Silver Art Bar Porn

[1970 Silver Art]

Some people know me as a collector of silver art bars. Collecting 1-oz silver art bars, especially '70's silver art bars, is my main hobby and I love what I do. This thread will have some of the silver art bars that I like to collect. I will occasionally add a silver art bar that I currently have in my collection to this thread. Any future silver art bar purchases that I make, I will also select a few to add to this thread.

I have been seriously collecting silver art bars since August 2008 and this is one of the first silver art bars that got me into collecting silver art bars............

The following picture is of a 1-oz "The General" silver art bar. This art bar was minted in 1972 by the Madison Mint. This is the "error" version of the "General" silver art bar. The reverse side of this silver art bar is blank. I bought this art bar in August 2008 at a coin show in North Georgia. I live in TN but I am close enough to GA that I can make a short drive over the state border. I paid $17.00 for this art bar when spot silver was $13.59/oz. At the time, ebay had them for over $20 plus shipping.

[1970 Silver Art]

One of my favorite '70's silver art bars ('70's SAB) is this one........

A 1-oz "Wild Turkey" silver art bar. It was minted in 1973 by the Justice Mint. I bought this silver art bar from my local dealer in February 2009 and I paid $15.25 for it (spot silver was $12.83 at the time of purchase).

[1970 Silver Art]

The following picture 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 time). 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 but it has survived the "Big Melt" of the late '70's/early '80's. This is my perfect pocket piece.

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

[1970 Silver Art]

This is a 1-oz Coca-Cola - Shelbyville, KY silver art bar (WWM-60). It was minted by the World Wide Mint in 1976. Serial # 000668. It is part of the Coca-Cola 75th Anniversary set. I bought it last month at my local coin dealer and I paid $25.00 for it (spot silver closed at $16.56/oz at that time). $25.00 for a Coke silver art bar is not too bad considering that Coke silver bars usually sell on ebay for much more than $25.00.

[1970 Silver Art]

For this 1-oz Coca-Cola - Shelbyville silver art bar (WWM-60), the weight and purity are stamped on one edge of the bar and the serial # (serial # 000668) is stamped on the other edge of the bar as shown in the following pictures.

[1970 Silver Art]

One of my favorite '70's silver art bars ('70's SAB) is this one........

A 1-oz "Wild Turkey" silver art bar. It was minted in 1973 by the Justice Mint. I bought this silver art bar from my local dealer in February 2009 and I paid $15.25 for it (spot silver was $12.83 at the time of purchase).



I REALLY like that Wild Turkey bar, do those become available on the open market very often?


Sometimes. It just depends on where you look. '70's silver art bars are hard to find locally but when you can find one locally, you can usually get it as a price that most local coin dealers usually price their .999 generic silver at. You can also find a few 1973 Justice Mint "Wild Turkey" silver art bars on ebay but they usually go for well over $20 on ebay and with spot at $18, I would not be surprised to see one of those "Wild Turkey" art bars go for close to $30 on ebay.

[1970 Silver Art]

A Bald Eagle always looks good in silver...........

The following is a picture of 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 and I paid $18.00 for it (spot silver closed at $17.37). There is some toning on the bottom part of the silver art bar. This bar does have a serial number and the serial number is #1044 and it is located on the top edge of this art bar.

[1970 Silver Art]

Silver is a DOG and here is why...............

The picture below is a picture of a 1-oz "German Shepherd" silver art bar (JM-16). It was minted in 1973 by the Justice Mint. The mintage number is 5000 according to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's silver art bar price guide. I bought this silver art bar on ebay in July 2009 and I paid $17.81 for it (spot silver was $13.25/oz at that time).

[Trinity]

I have these beautiful currier and Ives Silver bars that my aunt gave me.. Twelve in all.

I will take a digitized picture one day to show. They are very nicely done bars.
Here is an example of a few from e-bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110457804163&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WVF%3F&GUID=e4c348721270a0aad3126f32fea7f419&itemid=110457804163&ff4=263602_263622

[aybesee123]

Almost 70's...

