune, became a world hit and is today the hallmark of PAMP’s excellence as a fabricator. It is no wonder then that the acronym of the brand PAMP (Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux) means artistic precious metal products. PAMP’s high purity and quality bullion bars are accredited by the Swiss National Bank and the LBMA (London Bullion Market Association), making them the preferred choice of leading financial institutions, central banks, investors and collectors worldwide.

PAMP a member of the London Bullion Market Association

The LBMA, or London Bullion Market Association, was established as an independent oversight body by Britain’s Central Bank in 1987. The roots of the LBMA can be traced back several centuries to the 1700s when London started to emerge as the world’s leading trading hub for precious metals. Referred to as the “London Gold Market”, it was self-regulated by the London’s foremost bullion traders and fabricators who oversaw the market by accrediting precious metal refiners to the London Good Delivery List. Only those refiners that met the quality and purity criteria set down by the “LGD” list were allowed to enter the London bullion market. Today, more than 135 companies, which include some of the largest precious metal refiners, storage providers, manufacturers and bullion traders, are members of the London Bullion Market Association. They all form part of the LBMA, the world’s most respected and trusted international authority that monitors the production and refining process of gold and silver bullion. LBMA’s primary role is to manage the Good Delivery List which is today the international standard for the quality and assaying of gold and silver bars. PAMP has been an LBMA member since 1987.