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Frankfurt/Main, 19 May 2014 – Degussa Goldhandel GmbH has acquired “The Industry Collection of Gold Bars Worldwide”, the largest and most important collection of contemporary gold bars worldwide. It includes over one thousand culturally and historically important bars of 145 manufacturers from 35 countries and was founded in 1993 by N.M. Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited.
The collection, which is also often referred to as the “Rothschild Collection”, is of important historical and cultural significance for the gold industry as it illustrates the extraordinary variety of gold bars from all over the world.
The total weight of the collection is slightly more than 230 kilogrammes of fine gold, with a pure market value of approximately seven million Euros (approximately ten million US Dollar).
The Australian arm of legendary merchant bank N.M. Rothschild & Sons had been the owner and administrator of the Industry Collection since its establishment in 1993 and held that role until the Rothschild Group withdrew from the gold market in 2004. In 2005 the collection moved into the custodianship of the Western Australian Mint, widely known as “The Perth Mint”, with Grendon International Research Pty Ltd acting as the curator, as it had done since 1993.
In addition to the presentations at “The Perth Mint” in Western Australia, the collection has been shown at various exhibitions across Europe, North and South America and Asia during the last twenty years.
The acquisition of the collection will reinforce Degussa’s role as a leading player in the German and international gold and precious metals trading world and further arouse public interest in the topic of gold and precious metals.
“By acquiring this extraordinary collection, Degussa has made a significant step in expanding the already existing ‘Degussa Collection’”, says Wolfgang Wrzesniok- Rossbach, CEO of Degussa. “We had already accumulated a wide variety of historical bars in the last three years, ranging from artefacts that originate in the Bronze Age, the Roman Empire, the Dark Age and – as one of the highlights – from a number of treasures recovered from sunken ships such as the Atocha, a Spanish galleon that sank in a hurricane off the coast of Florida in 1622.”
As a result of the recent acquisition the Degussa Collection now also offers a most valuable insight in the area of contemporary investment bars from the 20th century. In addition to the Rothschild Collection Degussa has also added a wide variety of other items, like crucibles, doré samples, bar moulds and other periphery objects that illustrate the world of gold production and fabrication per se. Selected pieces from the collection will be shown, among others, at temporary exhibitions in Degussa offices in Germany, Switzerland and England in the future. Besides that, the collection will also be made available on a loan-basis to national and international exhibitors who would be interested in this varied assemblage.
About Degussa
Goldhandel (Gold trading)
Degussa as a brand is a synonym for quality and reliability in the field of precious metals.
Degussa office of the company is located in Frankfurt am Main. Degussa products and services are available at branch offices in Stuttgart, Munich (2), Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin and Nuremberg as well as at Degussa Goldhandel AG in Zurich. The comprehensive portfolio of Degussa is completed by an online shop, available to customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which offers constantly updated prices, high availability and fast processing.
Products and Services:
Apart from its worldwide known precious metal bars made of gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium with the characteristic diamond-shaped Sun / Moon logo, Degussa also offers a wide range of bullion and collector coins. Top-class experts are available to customers in the field of numismatics for the assessment as well as for sale and purchase of historical coins ranging from antiques to those of recent times. Clients have the possibility of storing their precious metals stocks at Degussa’s high-value storage facility and at certain branches Degussa offers safe-deposit lockers. Furthermore, Degussa has a “VAT-free” storage facility which is also available to its customers.
Purchase of scrap precious metals:
Jewellery no longer being used, silverware, damaged precious metal bars and coins as well as industrially utilized precious metal products are purchased at reasonable prices and recycled.