[aybesee123]

continued

[aybesee123]

last..

[aybesee123]

Some 70's. I had to swim to the bottom of the ocean for this so I hope you enjoy...

[aybesee123]

.....

[aybesee123]

.....

[aybesee123]

......

[aybesee123]

..........

[aybesee123]

.....

[aybesee123]

........

[aybesee123]

......

[1970 Silver Art]

This is a picture of a 1-oz "Lookout Mountain - Chattanooga, Tenn." silver art bar (WWM-1). It was minted in 1974 by the World Wide Mint. I bought it on August 2009 at a coin show for $16.00 (spot silver was $14.15/oz at the time). This bar has toning on the front and the back. In the second picture, on the bottom of the reverse side of the silver art bar it says "Wright-Cin. O.". I am not exactly sure what that means.

[conan]

from the 60's

I bought this .999 silver 1.6 troy ounce coin in april 06 for $18.26 pp on ebay

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz63/abc11239v/COBALTONTARIO0999SILVERROUND196316t.jpg

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz63/abc11239v/COBALTONTARIO0999SILVERROUND1963-1.jpg

[conan]

from my files..

I bought this 1 oz bar in October 2003 for $12.49 pp (postage paid)

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz63/abc11239v/1oz1249pp9-03.jpg

[1970 Silver Art]

The following picture is a 1-oz "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" silver art bar (SWISS-6). This silver art bar was minted in Switzerland in 1973. I bought it last week from my local dealer and I paid $19.50 for it (spot silver closed at $17.90 on the day of purchase). The mintage number is 5,000 according to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's book called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars". The second picture is the reverse side of the 1-oz "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" silver art bar.

[RodzM]

And i finally have both regular and error versions of The General

[1970 Silver Art]

A 1-oz "Concord SST" silver art bar (HAM-667). It was minted by the Hamilton Mint in 1976 and it is part of a 50-bar series called "World of Flight". I bought this silver art bar from my local dealer in January 2010 and I paid $18.50 for it (spot silver was $16.97/oz on the day of purchase). Serial # 0191 (not shown) is on the top edge of this bar.

[1970 Silver Art]

A 1-oz "Publishing of Common Sense" silver art bar (TCM-21). Minted in 1975 by the Columbia Mint. I bought this art bar at a coin show that I attended on March 2010 and I paid $18.00 for it (spot silver was $17.37/oz at the time).

[1970 Silver Art]

This is a 1-oz "Kitty Hawk" silver art bar (USSC-102). It was minted by the United States Silver Corporation (USSC) in 1973. I bought this bar today at a coin show and I paid $20 for this art bar (spot silver finished at $17.70/oz).

[1970 Silver Art]

This is a 1-oz "Kentucky Pistol Cal67 CA1776" silver art bar (BM-8). It was minted by the Belford Mint in 1973. I bought this bar today at a coin show and I paid $20 for this art bar (spot silver finished at $17.70/oz).

[1970 Silver Art]

This is a 1-oz "Women's Lib - 1973" silver art bar (CEM-52). It was minted in 1973 by the Ceeco Mint. I bought this silver art bar yesterday at a coin show and I paid $19.00 for it (spot silver was $17.70/oz at the time).

[1970 Silver Art]

A 1-oz "Leonardo DA Vinci" silver art bar (USSC-101). It was minted by the United States Silver Corporation (USSC) in 1974. There were 7,500 of these art bars minted according to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's book called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars". I bought this art bar on Friday (April 16) at a coin show and I paid $20.00 for it (spot silver closed at $17.70/oz at the time).

[jedemdasseine]

Great pics! :)

[1970 Silver Art]

The following is a 1-oz "1913 V Nickel" silver art bar (WWM-53). It was minted by the World Wide Mint in 1974. There were 10,000 of these art bars minted according to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's book called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars". This silver art bar weighs slightly over 1 troy oz (1.01 troy oz on my digital scale) and there is toning on both the front and reverse side of this art bar. I bought this art bar at a coin show last week and I paid $19.00 for it (spot silver was $17.70/oz at that time).

