Ebay purchase of a Hamilton Mint silver art bar

You're both welcome, glad to help you with my limited knowledge.

 

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There is a national club specializing in silver art bars. The International Association of Silver Art Collectors http://www.rivercitycoins.com/iasac.html

 

This is just my opinion but I do not think your knowledge is limited. You have more knowledge than me on these 1970's silver art bars especially when it comes to the mintage numbers and the specific information about particular silver art bars. I am very happy that you joined this forum orpheus72.

 

Well these are not from the 70s but they are part of Mrs Orcs collection so I thought I would share a couple with you all some rounds some bars

 

I like that Wall Street Mint bar especially with the twin towers NYC skyline. I also think that the next to last silver art round (the "Seasons Greetings" silver art round) pic that you posted looks like a Silvertowne Mint round but I am not completely sure . Silvertowne does make some very good silver art bars and rounds IMO. They all look nice to me.

 

Yes I agree. I also think it is an overlooked niche of collecting in general.
Now this thread makes me want to go to the bank to get mine out of the safe deposit box to see what I actually have. One more I found here at home is an "Imperial Russian Seal". The reverse says 1973 only.
The front has the Russian seal, looks like a coat of arms.
Another question I have is this: Is it better to keep them in the soft plastic sleeves they were sold in? As far as being protected I have put 3 into airtite hard plastic holders. Should I spend the buck or $1.50 each to place all of them in airtites?

 

This is just my take on this but I like airtites the best because it gives the silver bar the best protection from direct exposure to the elements especially humidity. With that being said, I do not have any airtites for my art bars. Most of mine are in the plastic sleeves.

 

I think that silver art bar was minted by the Patrick Mint but I am not completely sure.

 

Victor,

I think that your "Russian Imperial Seal" silver art bar is a Patrick Mint silver art bar because I have seen some Patrick Mint reverse sides that say Patrick Mint in the middle and I also think that there were some Patrick Mint silver art bars in the early 1970's that had only the year that it was minted and the rest of the reverse side was blank. I might be wrong on this because I do not have an art bar price guide.

EDIT: The art bar that you described, I have seen one before on ebay and I am pretty sure it is a Patrick Mint silver bar. The year 1973 is on the bottom of the reverse side of this silver art bar.

 

air tites

An eBay seller Vernon Coins has 25 airtites for $9.99 offered on eBay.
I don't know if they are really Airtite brand. I'm fortunately an hour's drive from Vernon, Connecticut and frequently go there to pick up stuff I buy on ebay and save shipping. Of course since it's an in state purchase they charge the sales tax plus I use gasoline. But they have good deals on Dansco albums and I have bought most of my coin albums from them.
The upside is I can get eBay purchased items the same day.

Also I have the art bars "Stanley Roadster", and "Curtiss Jenny" [wish I had the inverted stamp] but do also have the matchbox cast iron toy plane.
Interestingly an eBay seller is trying to get $90 for this toy airplane I paid 10 cents for.
Another bar in the safe deposit box is the Motherlode mint "Las Vegas" with a pair of dice on it.

 

The "Stanley Roadster" is a Madison Mint bar and I believe it was minted in 1972 but I could be wrong on the mintage year.

There was a "Reno" silver art bar with dice on it that was also minted by the Motherlode mint. I believe the "Reno" bar was minted in 1973.

EDIT: I do not have a "Curtiss Jenny" silver art bar but I think that it is a Patrick Mint silver bar. I have seen a silver bar like that on ebay as well.

 

There is also another consideration on the art-bar airtites. I think that these airtites come in one size. These airtites should fit most standard 1 oz silver bars but these airtites will not work for every 1-oz silver art bar.

The Hamilton mint 1-oz art bars may not work with the airtites because the Hamilton Mint 1-oz silver art bars are too long. The airtites might not work for the Patrick Mint silver bars because of the dimensions of the Patrick Mint silver bars. It is something to think about if you decide to get airtites for your silver art bars. These airtites may not fit all 1970's 1-oz silver art bars.

 

MAD-6 'Stanly Roadster', Madison Mint, minted in 1973, unknown mintage
MLM-13 'Reno with Dices', Mother-Lode Mint, minted in 1973, unknown mintage
PAT-6 'Curtiss Biplane (jenny)', Patrick Mint, minted in 1973, mintage 15.000

I use "airtites" for all bars that will fit in it, as after a few years toning will occur on the bars in the plastic (vinyl) sleeves. The brand "airtite" is not a must, i have the airtites from other brands, and they look and function just as fine as the real ones.

 

Thanks orpheus72 for that information.

I do not know when I will do this but I plan to eventually get an earlier edition of the Archie Kidd "Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars" (4th or 5th edition). That guide will come in very handy for me.

 

That sounds like a good idea. I concider the 'indexed guide book of silver art bars' from Archie Kidd as my collecting-bible. I own the 4th (1986), 5th (1991, revised in 2007) and 6th (2009) edition and use them almost on a daily base. If you're looking for an older one, i've still got a brand new spare 4th edition (but it has to be shipped from Belgium), or you can always contact our secretary-treasurer Nancy Yee trough the IASAC website.

 

I was thinking about getting the 5th edition. I currently just have the 6th edition.

EDIT: I think that I might decide to contact Nancy Yee for the 5th edition. Thanks Orpheus72 for the IASAC website and contact information.

 

Hi Silver Art,

I just got into coin collecting and have been nosing through the coin talk forums. I had no idea such neat silver bars were made in the 1970s. I want to start collecting them and was wondering if I can trouble you with some probably silly questions about them as web resources seem to be scarce.

Can give me any advice about them or scams to watch out for? I see many with low starting bids on ebay that are also ending soon, for much below spot price (ie a starting bid of 0.99 and only a few dollars for shipping). Are these scams? I dont see why someone would sell an oz of silver that much below spot.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-OZ-ART-BAR-TH...s=65:15|66:2|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

http://cgi.ebay.com/WALKING-EAGLE-B...s=65:15|66:2|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

Thanks and happy hunting!

Meg

 

Hello Meg,

Almost all ebay auctions on silver bars start at $0.99 (low cost for placing) but they all will end up between $15 and $20 or more in the final hours/minutes of the biddig. As they were sold at such a low price i would have had thousands of ounces of silver by now

 

Ah yes, I see now looking through the completed items that they do indeed end up at least at spot. Man! There are so many gorgeous ones to choose from. I can't wait to start collecting them. Such neat little items. Do you have any resources that I should read or that you recommend?

Meg

 

By my knowledge there are no other resourses than "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars" published by Archie Kidd. But it's a hard to find book.
I recommend you to look at some site who sell those bars, so you can see bars from different mints (there are about 5000+ different ones).
You can also visit my site where i show my Art Bar Collection with details about them. On my site is also a link to the IASAC (International Association of Silver Art Collectors) to whom i belong.

Hope you find art bar collecting a great hobby.