Compare · Offshore Storage
Us vs. Storing Bullion Offshore
Switzerland and Singapore have deep, mature vaulting industries and long-settled law on bailment. If your specific concern is exposure to one government, offshore storage addresses something no domestic vault can. It also brings obligations that are not ours to advise you on.
Come and see the vault before you move anything. No account relationship is required to visit.
Side by side
| Category | Us | Offshore Storage |
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdictional diversification | None — one country, one vault | Genuine, and the whole point. They win here |
| Depth of the vaulting industry | One independent operator | Centuries of it in some markets. They win here |
| Getting to it in person | A drive, by appointment | A flight |
| Retrieving it quickly | Same week, by appointment | International shipping, customs, insurance |
| US reporting obligations | Ordinary domestic position | May apply. Ask your own tax adviser |
| Cost of a small holding | Priced per arrangement | Minimums are often high |
| Who you can telephone | The people holding it | A different time zone |
| Selling into a US market | Domestic, straightforward | Repatriation first, or sell abroad |
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 offshore storage genuinely does better
Offshore storage answers a question domestic storage cannot. Holding metal in a second jurisdiction means no single government, court or banking system sits between you and all of your holding, and for someone whose concern is precisely that, it is the only thing that works. Switzerland and Singapore in particular have vaulting industries measured in generations, well-settled law on bailment and custody, and operators whose institutional clients have audited them for decades. Political and currency risk are genuinely diversified rather than nominally so, and for a large holding the argument for splitting it across jurisdictions is a serious one that serious people act on.
The limit
Where the gap is
The obligations travel with it. United States persons may have reporting requirements in respect of assets held abroad, the rules turn on details of how the holding is structured, and getting it wrong carries penalties — this is a question for your own tax adviser and we are not one, nor will we guess at it for you. Practically, retrieval means international shipping, customs and insurance rather than a drive; inspection means a flight; and selling usually means either repatriating first or accepting a foreign market. Minimums are frequently set high enough to rule out modest holdings. And when something needs sorting out, the people who can sort it out are asleep.
Our view
The honest verdict
If the risk you are actually trying to manage is concentration in a single jurisdiction, then a domestic vault — ours or anybody else’s — does not solve it, and we are not going to pretend it does. Use an established offshore facility and take proper tax advice first. Where we fit is the holding you want to be able to reach this week, look at with your own eyes, and sell into a US market without a repatriation problem in front of it. Plenty of people sensibly do both.
Common questions
- Is offshore gold storage better than domestic?
- It answers a different question. If your concern is exposure to a single jurisdiction, no domestic vault solves that and we will not pretend ours does.
- Do I have to report gold stored overseas?
- United States persons may have reporting obligations for assets held abroad, and the rules turn on how the holding is structured. That is a question for your own tax adviser. We are not one and will not guess.
- Can I do both?
- Plenty of people sensibly do. Offshore for jurisdictional diversification, domestic for the part you want to reach this week and sell into a US market without repatriating first.
Other comparisons
A Large 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.
Read more →
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.