In January 2026, the price of gold reached record highs when private buyers began hedging against a weakening dollar and geopolitical instability.
But when prices fell in the second quarter as buyers pocketed their profits, the central banks reportedly kept buying and are now on course to end the year with over 800 tonnes of gold purchased, according to World Gold Council data – roughly double what central banks were buying annually a decade ago and the fourth consecutive year at that elevated pace.
[See also: Record gold and silver prices signal a new era for wealthy investors]
For a central bank, gold is a reserve, held against a horizon measured in decades. For a private client, however, the questions – and concerns – slightly differ, and the advisers featured in this year’s Spear’s Index describe a client base equally concerned with liquidity as they are security.
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The questions, therefore, are no longer only centred around whether the price of gold rises or falls, but increasingly focus on what happens after the metal is bought. Does the client own specific bars or merely on claim on someone else’s? How quickly it can become cash again? Will the bar, when offered for sale, be accepted without question?
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The 2026 edition of the Precious Metals Index is geared around connecting HNWs with the best dealers and custodians to answer these questions, tracing the path a client’s gold takes: from the refiners and mints that make the metal, to the dealers who sell it, and the vaults that hold it.
The complex rules of bullion
A client placing several million pounds in gold can choose the dealer or custodian that best serves their objective. Where the priority is tax efficiency, a coin struck by the Royal Mint is legal tender and free of capital gains tax for a UK resident. Where it is resale, a bar carrying the ATS Bullion stamp will be accepted anywhere without needing to be tested for its purity. Where the goal is privacy, metal bought across a counter in Sharps Pixley’s St James’s store can be held in the client’s own possession, but where the priority might be avoiding domestic risk, Silver Bullion hold metal in Singapore, beyond the reach of a UK court.
[See also: Demand for private vaults soars in London as gold prices rise and thefts surge]
The distinctions between precious metals firms, however, are blurred, and becoming increasingly more so as clients’ priorities multiply. Dealers now offer storage solution, vault operators facilitate trading and refiners increasingly sell direct to investors.
The best custodians of 2026
The firms that stand out in 2026 are those that can operate at the intersection of client’s objectives and requirements. Silver Bullion is a dealer, vault operator and facility owner in one: CEO Gregor Gregersen bought a 180,000 sq ft building in Singapore that became known as The Reserve so that clients could rely on the knowledge that the holdings within the vault were unlikely to be moved or caught up in a third party’s insolvency.
A decade ago, holding metal in Singapore or the Cayman Islands was often the final layer of a wider wealth structure. Increasingly, the jurisdiction itself is part of the appeal. Mark Yaxley of Strategic Wealth Preservation describes the trend as ‘the growing demand for offshore storage and geo-diversification of assets, including gold and silver’.
On the other end, Baird refines much of the gold it sells, so the client can trace a bar from the east London refinery to the counter in Hatton Garden without relying on anyone’s assurance about where it came from.
Membership of the London Bullion Market Association, affiliate status and Good Delivery accreditation are often presented together, but they represent different things. For a private investor looking to place several million pounds, the distinction is not always obvious. As David Russell of GoldCore says, the choice of dealer comes down to ‘longevity, liquidity and pedigree’.
Click the links below to jump to a section of this article:
- Methodology
- The best precious metals dealers and custodians: some names to know
- The best precious metals dealers and custodians: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to the Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
The best precious metals dealers and custodians: some names to know
The Pure Gold Company
- Focus: Physical Gold and Silver sales
The Pure Gold Company sells gold and silver bars and coins to private investors, and will either deliver the metal or store it under insurance. It also guarantees to buy back whatever it sells, so a holding can be turned back into cash without the client having to find a buyer.
Josh Saul founded the firm in London in 2012, having begun his career as an analyst at FTI Consulting, where the firm’s work on the Lehman Brothers and General Motors bankruptcies showed him what counterparty risk looks like in practice. Much of the interest from clients is tax-driven, according to Saul, who explains that purchases of investment-grade gold carry no VAT in the UK, and legal tender coins are exempt from capital gains tax for UK residents.
Read The Pure Gold Company’s full profile on Spears500.com
Strategic Wealth Preservation
- Focus: Acquisition and storage
Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP) is a precious metals dealer and vault operator founded in Grand Cayman in 2014.
Its clients, most of them in the United States and Canada, buy gold, silver, platinum and palladium and can either store the metal with the firm or take delivery of it. SWP owns and runs its own vault on the island, in a purpose-built building, and offers storage in partner facilities in Canada, the US, the UK, Switzerland, Singapore and the UAE.
What brings clients to SWP, according to CEO Mark Yaxley, is ‘the growing demand for offshore storage and geo-diversification of assets, including gold and silver’.
Read Strategic Wealth Preservation’s full profile on Spears500.com
GoldCore
- Focus: Storage and delivery
Founded in Ireland in 2003 and now operating from Dublin, London and California, GoldCore sells and stores gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins and bars.
Buyers typically spend from around $500,000 into the millions, and at that scale, choosing the right dealer matters more than choosing the metal, CEO David Russell tells Spear’s. His own test is whether the firm belongs to the London Bullion Market Association, which sets the purity standards for bars traded on the London market; GoldCore has been a member for several years.
There are several other ‘green flags’ a buyer should be looking for, Russell adds: ‘It comes down to three things: longevity, liquidity and pedigree.’
Read GoldCore’s full profile on Spears500.com.
Sharps Pixley
- Focus: Precious metals brokerage
Sharps Pixley was one of the five London bullion houses that, for much of the 20th century, met twice a day for the ‘London gold fixing’, setting the benchmark price used by bullion markets around the world. The name disappeared in 1995 under Deutsche Bank’s ownership before being revived in 2010. Since 2013, the business has been part of the Degussa group.
Today, Sharps Pixley sells investment-grade gold, silver and platinum bars and coins online and from its showroom at 54 St James’s Street in London, which opened in 2016.
Sharps Pixley is a full member of the London Bullion Market Association and keeps clients’ bullion separate from the firm’s own holdings, helping to safeguard customers’ ownership.
Read Sharps Pixley’s full profile on Spears500.com
Silver Bullion
- Focus: Offshore Wealth Protection
- Rank: Top recommended
Founded in Singapore in 2009 by Gregor Gregersen, a former data architect at a European bank, Silver Bullion sells gold, silver, platinum and palladium to investors and stores the metal on their behalf. Unlike many dealers, it owns its own vault: in 2020 it acquired a 180,000 sq ft building in Changi Business Park and converted it into the Reserve, its own high-capacity precious metals storage facility.
Silver Bullion emphasises that holdings are subject to Singapore law, giving investors clarity over the legal framework governing their assets and where any disputes would be resolved. The Reserve is also equipped to store other valuables, including art and watches, and provides space for auctions and client events.
Read Silver Bullion’s full profile on Spears500.com
The best precious metals dealers and custodians: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles of each adviser on The Spear’s 500 website. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
Contact us
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