My favorite 1970's silver art bar "finds"

Every once in a while GIM will open its registration but you will have to keep lurking on GIM to see when registration will open up. Do not give up on GIM yet.

The 4th edition of Archie Kidd's Silver art bar book price guide also shows the mintage of 250 for each bar of the American Wildlife 50-bar set series. If you have a 5th edition of Archie Kidd's Silver Bar Price Guide book, then that edition might have the correct mintage numbers.

I am going to venture a wild guess here but maybe the mintage was 10,000 since that would see to be consistent with the other major Hamilton Mint bar set mintage numbers. I do not have the 5th edition silver art bar price guide but it is possible that the correct mintage number is in that 5th edition silver art bar price guide. If the 5th edition has the mintage number of 10,000 in it then that should explain the serial number of 0817 on your silver art bar set. If someone has a 5th edition Archie Kidd's Silver Art Bar price guide, then feel free to correct me on this if I am wrong on this.

BTW: Congrats on your Hamilton Mint American Wildlife purchase. :smile

 

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Here is a nice art bar I recently got, Sharps Carbine. Sorry for poor photo I had to try and kick my daughter off of desk so I could take a fast pic and upload. There are no markings on the sides, and the back says one ounce of pure silver. I wonder how many different weapons were in this series, I would think it would be a nice series to have.



Art bars are cool, Its too bad that they are not as popular as they were in the 70's. I wonder why the concept has died out somewhat?

 

The Eagle has landed..........







It is a 1-oz Silver "Bald Eagle" silver art bar. It was minted by The Silver Mint in 1974. This bar is part of The National Audubon Collection and according to the 4th edition of the Archie Kidd Silver Art Bar price guide, the mintage number for this particular silver art bar is 5,000. I bought it at a coin show today and I paid $18.00 for it (spot silver closed at $17.37 yesterday).

You cannot tell from the first picture but there is toning on the bottom part on the front of this art bar. Serial # 1044.

 

Hey 1970 Silver Art...are you the same person as OJWjr over at GIM. By the way I had to splurge on the 5th edition and the new price guide. Had a few unwanted items wich i sold to buy the books. Plus i got the 6th edition to complete the series

 

That is correct. I am OutlawJoseyWalesJr over at GIM. I have been a member here since May 2009 but I do not post on here nearly as often as I post on GIM. Even though I do not post on Coin Talk as much, I still like Coin Talk since I am a collector.

That is good that you were able to get the 5th edition of the silver art bar price guide. Those are very hard to find and ebay seems to be the only place that you have a slim chance of finding one.

 

Yes I moved mine into airtites. A few oddballs don't fit. Good to see this thread again.

 

Ahh ok...well the book did cost me a pretty penny but I offset the purchase by selling some unwanted items, besides in the event i am to sell the book it should have some resale value. I heard 7th edition is coming out later this year which will include all the info from 5th and 6th.

 

The reason for the 2 types of Os is they are limited to 2500, so the first o is not needed and pre-stamped. - Oxxxx.

 

I would venture a guess that when the ASE came out in 1986 a lot of the money formerly spent on art bars now went into new silver eagles.

 

The SAB market is very small but those bars that did survive command hefty premiums. Even if you do not intend to collect SABs you can make much more money by buying the generic 1 oz bars that many online dealers sell, which often turn out to be 70's bars. Often times they are priced at bullion as opposed to collectibles. I recently received a batch of "generic" bars (at only $.99 over spot) and ended up with 2- 1 oz Credit Suisse bars which normally sell for about $40-50 each.

Many of the other bars i received can easily command many times over spot as compared to other known refiners. The tough part is that when it comes to sell in order to get the most money out of them you have to sell them in singles on Ebay so it can get a bit tedious.

I think im hooked on SABs now which sucks because i did not want to mix collecting with investing. I guess when it comes time to sell i will have to make a decision on what is best as investment. For now i guess you can say im enjoying the best of both worlds

 

I also have the 5 Edition and 6 Edition Vol 2, I've never seen Vol1... Kinda like to pick it up and see whats in it...

I have found alot of stuff that not in the 6th Edition that is in the 5th...


Where did you get info on the 7th thats comming out???

I'd like to pick one or two of those up, when they come out...

I like picking them up in 2 or 3s, One to use, one to collect and one to sell...

I had two of the 5th editions, but I sold one for 200...

 

LOL, I asked the same things a few weeks ago or whenever this thread 1st started... Seems there are a few of us...

:thumb:

 

I got the information on 7th edition from GIM member orpheus72. From what i understood it is supposed to have everything from 5th edition and 6th edition all in one. Basically 1969-present

The 5th edition is Vol. 1 while 6th edition is Vol. 2 I dont think there is any difference between the 1991 5th edition and the reprint 2008 5th edition other than color pictures on the newer version.

I also bought the new price guide and Im interested in seeing what their new standard is for pricing these bars. I think the previous rarity values were off, way off IMO

 

I appreciate this thread!.

I too like art bars and rounds.

I wish I could take photos of my Renaissance art metals.

Question: Is there an easy way to determine if my Franklin Mint Binder is free of the bad stuff? Not Mylar, but the other bad plastic.

 

My trip to my local coin dealer yesterday (March 20) was an epic success because I have found the "perfect" '70's SAB pocket piece to carry around with me when I feel the urge to carry it. With this '70's SAB, I will never go broke.......................





It is a 1-oz 1973 Mother-Lode Mint "Keep Me and Never Go Broke" (MLM-11) silver art bar. I bought it from my local coin dealer and I paid $18.50 for it (spot silver was $16.96/oz at the close of business Friday, March 19, 2010). This art bar has toning on the front and the back of the bar and there are a few small dings on the bar. This silver art bar has seen some rough times.

With this silver art bar in my pocket, I will NEVER go broke.

 

Sweet Find!!! Man, you had some pretty nice scores latley...

 

No doubt about that...i recently received 5 mixed 1 oz silver bars from Provident and two of them were Coors Lights 1 oz bars, both of them with different reverses.

One of them says Sunshine Mining Company and the other one says 1987 SBC

 

Hey all...I came across a Silver Bars Collectors Guide from 1973-1974

It seems to me like it is perhaps the 1st book ever released on the topic of silver bars. I just bought it for an astounding $6.00 plus $2.75 shipping. It may not be the definitive guide on bars but it is certainly IMO a very rare book on the subject.

Id be interested in finding out more on the background of this book. I always thought Archie Kidds books came out first but it seems like this book came out before.

Can somebody shed some light on this book. I cannot seem to find any info on the internet, not even info about the author or publication company

This is the details from the book:

1973-1974 First Edition
Collector's Guide To Silver Bars
By: W. K. Wilson
*Listing One Ounce Silver Bars
*Related Prices
*Fully Illustrated
*Values
80 pages, soft bound book.

 

Norman Rockwell "Four Freedoms" Set

I have a matched four piece set of art bars -- the Norman Rockwell Four Freedoms Series. They are 24kt gold plated and 1000 grains each. Original frame and paperwork from the Hamilton Mint. These worth anything over spot in the real world (not price guide)? Where is the best place to sell them (E-bay seems like too much trouble and expense)? They have some spotting--should I leave them alone? Thanks!

 

Nice