[Rebel Yarr]

OJW - I bet you know this .... what year were the "Coors Light Silver Bullet" bars made in? I just scored a few 10 oz bars made by Sunshine...pretty schweet.

[1970 Silver Art]

OJW - I bet you know this .... what year were the "Coors Light Silver Bullet" bars made in? I just scored a few 10 oz bars made by Sunshine...pretty schweet.


I have seen those Coors Light Silver Bullet bars in the past, mainly on ebay. There is a 1-oz version of the Coors Light Silver Bullet bar. According to the 4th edition Archie Kidd guide book called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars", The 1-oz version of the Coors Light Silver Bullet silver bar was minted in 1985. The 10-oz version of the Coors Light silver bullet bar was more than likely also minted in 1985.

[Rebel Yarr]

jpg[/img]

[1970 Silver Art]

Thanks for posting it. I like the way it looks. You do not have to delete it RebelYarr. I do not mind. Actually you should go ahead and leave it up Rebel because this thread does not have to be limited to '70's silver art bars.

Contrary to popular belief, I also collect silver art bars that were minted in the '80's and '90 and a few modern year mints but I do not have many of them in my collection. Most of my silver art bar collection consists of silver art bars that were minted in the decade of the '70's.

I like to concentrate on the '70's silver art bars because there were many different '70's silver art bars that were minted by many various small private mints and I like some of the themes that were created back in the '70's.

EDIT: I like your new avatar Rebel. 8)

[1970 Silver Art]

This silver art bar is "Boating Accident-Proof" ;D.....................

It is a 1-oz "Old Ironsides" silver art bar (MAD-10V1). It was minted by the Madison Mint in 1972. I bought this art bar last Saturday (May 1) at a coin show and I paid $20 for it (spot silver was $18.64/oz at that time).

[Anothercoilgun]

Sorry I have not porn of good old silver to show. But I will tell you this thread is why I came here. Show me the silver.

[1970 silver art]

Here are some '70's silver art bars that I bought while I was "away" from GSUS..................

A 1-oz "Coca-Cola-Birmingham" silver art bar (WWM-74).

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/BirminghamCokeFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/BirminghamCokeBack.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/BirminghamCokeSidePart1.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/BirminghamCokeSidePart2.jpg

It was minted by the World Wide Mint in 1977 and it is part of the Coca-Cola 75th Anniversary ingot set. I won this silver art bar on ebay Sunday (June 13). The ebay transaction was smooth and uneventful and I received it in the mail fairly quickly after I won the ebay auction. I paid a total of $29.99 for it (spot was $18.22/oz at the time). There was a mintage of 12,000 of these silver bars according to the second edition of Thomas A Mock's guide book called "Coca-Cola Bottler's 75th Anniversary Ingot and Round Guide Book 1975-1988".

----------------------------

A 1-oz "Coca-Cola-Houston" silver art bar (WWM-71)

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/HoustonCokeFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/HoustonCokeBack.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/HoustonCokeSidePart1.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/HoustonCokeSidePart2.jpg

It was minted by the World Wide Mint in 1977 and it is part of the Coca-Cola 75th Anniversary ingot set. I won this silver art bar on ebay last Thursday (July 8, 2010) and I just received it in the mail today. The ebay seller shipped this art bar very quickly and the overall ebay transaction was smooth and uneventful. I paid a total price of $30.59 ($26.59 winning bid + $4.00 shipping cost) for it (spot was $17.96/oz at the time). The price that I paid for this art bar is a fair price on ebay in my opinion. I did not expect to win this particular bar on ebay because I have seen this particular bar go for between $40-$45 on ebay in the past. Like most Coca-Cola silver art bars, this one was hard to find locally at my local dealers and at coin shows. I guess I got lucky to get it at the price that I did. My rule of thumb when it comes to bidding on Coca-Cola silver art bars on ebay is that I do not want to pay more than $31 for a Coke bar on ebay. I set my max. bid to $31 and that factors in shipping costs. This is for Coke bars only. For any other silver art bar that I bid on ebay, I will set my max. bid to $4 over spot and that max. bid factors in shipping costs.

