My favorite 1970's silver art bar "finds"

According to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's book titled "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars", that silver art bar was minted in 1971.

 

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A Dansco album is a good album to put Coca-Cola silver art bars in them. I would recommend the Dansco silver art bar album that will show case the Coca-Cola silver art bars in a vertical fashion (like in your picture). The Dansco album that you should look for is Dansco album # 7086. There is also a red album that is specifically made for holding Coca-Cola silver art bars but they are hard to find on ebay. The Dansco album # 7086 is your best bet IMO to showcase your Coca-Cola bars.

That Orangeburg, S.C. Coca-Cola silver art bar was minted by the World Wide Mint in 1979. There are two types of this particular Orangeburg, S.C silver art bar that was minted in 1979. The first type was a regular 1-oz .999 silver bar. The second type was a "silver-filled" art bar. According to the second edition of Thomas Mock's book titled "Coca-Cola Bottler's 75th Anniversary Ingot and Guide Book 1975 to 1988", the silver filled ingots had a copper middle layer that was covered in silver. Thomas Mock's Coca-Cola guide book also mentioned that there were a total of 11 different "silver-filled" Coca-Cola bars that The World Wide Mint minted and the reason for the creation of the "silver-filled" bars was to control its costs since the silver price spiked up in 1979-1980. The "silver-filled" ingot is NOT a .999 pure silver art bar.

Besides weighing it, There is a way you can tell if that Orangeburg Coca-Cola bar is either .999 silver or "silver-filled". The weight and purity of each of the Coca-Cola silver art bars is stamped on the side of the bar. If it is .999 silver, then it will say "One Troy OZ .999 Fine Silver" on the side. If it is a "silver-filled" Coca-Cola bar, then I believe that it will say something like "Sterling" on the side of the bar but I am not 100% sure on that.

Also according to Thomas Mock's Coca-Cola guidebook, The "silver-filled" version of the Orangeburg Coca-Cola bar has an value of $500 and an unknown mintage and the .999 pure silver version of the Orangeburg Coca-Cola bar has a value of $100 with a mintage of 1,200. With that said, most Coca-Cola silver art bars will not sell for guidebook price on ebay.

The "silver-filled" version of the Orangeburg Coca-Cola bar is very hard to find anywhere locally or online. Based on my observations of watching ebay auctions on Coca-Cola bars, I have not seen the "silver-filled" version of the Orangeburg Coca-Cola art bar on ebay. Also, I have never seen the .999 pure silver version of the Orangeburg Coca-Cola bar sell on ebay. I suspect that both the .999 pure silver and the "silver-filled" versions will probably have sell for a lot of money on ebay since apparently it is a hard-to-find Coca-Cola art bar.

I also collect Coca-Cola bars and those Coca-Cola bars are one of my favorite types of silver art bars to collect.

 

Thanks for the info!
Great stuff.
I never really thought about it.
I buy the Coke bars only when 2 criteria are met...
1: I have spare money to spend over and above the money I scrape together for my coin obsession.
2: The bar is priced at $25 or less. I can't really get myself to spend more when I have coins to buy!

Last time I peeked on eBay (never bought a bar from eBay), I fell in love with the design of a few designs. I remember Houston was one that was nice.
I don't really like the 'plain' bars with just a bottle and 75th insignia. The ones with 'art' catch my eye.

 

FWIW:
I just pulled my Orangeburg bar and it's ".999 fine"

 

This is not a '70's silver art bar but the theme of this bar reflects the current run that silver is having.................









It is a 1-oz "Silver Bull" silver art bar (ST-17V1) that was minted by Silvertowne. This particular Silvertowne art bar with this reverse type (Type 6) was minted in 1985. This is a common silver art bar with a high mintage number. The mintage number is 5,515 according to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's book titled "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars". I bought this silver art bar today from a local coin shop and I paid spot price for it (spot silver was at $28.55 at the time of purchase).

 

This is an awesome silver art bar find in my opinion..........





