Founded in 1951 in Chiasso under the name Argor, its name is a contraction of the words silver and gold. In 1973, the company was 100% owned by the Union de banques suisses (which later became UBS) In 1988, it relocated to Mendrision and in 1999, it was re-acquired by Heraeus (Hanau, Germany). The refinery is owned on a four-way basis by Heraeus Holdings GmbH, Commerzbank International SA, the Austrian Mint, and its Board of Directors.Argor-Heraeus exercises strict controls on the incoming commodity and original certification of the precious metal. Argor-Heraeus is on the list of good suppliers established by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA); thus it meets high quality standards. Their gold bars may be negotiated without restriction. Argor-Heraeus is also a supplier on most physical gold trading centers, such as LME (London), TOCOM (Tokyo), COMEX/NYMEX (New York), and DMMC (Dubai). The front of the Argor-Heraeus gold bars are inscribed with the company’s logos, weight, purity and serial numbers. The reverse of the Argor-Heraeus gold bars are inscribed with a repeat pattern of the company’s logo. The Argor-Heraeus gold bars come packaged in a black, tamper-proof assay card. Argor heraeus gold minted bars are also available the series KINEGRAM KINEGRAM® technology applied to precious metals consists in the microstamping of a two-dimensional computer-generated image. The image of the KINEGRAM® is composed of invisibly small elementary areas of micro profiles which diffract illuminating light. The areas are used to compose lines and graphical elements. The overall image of the KINEGRAM® is generated by varying the angles of diffraction and the diffraction intensities.