Sharps Pixley

A St James's Street Bullion House in the Degussa Group

Sharps Pixley is a London bullion dealer operating from a retail showroom at 54 St James's Street in central London. The trading company, Sharps Pixley Limited, is registered in England under company number 06629106 and was incorporated in June 2008. It sits within the Degussa Goldhandel group, owned by Germany's Von Finck family, which maintains offices in Zurich, Geneva, Frankfurt and Madrid alongside the London operation.

The Sharps Pixley name carries a long heritage in the London gold market. It originated with two predecessor broking firms, Sharps Wilkins and Pixley & Abell, which merged in 1957, and the merged house held a seat at the London Gold Fixing and served as chairman of the London Silver Fix. Sharps Pixley was a founding member of the London Bullion Market Association on its incorporation in 1987, and the present company is a Full Member of the LBMA. The modern business was relaunched in 2010 after the name was acquired from Deutsche Bank, and it joined the Degussa group in November 2013.

The St James's Street showroom opened in January 2016 and stocks physical gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium in bar and coin form. Gold bars are sourced from two Swiss refineries accredited to the London Good Delivery list, and bullion coins come directly from major mints. Beyond over-the-counter bullion sales, the premises offer safe deposit boxes, vaulting, gold pensions and investment services, and the showroom keeps regular weekday opening hours for walk-in customers.

Two Centuries of the London Gold Market, Relaunched for the Modern Era

The Sharps Pixley name descends from two historic broking firms of the London bullion market. Sharps Wilkins dates from the eighteenth century; most industry accounts, including the company's own announcement materials, give 1778 as its founding year, though some histories cite 1740. Pixley & Abell was established in June 1852 by a member of the Pixley family in partnership with Henry Haggard. When the London Gold Fixing was formalised in 1919 at the offices of N. M. Rothschild & Sons, both firms were already established participants in the market.

The London gold market closed at the outbreak of the Second World War and did not reopen until 1954, when Sharps Wilkins and Pixley & Abell were among the brokers present alongside Mocatta and Samuel Montagu. Three years later, in 1957, the two firms merged to form Sharps Pixley. The merged house was one of the five firms that met twice daily for the London Gold Fixing, sitting alongside N. M. Rothschild & Sons, Johnson Matthey, Mocatta & Goldsmid and Samuel Montagu & Co, and it also served as chairman of the London Silver Fix.

In 1966, Kleinwort Benson acquired Sharps Pixley, largely at the behest of the Bank of England, securing the firm's gold-fixing seat. Sharps Pixley went on to become a founding member of the London Bullion Market Association when the LBMA was incorporated in November 1987. The business later passed to Deutsche Bank in the mid-1990s, and active trading under the Sharps Pixley name ceased around 1995, leaving Deutsche Bank holding the dormant name and trademark.

The modern chapter began in 2010, when Ross Norman, a former gold trader at N. M. Rothschild and Credit Suisse, purchased the Sharps Pixley name and trademark from Deutsche Bank and re-established a London bullion business under it. The relaunched firm initially operated as an online precious metals information platform and broker. On 19 November 2013 it was acquired by the Degussa Goldhandel Group, whose precious metals trading heritage dates to 1873 and which had been revived as a brand by the Von Finck family in 2011. Norman remained as chief executive under the new ownership.

On 14 January 2016, Sharps Pixley opened its retail showroom at 54 St James's Street, described at the time as the UK's first dedicated bullion showroom. The location brought physical gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium in bar and coin form, together with safe deposit boxes, to a storefront in the heart of London's St James's district.