It is a 1-oz silver "Hank Aaron" silver art bar (USSC-113). The theme of this bar is Hank Aaron hitting his 715th career home run on April 8, 1974 to break Babe Ruth's record of 714 career home runs. This silver art bar was minted in 1974 by the United States Silver Corporation. The mintage is 715 according to the 4th edition of the guidebook called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars". Serial # 146 (of 715). I bought this bar today from a local dealer and I paid $31.00 for it (spot silver closed at $29.28/oz).

 

Here are a some ebay purchases of the silver art bars that I made in 2011........





It is a 1-oz "Bud Abbot and Lou Costello" silver art bar (TRG-2V1). It was minted by GreatHouse Productions in 1978. This is the misspelled version of this bar (Abbott was misspelled as Abbot). There were only 175 of these minted according to the latest silver art bar price guide that I have. This bar has a serial number and it is on the side of this bar The serial # is 133. This is my first silver art bar purchase of 2011 (bought on Jan. 3). I paid $31.14 for this silver art bar (spot closed at $30.91 that previous Friday (Dec. 31, 2010). This silver art bar was an ebay BIN (Buy-It-Now) with a price of $89.99 but I used up all of my ebay bucks that I earned in the fourth quarter of 2010 to knock that price down to $31.14.

Here is another GreatHouse Productions silver art bar with a different reverse type............





It is a 1-oz "Emmett Kelly" silver art bar (TRG-12). This GreatHouse Productions silver art bar was minted in 1979 and it also had a mintage of only 175. This was also an ebay BIN purchase. I bought this last Monday (January 31) and I paid a total of $92.49 for it (spot silver was $28.05/oz at the time of purchase). The serial # is on the side of this bar. Serial # 124.

I love collecting GreatHouse Productions silver art bars and I am willing to pay that much in premium for them. These GreatHouse Productions silver art bars a very hard (maybe impossible) to find locally at a coin shop or at a coin show. So far, in the 2 1/2 years that I have been collecting silver art bars, I was not successful in finding a GreatHouse art bar locally. These art bars seem to only be available on ebay as BIN auctions. The detail on these GreatHouse bars are simply amazing IMO. These bars are the cream of the crop when it comes to collecting '70's silver art bars or any other silver art bars IMO.


Here is another silver art bar that I bought on ebay last week..............





It is a 1-oz "Super Bowl XXVI" enameled silver art bar (TM-84EN). It was minted in 1992 by The Mint. Only 200 of these were minted. This was also an ebay BIN purchase that I bought last Sunday (Jan. 30) and I paid $99.99 for it (spot silver was $28.01 at the time of purchase). This bar is part of the "World Wide Sports" Series and are serial numbed. Serial # 53.

I am usually not a big fan of enameled silver but these sport themed silver art bars by The Mint are an exception because they look so nice and the art work was well done IMO. Like the GreatHouse Productions bars, The Mint bars are also very hard (if not impossible) to find locally at a coin dealer or at a coin show. Up to this time, I have not been able to find a The Mint sports-themed silver art bar locally for a .999 generic silver premium. These sports-themed art bars are found on ebay and are usually BIN auctions. On a rare occasion, there might be an ebay auction on one of these bars where you have a chance to bid on one but I have not seen many of those regular bidding auctions for these particular art bars. I like these bars because I like watching sports (especially football) and I also like the enamel work on these bars.

 

Elvis has entered CoinTalk.....................











It is a 1-oz "From Graceland to the Promised Land" silver art bar (GCM-10). It was minted in 1978 by the Green Country Mint. The mintage number for this particular art bar is 100. Serial #34 (of 100). I won this auction on ebay last Sunday and it came in the mail today. I paid a total price of $131.00 for this silver art bar (spot silver was $35.67 at that time). This bar is in excellent shape and it has a proof finish look to it. It is hard to see on the third picture but there are some symbols on the side of this bar. The serial number is on the right. There is also a "P" symbol. I think that stands for Proof. There is a "78" symbol which represents the mint year. This art bar did not come in an airtite but I happen to have one that fits perfectly. I am very happy to have a Green Country Mint art bar in my collection.