EDIT (3-2-2011): Sold "Headless Horseman" silver art bar on 2-21-2011.

[silverchris]

Hi Silver Art, good to see your back, might give me a reason to post some more around here,

[gunDriller]

i'm thinking about giving up DSL to save money.

where will i get my fix of Art Bar pics ?

http://gold-silver.us/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=292.0;attach=670;i mage

i like this one, i don't know why.

[mamboni]

This one is my favorate:

[Half Sense]

Lots of great-looking bars in this thread. I've been adding some from United States Silver Corporation.

[RodzM]

Been away for a while but i just got one bar that although it was a bit pricey. $40 to be exact, it tops off all other bars i have when it comes to rarity and coolness factor

Behold a 1969 poured 1 oz bar made by the Foster Company. This is perhaps one of the earliest silver art bars out there. Very few have survived IMO and for $40 is well worth it. Im not sure how much more they sell for and if they do sell for more but the rarity value on the Silver Art Guide puts it at a R-4 or $10-20 over spot
I dont have much info other than the maker and year but my guess is that the silver came from Comstock Mines in Nevada

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/RODZM/P1010497.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/RODZM/P1010496.jpg

[1970 silver art]

Been away for a while but i just got one bar that although it was a bit pricey. $40 to be exact, it tops off all other bars i have when it comes to rarity and coolness factor

Behold a 1969 poured 1 oz bar made by the Foster Company. This is perhaps one of the earliest silver art bars out there. Very few have survived IMO and for $40 is well worth it. Im not sure how much more they sell for and if they do sell for more but the rarity value on the Silver Art Guide puts it at a R-4 or $10-20 over spot
I dont have much info other than the maker and year but my guess is that the silver came from Comstock Mines in Nevada

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/RODZM/P1010497.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/RODZM/P1010496.jpg



That is a very interesting silver art bar find Rodzm. I think that this is the first time that I have seen this bar anywhere. Generally speaking, I do not think that silver art bars will sell for more than price guide but there might be exceptions to that rule. This silver art bar could be the exception to the rule. Mintage numbers also play an important part as well as demand for a particular silver art bar. IMO silver art bars with a mintage of 1000 or less are going to be very hard to find and these are the silver art bars that you are not going to see on ebay very much. If they appear on ebay, then the ebay market place will bid them accordingly. I also think that silver art bars from GreatHouse, Green Country, and The Mint also can sell for much more than price guide prices.

[RodzM]

I was actually very lucky to have someone on another forum sell me one. He had 6 of them and i believe he told me he paid $55 for each 1 oz bar. I cant find any SABs minted before 1969 so these may very well be one of the earliest art bars that were mass marketed. Foster Company was responsible for making the Octagon Silver Rounds that rarely appear on Ebay, also made in 1969

I agree with the Greathouse bars....they are very expensive

[1970 silver art]

I was actually very lucky to have someone on another forum sell me one. He had 6 of them and i believe he told me he paid $55 for each 1 oz bar. I cant find any SABs minted before 1969 so these may very well be one of the earliest art bars that were mass marketed. Foster Company was responsible for making the Octagon Silver Rounds that rarely appear on Ebay, also made in 1969

I agree with the Greathouse bars....they are very expensive


I have not seen an Octagon silver art round from Foster Company but I think that I have seen an Octagon Silver art round on ebay before but I think that it was minted by the Lombardo Mint in either 1973 or 1974. I am not exactly sure of the mint year that the Lombardo Mint Octagon silver art round was minted in but I it was a 200th Bicentennial theme. I have seen those sell for $40-$55 on ebay in the past but I do not see many of those on ebay.

