I didn't know where to put this topic, so, mods, if this is in the wrong forum feel free to move it. I was wondering if anyone knew if you can tell when a silver bar was made by looking at its serial number? I bought a Engelhard bar on ebay yesterday, and its supposedly from the '70's, but I want to make sure its not a fake. Or maybe someone knows when they stopped using the pouring method?
I don't own any 1000 ounce silver bars at this time, so treat this as hearsay. I've read that the serial numbers are reused and are not necessarily unique to each bar, so I don't think you could determine the date from them. If you contacted Engelhard's public relations or investor relations department, they might be able to help you. For future reference, Ebay probably isn't a good place to buy bars because they are not eligible for deposit with Comex without assay. Also, a 1000 ounce bar is approximately 1000 ounces but may be slightly more or less, so it's difficult to calculate a price. Various companies will sell bars already deposited with Comex. You can store them there or take delivery. One such company that comes to mind is Fidelitrade.
As a general rule, if a bar of bullion has a recognized company's named on it like Engelhard, then the bar is legit. It doesn't matter when it was made. But some of the older bars - I'm talking about those not cast in the 20th or 21st centuries - do have numismatic value, just like coins. So for those, yes it does matter. And yes they are counterfeited. But if you want to be confident in what you are buying - then only buy bars from trusted bullion dealers - there are many of them - and forget about ebay for buying bullion bars. You'll get a better price at the dealer anyway.
