Unlike in gold and silver, where the number of minters and producers is pretty much limitless, platinum has a rather finite number of companies producing bullion bars. Since the physical platinum market is much smaller than the physical gold and silver markets, only the top bullion companies delve into the less popular metal.
This article will list the most prevalent producers of platinum bars, as well as explain each company’s product offerings and relative premiums over spot.
Platinum Bar Producers
There are four major producers of platinum bars: PAMP Suisse, Credit Suisse, Engelhard, and Johnson Matthey. We will go over each now.
PAMP Suisse Platinum
PAMP Suisse is a Swiss company that is heavily involved in the precious metals minting industry. PAMP produces platinum bars in 1 gram, 5 gram, 1 ozt, and 10 ozt weights. Except for the 10 ozt bars, PAMP’s platinum bars are all encased in “CertiCards”, which are tamper-proof plastic cards that encase the bar and include weight, purity, and assay information. The 10 ozt bars come with a loose assay certificate, including the bar number, purity, weight, and assayer signature.
Credit Suisse Platinum
Credit Suisse is another Swiss company that manufactures gold, silver, and platinum bullion products. Credit Suisse fabricates platinum bars in 1 gram, 5 gram, and 1 ozt weights. The 1 gram and 5 gram bars are “Liberty” bars, featuring a depiction of the Statue of Liberty on one side of the bar. The 1 gram and 5 gram bars ship encased in a plastic slip, and include an assay certificate inside the slip. The 1 ozt bar is not a Liberty, and also ships loose with a separate assay certificate.
Engelhard Platinum
Engelhard is another major name in bullion, even though they haven’t produced any new bars in over 20 years. In platinum, Engelhard produces a few variations of 1 ozt .9995 bars. Engelhard offers one version which is encased in a CertiCard-type assay, while the others are loose bars with separate assay certificates. Engelhard bars typically trade for well above the spot price of platinum, due to their relative rarity and preference from investors.
Johnson Matthey Platinum
Johnson Matthey is the final major producer of platinum bars. Johnson Matthey, commonly referred to in the industry as “JM”, mints a limited selection of 1 ozt .9995 platinum bars, including their logo bar featuring the JM mark and crossed hammers. Johnson Matthey bars, like most Engelhard bars, come with a loose assay certificate and tend to trade at a significant premium relative to PAMPs or Credits.
Although there are a few other minor brands that produce platinum bars, we’d recommend sticking with one of the companies above, as their track record in the industry is proven, and the market for their bars is very liquid.