Compare · A Large Depository
Us vs. a Large Gold Depository
Delaware Depository, Brink’s Global Services and the state-chartered depositories do this at a scale we do not attempt. For a large part of the market they are the correct answer, and one requirement settles the question outright.
Come and see the vault before you move anything. No account relationship is required to visit.
Side by side
| Category | Us | A Large Depository |
|---|---|---|
| Recognised on custodian approved lists | Ask us before you assume it; for an IRA, check first | Usually yes. They win here |
| Sell without moving the metal | You withdraw, or we arrange the movement | Often integrated with a trading desk. They win here |
| Locations | One vault, Fort Lauderdale | Multiple, often several countries. They win here |
| Capacity for a very large holding | There is a ceiling and we will name it | Effectively none. They win here |
| Can you walk in and look at your own bars | Yes, by appointment | Often not, and sometimes only via the dealer |
| Who you deal with | The people who run the vault | An account number and a service desk |
| Allocated and segregated as standard | Both, always, in writing | Varies by programme and tier |
| Audit attendance | You may attend | Report issued; attendance unusual |
Every row marked “win here” is a real advantage of the alternative. A table that gives the other side nothing is not a comparison, and anyone reading carefully will notice.
The fair case
What a large depository genuinely does better
The large depositories earn their position and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. They appear on the approved lists that IRA custodians and institutional counterparties work from, which for a self-directed retirement account is not a preference but a requirement. They integrate with trading platforms, so metal can be sold without ever being shipped or re-assayed. They operate in several locations and several jurisdictions, which is real diversification rather than a marketing line. They carry decades of continuous institutional audit history, balance sheets that survive a bad year, and capacity for holdings far beyond what any single independent vault should sensibly accept.
The limit
Where the gap is
The trade is that you become an account rather than a client. Personal inspection ranges from awkward to unavailable, and where it is offered it often runs through the dealer who sold you the metal rather than directly. Terms are set centrally and change centrally. The distinction between allocated, segregated and merely "stored" can sit inside a tier name rather than on the face of the agreement, which is precisely where people later discover they had less than they thought. None of that makes a depository the wrong choice. It does mean the questions on our "what to ask" pages are worth putting to them in writing before you sign.
Our view
The honest verdict
If your custodian requires an approved depository, that decides it before anything else on this page matters — check the list first and do not let us waste your time. The same goes for a holding large enough that a single independent vault is a concentration risk in itself. Where we are the better answer is a private owner who wants to physically see the bars, deal with the people who actually hold them, and have allocated and segregated stated in writing rather than assumed from a tier name.
Common questions
- Is a gold depository safer than an independent vault?
- Neither is safer by category. What matters is whether the metal is allocated and segregated, whether an independent audit happens, and whether you can verify it. Ask both the same questions in writing.
- Can I use you for a precious metals IRA?
- Ask us before you assume it. IRA custodians work from approved depository lists, and if your custodian requires one, that decides the question before anything else does.
- Do you have more than one location?
- No. One vault, in Fort Lauderdale. If splitting a holding across sites or jurisdictions matters to you, a large depository does that and we do not.
Other comparisons
A Bank Safe Deposit Box
A bank box is cheap, familiar and for a lot of holdings entirely sufficient. We rent boxes too, and we will point you at one rather than sell you something larger. But two things about bank boxes surprise almost everyone.
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Storage Where You Bought It
Buy the metal and it never ships — it appears in an account and can be sold in a click. The convenience is real and the liquidity is genuinely better than ours. The question is what happens when your seller, your price-setter and your custodian are the same company.
Read more →
A Home Safe
A good safe, properly bolted down, is a reasonable answer for a modest holding and costs nothing after you buy it. Two details decide whether it stays reasonable as the holding grows: what your policy actually covers, and what a house fire does to metal.
Read more →
What we store
Gold Bullion
Gold is the easiest metal to store and the one where the storage arrangement matters most, because a large value occupies very little space and is completely fungible once it leaves your sight.
Read more →
Bulk Silver
Silver is where storage economics become real. The same value in silver occupies roughly seventy times the volume of gold, and volume is what a vault charges for.
Read more →
Sovereign Coins
Coins introduce something bars do not: condition is part of the value, so how they are handled and what they sit in matters as much as where they sit.
Read more →
Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.