Hi not really looking to find out value cuz I know about that already. I got this coin a long long time ago. I think as a gift when I was doing the coin collecting merit badge. What is interesting to me is that it has no date on it. Anyone have information on these "Universal Trade Unit" coins from "The International"? Says its 311 Grams at 480 Grains. One troy ounce fine silver.
This is not a coin, it wasn't minted by any government, nor used for trade purposes. It is a common bullion round and is stating that it contains 1 full ounce of pure silver. It is a Medal essentially, created for those that purely wish to own silver in it's purest form. You are in luck though because silver is up and it is worth about $29 today Bullion value changes rapidly, basically 2 years ago it was only worth $10 and next year it could be worth $8. In 1980 Silver hit $50 an ounce for a minute in history... you never know.
Thanks. I wasn't able to find another coin just like it but I was able to find similar rounds like the one posted. I was just hoping to find out if I could trace it back to a rough set of years it was made. Thanks for the info.
That will be really difficult with the bullion round that you own and here is why There are primarily 4 kinds of bullion rounds/bars. Generic, semi-generic, well-known minted, or nationally minted rounds/bars. American Silver Eagle's are popular Nationally minted round, Well-known could be a company like Engelhard. What you have is a Generic, meaning no company has claimed it as their own with a makers mark on it. It was created simply to, for all time, allow the measurement of holding one troy ounce of silver in your hand to trade with. It was never meant to be collected or studied or appreciated for it's artful appearance and credited to anything. Hence it is simply generic in every sense of the meaning
As mentioned it is a generic silver round. Silver rounds have been made by a great many companies over the users and in a great many designs (I know of one collection that has over 10,000 different designs) Many of these companies copied each others designs as well. The Universal Trade Unit design has been used and muled with many designs by many different manufacturers and has been in use since at least the mid 1970's.
There were several medals made as far back as the 19th century that proposed universal trade units of silver. One well known series is the 1896 bryan dollars: http://www.so-calleddollars.com/Events/Bryan_Dollars.html
My father was working in that Universal Trade office back in 1973 and 1974. My brothers has some of these silver rounds. But they’re the ones with dates on it. I think this one (no date) is one of the earlier ones, probably in 1972 or before that. Or it could be copied and altered by someone else when that office went out of business in 1974.
I found one today before the silver spike and nabbed it at $39.00 Interestingly the shop had a couple of more of the same style, but I only really needed one for the cool factor of collecting an old silver piece. I might go back next week now that I'm more familiar with these and see if they have more but of the different types.... I didn't know there were other versions and I didn't look as close. But now I'm intrigued that the possibility of finding different examples of the trade unit silver rounds. I also managed to pick up a few Prospectors at a hair below melt. In my area there is practically no premium on just about any silver. Too many sellers and not enough buyers. Shops are offering $2 back of spot on most generic stuff, and $1 back of stuff on any government stuff, and basically selling at melt or just a hair over melt.
There are a couple of YouTube videos on the silver trade units. A number of different varieties. They seem to be gaining popularity as vintage rounds. Your hunting grounds sound like a great place to buy and flip vintage silver.
I vaguely remember when they started making these. I believe I have several different versions of it, but probably none have much value. However, it should be pointed out that there are growing numbers of collectors of silver rounds and bars and many have significant premiums. It is wise to check before you sell. IMS they were being issued in the early '80's as an alternative to the plummeting dollar but were, of course, never really used for this purpose.
