Reading your assay certificate
The card around your bar is the document that proves what it is. Here is every field on it and what each one should say.
The card is part of the product
A sealed bullion bar is sold inside a tamper-evident card. The card carries the assay statement, meaning a formal declaration of the weight and fineness of the metal inside, and a serial number tying that declaration to that specific bar.
Treat the card as you would a title deed. A bar without its certificate is still gold, but it is harder to sell, usually slower to value, and often worth less in practice.
What to check, in order
Run through these the moment the piece is in your hand, before you put it away.
Why you should not break the seal
The seal is what lets the next buyer trust the bar without testing it. Once it is broken, that chain of evidence is gone, and the piece has to be verified again by assay before anyone will buy it at full value.
People open bars out of curiosity and regret it. There is nothing inside the card you cannot see through it.
Hallmarking in Egypt
Gold sold legally in Egypt is subject to approval by the Egyptian Hallmarking Authority, which stamps pieces to certify their fineness. It is the state-level check sitting behind the refinery mark, and it is the reason a locally hallmarked piece is straightforward to resell within the country.
When buying anywhere, ask whether the piece is hallmarked. A seller who cannot answer is a seller to leave.
If something looks wrong
Do not unseal the bar to investigate. Photograph the card, the serial and the packaging as received, and contact the dealer before doing anything else.
Any Swiss Gold branch can verify a piece by assay, and a sealed bar with its certificate is the fastest case to resolve because the evidence is already on the card.