This silver art bar is very hard to find locally. I spent over 2 years trying to find any Green Country Mint silver art bars locally at various local coin dealers and at several coin shows and I had absolutely no luck finding one locally. From what I have seen, these Green Country Mint silver art bars rarely come up for bidding on ebay. If there are any Green Country Mint art bars on ebay, they are usually sold at BIN prices and those BIN prices range from $189.00 to $224 (and up). The reason that these bars have a very high premium over spot is because the mintage numbers are very low. Mintage numbers for Green Country silver art bars range from 50 to 150.

 

Always a great read, nice newp!

 

A couple of purchases from last week..........







It is a 1-oz "Popeye's 50th" silver art bar (TRG-19). It was minted in 1979 by GreatHouse Productions. I bought it on ebay last Friday (Mar. 25) and I got it yesterday in the mail. It is has a proof finish and there is no toning on this silver art bar. It came in an airtite but I took it out of the airtite to take pictures of it. I put it back in the airtite to preserve the condition. This was an ebay Buy-It-Now purchase(BIN) and I paid $177.49 for it (3-25-2011 spot silver = $37.32/oz). This was the lowest price that I can find for this particular art bar on ebay. The price of $177.49 that I paid for this silver art bar breaks my personal record of paying the highest dollar amount for a 1-oz silver art bar. It does not bother me that I paid this amount for this art bar because I am just buying what I like.

The 2009 Archie silver art bar price guide lists the mintage number of 185 for this particular silver art bar. Serial # 172 (out of 185). This low mintage is typical for a GreatHouse silver art bar and that makes GreatHouse bars very hard to find locally at a .999 generic silver premium and the only place that I can seem to find them is on ebay (usually as a BIN auction). Based on my observations, most GreatHouse silver art bars will sell for between $75 to $200 on ebay (regular winning bids). These GreatHouse art bars are IMO some of the best rare silver art bars in existence especially with this reverse type.

After buying that Popeye GreatHouse silver art bar on ebay, I had some extra cash to spend so on that following Saturday (Mar. 26), I decided to check out the local coin shops to see what silver art bars (if any) they had. I went to a few coin shops to shop around and overall, I did not find many silver art bars. I did, however, find a silver art bar that is interesting. Here is what it looks like:





It is a 1-oz "Captain William Kidd" silver art bar (USSC-150). It was minted in 1973 by United states Silver Corporation. I paid $39.31 for this bar (3-25-2011 spot silver = $37.32). There is some toning on this bar on the corners and on the reverse side but not a big deal for me. It is not a rare art bar because the mintage is high. The mintage number for this particular bar is 5,100 according to the 2009 silver art bar price guide that was published by Archie Kidd.

When I started collecting silver art bars in 2008, I stated that I would never pay a hefty premium for a silver art bar on ebay. Back then, there were GreatHouse and other rare silver art bars on ebay that I liked very much but at that time, I was not willing to pay the ebay BIN price and when I occasionally made an attempt to bid on one of these bars, I always got outbid on these silver art bars. When I started out collecting silver art bars, I did not have any Archie Kidd silver art bar price guides and I did not know very much about GreatHouse silver art bars except that I like them very much and I could not find one locally. When I purchased the 4th edition of the Archie Kidd silver art bar price guide, I read about the various GreatHouse silver art bars that were minted throughout the late '70's and early '80's and I quickly found that all of them had very low mintages. Some of them had mintages of less than 100. When I found this out, then it made sense to me as to why I could never find one locally at any of the local coin dealers (or coin shows) in my area and why they were selling for a large premium (4X to 5X spot silver) on ebay. I adjusted to that reality and I started bidding on rare silver art bars on ebay.

There are probably a lot of people that may not like ebay for one reason or the other but one good thing that I can say about ebay is that makes it possible for me to find and to have the opportunity to bid on rare silver art bars such as GreatHouse. Without ebay, I would probably have never found this Popeye silver art bar locally at a local dealer or at a coin show. I still try to aim to pay .999 generic silver premiums for rare silver art bars such as this but it does not always work out that way. There is always a chance that I could get lucky enough to find a GreatHouse Productions silver art bar at a local dealer for a .999 generic silver premium but that is a very slim (if any) chance of that happening. I am not scared of paying the collectors premium (within reason) for a GreatHouse art bar on ebay. Whenever I am able (within financial limitations), then I am willing to do so again if I see another rare silver art bar on ebay that is on my silver art bar wish list that I want to add to my silver art bar collection.

