Thread: My favorite 1970's silver art bar "finds"

I have not been on this forum that long but I love to collect these '70's silver art bars on. I prefer to buy them locally because most of the time, I can buy them cheaper at my coin dealer and coin shows as opposed to ebay. I also like the challenge of finding these art bars locally.

Here are some of my favorite '70's silver art bars that I found locally:



This is a 1-oz "The General" silver art bar. This art bar was minted in 1972 by the Madison Mint. This is the "error" version of the "General" silver art bar. The reverse side of this silver art bar is blank. I bought this art bar in August 2008 at a coin show in North Georgia. I live in TN but I am close enough to GA that I can make a short drive over the state border. I paid $17.00 for this art bar when spot silver was $13.59/oz. At the time, ebay had them for well over $20 plus shipping. This was the art bar that got me started in collecting '70's 1-oz silver art bars.

Here is another '70's silver art bar that I bought at a coin show in North Georgia:





This is a 1-oz "Watergate Bug" silver art bar. This art bar was minted in 1974 by the Colonial Mint. I bought this art bar in April 2009 and I paid $15.00 for this art bar when spot silver was $11.89/oz.

Here is a '70's silver art bar find in Tennessee:





This is a 1-oz "Ford Tin Lizzie" silver art bar.This silver art bar was minted in 1972 by the Madison Mint. I bought this silver bar at a coin show in Tennessee in October 2008. I paid $15.00 for this art bar when spot silver was $9.86/oz. At the time, ebay was selling this art bar for an average of $20-$21 when you factor in shipping and insurance costs.

I plan to buy many more '70's silver art bars in the future at my local coin dealer and at coin shows. I will update this thread when I find and purchase '70's silver art bars that are considered my favorites. It will be a select few pics of any '70's silver art bars that I buy in the future. The pics that I posted on this thread and in my photo album on my public profile so far are just a small part of my entire 1970's silver art bar collection. These bars that I posted so far on this forum (this thread and my photo album) are my favorite '70's silver art bars.

Enjoy.

Thanks for sharing those and especially the prices. Regarding the General, what makes it an error? And how can you tell the difference?
Is the error worth more? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Victor

Thanks for sharing those and especially the prices. Regarding the General, what makes it an error? And how can you tell the difference?
Is the error worth more? Thanks.

I might be hard to tell from the pic but if you look at the second section of the "General", it is mis-spelled. On the bar it is incorrectly spelled "W. & A.A.R.R.".

The correct spelling should be "W. & A.R.R.".

Some very nice art bars
I am like to find 1950-1975 US Proof that are cameo

Originally Posted by 1970 Silver Art

I might be hard to tell from the pic but if you look at the second section of the "General", it is mis-spelled. On the bar it is incorrectly spelled "W. & A.A.R.R.".

The correct spelling should be "W. & A.R.R.".

Thanks, I'll have to check mine. I am getting off this forum now; the pages are loading much too slow today.

Originally Posted by Victor

Thanks, I'll have to check mine. I am getting off this forum now; the pages are loading much too slow today.

I do not think the error is worth more but I could be wrong about that. There is another 1-oz "General" silver art bar that came out that does not have the error on it but the second section on that other "General" silver art bar is "shorter".

EDIT: I do not think that the correct spelling will be on the "General" silver art bar with the "shorter" second section but I might be wrong on that.

Brings back memories...my mom gave me a "Watergate Bug" 1 oz bar shortly after they came out way back when...I still have it.........

Originally Posted by 1970 Silver Art

I do not think the error is worth more but I could be wrong about that. There is another 1-oz "General" silver art bar that came out that does not have the error on it but the second section on that other "General" silver art bar is "shorter".

EDIT: I do not think that the correct spelling will be on the "General" silver art bar with the "shorter" second section but I might be wrong on that.

That is correct, the bar without error has a smaller second section with no markings on it. Both bars where issued in 1972. As there are no mintage figures for both bars, the value should be considered spot silver + small premium




Another difference is the reverse side of the bar:
The error bar MAD-9E has a blank reverse while the 'correct' bar can have 3 different varieties : a blank (MAD-9), a Type 1 (MAD-9V) or a Type 2 (MAD-9V1) reverse.

Type 1




Type 2

Checked mine out. It's the error variety with blank reverse. Thanks again for the detailed info.

Originally Posted by orpheus72

That is correct, the bar without error has a smaller second section with no markings on it. Both bars where issued in 1972. As there are no mintage figures for both bars, the value should be considered spot silver + small premium




Another difference is the reverse side of the bar:
The error bar MAD-9E has a blank reverse while the 'correct' bar can have 3 different varieties : a blank (MAD-9), a Type 1 (MAD-9V) or a Type 2 (MAD-9V1) reverse.

Type 1




Type 2

Thanks for that information orpheus72. That is very helpful. I am learning something new everytime I get on this forum.

I like the General that is something i would be very happy to add to the collection

Unfortunately, I did not have any luck last week finding any '70's silver art bars when I went to the coin dealers in my area. There is a coin show in my area coming up in August and maybe I will have some luck there. I prefer to buy these art bars locally since I can buy them at a lower premium to spot silver. I got outbid on my last ebay auction for a 1-oz '70's silver art bar.

Since I have some time on my hands, I will post another pic of one of my previous '70's art bar purchases from last year.



It is a 1-oz "Spirit of St. Louis" silver art bar. This silver art bar was minted in 1972 by the Madison Mint. The reverse type of this silver art bar is blank. I bought this at a local coin dealer in November of 2008 and I paid $15.00 for it (spot silver was $9.99/oz on the day of purchase).

Wow, awesome bars. I just love that first general posted!

Yup I have a Spirit of St. Louis in my collection too. The bars were part of an estate coin collection I purchased [as mentioned earlier]. I guess old Fenton knew what he was doing when he obtained the bars. It seems he purchased most of the "good ones".

Originally Posted by Victor

Yup I have a Spirit of St. Louis in my collection too. The bars were part of an estate coin collection I purchased [as mentioned earlier]. I guess old Fenton knew what he was doing when he obtained the bars. It seems he purchased most of the "good ones".

It's a nice bar indeed, but a 'good one' ? this MAD-4 Spirit of St-Louis was minted in an unknown mintage and has a rarity value of $3 over spot.
If you speak about 'good ones' you should consider the 'GREATHOUSE-production' bars, with a rarity value of at least $50 over spot silver (unfortunately i don't own any of them )

But high value or not, our own art bar collection keeps shining to us.