Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="kaparthy, post: 24543, member: 57463"]Completing a set is the hallmark of a real collector.  Many people just accumulate, just "buy whatever I like" and so on.  That, too, is fine.  This is a hobby, not a contest.  Even so, completion of a set is what a collecting hobby is all about.  Congratulations. The price on an auction site is not always the best price for something like this.  If you establish a relationship with a local dealer, you will save that seller and yourself the hassles and expenses of shipping and waiting for checks to clear, etc.  Not all private bars are created equal.  Engelhard is a mulitnational chemicals firm.  Also, I have seen more than a few fake Engelhard bars over the years, so you have to be careful.  Silvertowne is well-known for its long series of Americana, Christmas, etc.  There are other private mints.  Once you get out of that narrow circle you don't know what you are buying.  For one thing, I ask to have bars and rounds weighed.  The rounds and bars of better companies will often weigh more than 31.1 grams and I never buy a "one ounce" bar that weighs under 1 troy ounce. I do have a few of the other kinds of bars and rounds.  I call them "celebrations."  The ones I like come from Banks, Stock Brokers, and other financial entities that had these bars made for themselves to be distributed to employees, customers, etc.[/QUOTE]