As for the Greathouse art bars, I am going to try to find one locally at a coin show or at my local coin dealer for a low premium over spot silver. The GreatHouse mint bars are on my silver art bar "wish list", however, the chances are very slim of finding one locally for a .999 generic silver premium because a lot of those GreatHouse Mint silver art bars have mintages between 50 and 275. I will not give up on finding a GreatHouse Mint silver art bar locally. I am not going to pay the $150-$200 BIN price for a 1-oz '70's GreatHouse Mint silver art bar on ebay. I guess I am a cheap '70's silver art bar collector.

[wvojak]

from my files..

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz63/abc11239v/1oz1249pp9-03.jpg


I bought this 1 oz bar in October 2003 for $12.49 pp (postage paid)


A bar that lives up to the title of this thread!!!! ;D

[gunDriller]

from my files..

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz63/abc11239v/1oz1249pp9-03.jpg


I bought this 1 oz bar in October 2003 for $12.49 pp (postage paid)

A bar that lives up to the title of this thread!!!! ;D


which makes me wonder - has there ever been a racier silver bar ?

since this is a family website i won't be too specific. just something a little more X-rated.

[1970 silver art]

from my files..

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz63/abc11239v/1oz1249pp9-03.jpg


I bought this 1 oz bar in October 2003 for $12.49 pp (postage paid)

A bar that lives up to the title of this thread!!!! ;D


which makes me wonder - has there ever been a racier silver bar ?

since this is a family website i won't be too specific. just something a little more X-rated.


There were some racier silver art bars that were minted. The first set of silver art bars that come to mind for me are the "Crown Mint Beauties" series. The "Crown Mint Beauties" series is a 12-bar set that was minted in 1983 and 1984 by the Crown Mint. The "Crown Mint Beauties" series has a picture of a naked woman for each month of the year. Since there are 12 months in a year, then you have 12 different nude silver art bars for each of those 12 months. The mintage number for each bar in this series is 5000 according to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's guide book called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars".

I actually saw a complete set of these silver art bars at a coin show that I went to last year. One of the dealers at the coin show that I went to last year had the complete "Crown Mint Beauties" set. They were not on sale since it was part of his personal silver art bar collection. He just wanted to show them to certain people.

There was also another nude ladies series called "Crown Mint Holiday Beauties". I think that this set also had 12 silver art bars in it. It was minted in 1984 and 1985. The bars in this series has a naked woman that represents the holidays of the year such as New Years, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. This series also had a mintage of 5000 for each art bar in that set according to the price guide. I have never seen those locally at a coin show or at a local dealer.

Both of these series sell at a high premium over spot on ebay.

[Carbon]

I'm not an Art Bar collector - but I'm a sucker for toning. Anyhow, I just got a decent deal on these on eBay:

http://i37.tinypic.com/inygwp.jpg

I paid 199.50 shipped for the set (spot is currently 18.39).

I saw 1970 silver art has a post about them on Cointalk (http://www.cointalk.com/t54946/) - now I guess I'll have to keep an eye out for the other 40 designs in the series.

[gunDriller]

I paid 199.50 shipped for the set (spot is currently 18.39).


very nice !

i like the nature scenes. look almost Normal Rockwell ish.

[gunDriller]

Art Bar's name is a different color.

does that mean Art Bar un-joined ?

if so, come on back Art Bar !

[1970 silver art]

Art Bar's name is a different color.

does that mean Art Bar un-joined ?

if so, come on back Art Bar !


Gundriller,

I came back to GSUS on July 12. I plan on staying with GSUS this time around but I do not plan to post as much. The posts on this thread with my name in black were posts that I wrote while I was on GSUS from April 3 to May 28.

[Half Sense]

Somebody got a good deal on a complete set of the Fifty States by the Hamilton Mint. Less then $20 per oz shipped, and all have the same serial #.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320576973338

[1970 silver art]

Hmmmm.......Let's see here.........