I apologize for the long post but I had a lot to say.

 

For the past 2-3 weeks, I have been writing in a journal about my experiences and observations as a silver art bar collector. I have been remembering and writing down what I still remember about past certain silver art bar finds. I also write down my thoughts and observations about local and ebay silver art bar price observations, people that I meet (online and offline), and other things relating to the silver art bar hobby. My silver art bar journal is simply a Notepad text file that contains the "scattered" thoughts of a silver art bar collector. Each time that I have an observation, a significant silver art bar find, or any other event that pertains to silver art bar collecting, I will write a journal entry on that day to express that particular thought or observation. I started this silver art bar journal a month ago but I have been writing a lot of journal entries in it lately.

I enjoy writing in my silver art bar journal that I created and I am surprised at myself that I have not done this earlier than now. While I have this silver art bar thread to occasionally post silver art bar pics on and to talk about a specific silver art bar, my silver art bar journal is much more in depth about my thoughts, experiences, meeting other silver art bar collectors, my out-of-town travels to different coin shows to search for art bars, and my deeper thoughts about particular silver art bars that I bought. In other words, I put more effort in my silver art bar journal writings than I do on this silver art bar thread on Cointalk.

For me, it is not just about buying the silver art bar and putting it away, it is a lot more than that for me. My silver art bar hobby has changed me as a person. It has changed me in that 1.) I travel more to different out-of-town coin shows, 2.) I meet other silver art bar collectors (online and offline), and 3.) I am doing more reading (silver art bar books) and writing more about my hobby (via my silver art bar journal). I love what I do and almost 3 years later, my love for this silver art bar hobby is as strong as ever.

 

Hi All,
Thank you for all the helpful information. I just listed a number of bars that I collected in the '70's. I thought that I would (after listing them for sale on e-bay) research some of the bars. This forum has been a great asset. Now, I am re-thinking my idea of selling the bars. I am getting hooked on the history and beauty of the bars again.
I have a Siamese Cat by the Bluegrass mint for sale but I don't know the mintage. Does anybody out there know how many were produced?
Also, I think I might start collecting again (I've been bitten by the bug), Is there a good reference book available? Again, remember I haven't collected since the mid-seventies.
Thank you,

Heddenlaw

 

Hi Heddenlaw,

I've attached the page from Archie Kidd's 'An indexed guidebook of Silver Art Bars Vol V' concerning the Bleugrass Mint.

This Mint was owned by Archie Kidd Himself, and he issued these bars.

Your 'Siamese Cat' had an ultra low mintage of 150 bars !

Hope this helps.

 

Hi orpheus72,
Thank you for the rapid reply. Yes, that is a big help. Is "An indexed guidebook of Silver Art Bars" a good place to start for me to get back into art bar collecting? Do you know if volume 5 is the most recent volume?
Thanks again!!

 

Heddenlaw,

For me, the 'indexed guide book of silver art bars' is the 'the bible' for collecting silver art bars.

The Fifth edition is the last 'complete' volume. the sixth edition is newer, but has only additions to volume five (forgotten bars, and bars issued after 1988).

 

Here is my latest silver find for the week. I bought this today from a coin shop......................................







It is a "Sir Winston Churchill" 1-oz silver art bar. It was minted by Silver Creations in 1972. I paid a total price of $38.91 for it today (spot silver was $34.32/oz at that time). It appears to be the "Low Date" version but I might be wrong on this and there is no serial # stamped anywhere on this silver art bar.

 

where do i find silver art bars in the Netherlands and Belgium

I'm a Dutchie


Dick

 

Dirk,

Finding these bars in Belgium/Netherlands is not that obvious.
I obtain my bars through friends/collectors in the USA, and sometimes you can find 'reasonable priced' ones on ebay.

Geert.

 

Oké Geert, i buy almost exclusively on ebay

thanks for your reaction

spreek je Nederlands of Frans

do you speek Dutch or France

Dick

 

Dick,

I speak both dutch and french
You can email my through my site if you want to contact me.

Geert.