When did the shift occur to so much silver bullion being produced in 999+ standard, even amounts (1 oz, 5 oz, 10 oz, 100 oz, etc)? It seems to be pretty recent as in the 2000s. It seems pretty rare nowadays to find much sterling silver, for instance, in a random medal or coin with an ASW of .8-something, or whatever. How desired is this older, random silver from 70s, 80s, etc.?
So .. the evolution of silver smelting technology ? long topic. remember, your sterling silver was made for strength to be used in cups, silver ware, etc. Ever try to use a true silver spoon or fork .. they bend easily. The Trade, Morgan, Peace Dollar was 90% silver, 10% copper Flowing & Draped was 89% silver, 11% copper With the 1970s 40% and 90% coins ... depends if you collect the coin or the silver content, or both. I think the act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Silver_Eagle) for the 1986 bullion coins allowed the mint to produce the coins. Remember the US gov't policies allows the mint to do or not to do something a particular way.
I think that's a good point to look at when individual countries authorized production of bullion. So here a lot of us are with random silver coins and medals from prior to those dates filling a portion of our stack. They are annoying, noneven amounts of silver, often without any indication on the coin or medal of the silver content. I have a strong desire to sell these off.
Each country is going to be different. South Africa for instance has been producing bullion gold coins since 1967. 91.67% Gold, the rest Copper. by 1980 they accounted for 80-90% of the global gold coin market. I think other countries saw the value in creating bullion coins.
Yep, the Krugerrand started it all. Other countries noted how much gold South Africa was selling as coins and wanted in (and other bullion coins grew from that - silver, platinum, palladium, even copper)
https://silveringot.blogspot.com/search?q=engelhard Try this site for a wealth of info about hand poured silver ingots - although the 5, 10 and 100 T. oz. ingots are most common, there are plenty of 'exact weight' bars (i.e. 12.84 T. oz.) from obscure manufacturers out there - most of the hand poured items command larger premiums than machine stamped commercial bullion and old Engelhard ingots are the preferred brand for collectors, selling for the highest premiums. There was little interest in .999 silver until the 1970s, when the Hunt bros. attempted to corner the silver market - after that artificial price spike, bulk melting of silver inventories and the subsequent return to 'normal levels', surviving silver bars and ingots became collectibles (see the Archie Kidd guides). Beware the obscure hand poured ingots - authenticity is always an issue and resale is difficult without proof of .999 purity.
I remember during the late 1970's a local coin shop displaying a 1000 oz. bar with a stamping of .999 silver. The bar sported a small drill hole, the swarf of which was contained in a dish to the side, with a small bottle of silver testing solution. A note described the metal as not containing silver, except for the plating. Another note stated that the shop would not be buying silver bullion bars unless the patron agreed to having it drilled and tested. I really felt for the owner because he had trusted someone and in returned got burned. At the time, silver was around ten dollars an ounce, so he really took a hit.