1.) The "mule" silver art bar was minted by the Mount Everest Mint in 1974. Mintage of 887.

2.) The "Buffalo" silver art bar is a Madison Mint bar that was minted in 1972

3.) The "Secretariat" bar and the "Women's Liberation" bar were both minted in 1973 by the United States Silver Corporation (USSC)

4.) The "America's Heros" bar was minted by the Mother Lode Mint in 1973. A majority of Mother Lode mint bars were minted in 1973.

5.) The "Signing of the Declaration of Independence" bar was minted by the United States Coinage in 1973. Mintage of 5000.


Most of the above silver art bars would probably sell for between $3 to $8 over spot on ebay. That is a rough estimate since I have seen a few of the above mentioned silver art bars on ebay. The "Mule" might possibly sell for more than that based on the low mintage of 887 but I am not sure what premium that the "Mule" silver art bar will sell for because I have not tracked an ebay auction for that particular silver art bar.

The reverse types are the common reverse types for the above mentioned silver art bars. There are some USSC minted silver art bars that also have a serial number that is located on the bottom under the ".999+ Fine" of the reverse side of a USSC silver art bar. The USSC silver art bars with the serial number on them will be animal theme type silver art bars.

[1970 silver art]

I have seen them before at the local coin shop but I do not know what private mint produced any of those 3 rounds pictured. The only thing that I know about the Universario round is that they were also minted in 1973 and 1974. Sorry I was not much help on the silver rounds.

[1970 silver art]

No problem, I found them interesting. Didn't mean to hijack the art bar thread.


Do not worry about it. No harm done. I wish I could have been more help to you on those silver art rounds. I am not nearly as knowledgeable on silver art rounds as I am on silver art bars. Overall, I am still learning about various silver art bars. I am not a silver art bar expert and I consider myself as a student of silver art bar collecting. When other posters post silver art bars on this thread that I have never seen before, then I am also learning.

[1970 silver art]

That is very interesting Hugginator. I do remember seeing an Adam Smith 1/10 oz GSU gold coin on APMEX. This was a long time ago. I have not seen the other gold coinage. This was also the first time that I saw a 1-oz silver GSU round. Thanks for posting this information Hugginator. It is always a good and interesting thing to learn something about the background of a silver art round or a silver art bar.

[1970 silver art]

After work, I went to my local dealer in Georgia to see what silver art bars they had. They had quite a few silver art bars but unfortunately, not very many '70's silver art bars. I did find some more modern year minted silver art bars at the local shop. Here is one that I picked up today for $1.00 over spot..........


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/MarkIVFront.jpg

This is what the reverse side looks like..........

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/MarkIVBack.jpg


It is a 1-oz "1972 Mark IV" silver art bar. It is part of the "Classic Mark Series" but I do not know how many bars are in this series. I paid $21.77 for it (spot silver closed today at $20.77). It is not a '70's silver art bar but I bought this art bar because I liked it and it was priced at a good premium over spot.

Since most of my knowledge and experience has been on collecting '70's silver bars, I am not exactly sure who minted this silver art bar and I am not exactly sure what year this was minted in but I strongly suspect that this art bar was minted by the Silvertowne Mint in either the late '90's or early '00's. The reason that I suspect that this is a modern year minted Silvertowne silver art bar is because:

1.) Silvertowne came out with several car and truck series silver art bars in the late '90's or perhaps early '00's.

2.) A majority of the silver art bars produced in the last 10 to 12 years were from Silvertowne.

This silver art bar would not be in my 4th edition Archie Kidd silver art bar price guide because the 4th edition price guide was published in 1986. It would not be in the 5th edition Archie Kidd silver art bar price guide because it was published in 1991. This art bar would more than likely be in the 6th edition of the Archie Kidd silver art bar price guide but, unfortunately, I currently do not have a 6th edition silver art bar price guide. I plan to get one eventually on ebay but I have not done it yet. I did not find any specific information on the internet about this particular bar. The only reason that I came to the conclusion that it is probably a Silvertowne bar because of my limited experience in looking at several Silvertowne art bars at coin shows and at local coin shops. If anyone knows the exact details of this silver art bar, then please feel free to post that information on this thread.

