Baird & Co was founded in 1967 by Tony Baird, who began his career as a schoolboy coin trader and became a professional numismatic dealer that same year — the same year the South African Krugerrand launched, a coin Baird was the first to trade in the UK. The business expanded into jewelry-industry metals in the early 1970s, then diversified into bullion production after a 1982 UK government decision to apply VAT to gold coins collapsed that side of the market overnight. Today Baird & Co operates from Hatton Garden in London (since 1987), with a refinery in Beckton and an international branch in Singapore, and joined the LBMA in September 2000.
Baird & Co holds the distinction of being the largest gold refiner in the United Kingdom, giving it a domestic-market prominence that few other UK-based bullion names can claim. Its history as a numismatic coin dealer turned refiner — rather than a refiner from inception — gives it a slightly different institutional character than the Swiss houses that were purpose-built refining operations from the start.
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Start tracking freeYes — it holds that distinction, operating from Hatton Garden in London with a refinery in Beckton and an international branch in Singapore.
September 2000, adding formal accreditation to a business that had already been producing bullion for roughly two decades by that point.
No — founder Tony Baird began as a numismatic coin dealer in 1967, and the business only diversified into bullion bar production after a 1982 UK tax change disrupted the gold coin market.