EDIT (8-6-2011): I sold this bar earlier this year.

[RodzM]

It is indeed a Silvertowne bar. It is in the 6th edition guide as ST-136. Rarity Value shows as being $20
By the way anybody interested in my 1st Edition collector's Guide to Silver bars. Unused and one of the first to be published about the hobby. Original price tag was $2.75 37 years ago. Printed in 1973 by W.K. Wilson

Very rare!!!!!!!

[1970 silver art]

It is indeed a Silvertowne bar. It is in the 6th edition guide as ST-136. Rarity Value shows as being $20
By the way anybody interested in my 1st Edition collector's Guide to Silver bars. Unused and one of the first to be published about the hobby. Original price tag was $2.75 37 years ago. Printed in 1973 by W.K. Wilson

Very rare!!!!!!!


Rodzm, do you know what year that this art bar was minted in? How many bars are in the "Classic Mark Series"? Thanks.

[RodzM]

There are 5 bars total in the series:1940 Coupe, 1956 Mark II, 1968 Mark III, 1972 Mark IV and 1984 Mark VII. No mintage or year but Silvertowne did make a series of cars between 1997 and 2002. Two of the series have no mintage years which are 1999 and 2000, if i go by the order this would be a 2000 series. Its either 1999 or 2000

[Playswithfire]

I really enjoyed seeing everyone's silver art bars. I collect them too. Anyone mind if I post pictures of a few of mine?

[1970 silver art]

I really enjoyed seeing everyone's silver art bars. I collect them too. Anyone mind if I post pictures of a few of mine?


Playswithfire,

You can post pictures of whatever silver art bars you choose from your collection. Feel free to post your silver art bar pics on this thread. It is your choice. I do not mind at all. :)

[Playswithfire]

I really enjoyed seeing everyone's silver art bars. I collect them too. Anyone mind if I post pictures of a few of mine?


Playswithfire,

You can post pictures of whatever silver art bars you choose from your collection. Feel free to post your silver art bar pics on this thread. It is your choice. I do not mind at all. :)



Thank you Silver. I will take some pictures right now and post a few. :)

[Playswithfire]

Okay, first I'll post my two favorites.

Fortuna Pamp Suisse and Pipedreamer. Look closely at Pipedreamers face and forehead. ;)

[Playswithfire]

These are just some random bars I got because I got a good price for them.

[Playswithfire]

It only lets me post 3 at a time. Here is 1 more.

[Playswithfire]

And this is my one and only 10 ouncer. Front and back.

[1970 silver art]

Okay, first I'll post my two favorites.

Fortuna Pamp Suisse and Pipedreamer. Look closely at Pipedreamers face and forehead. ;)




The Pipedreamer was minted by the Belford and Causey Mint in 1973. If the edges of that silver art bar are reeded, then it was minted in 1984 by Doyle's Coin Palace. The face and forehead are the most attractive features of this bar in my opinion. ;D

[1970 silver art]

It only lets me post 3 at a time. Here is 1 more.



The "Thanksgiving 1973" art bar was minted by the Liberty Mint.

BTW. Thanks for posting those silver art bars Playswithfire. Those silver art bars look good to me especially the Pipedreamer art bar. :)

[Dogman]

A local coin shop find today..............

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/82ndBostonFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/82ndBostonBack.jpg

It is a "Pine Tree Schilling" silver art bar (CGSF-5). It was minted by Coin Galleries of San Francisco. I paid $22.50 for it (spot silver closed at $21.46/oz). According to the 4th edition Archie Kidd silver art bar price guide book, this bar had a mintage of 7,500.




Very nice! Tip stay away from water and boats unless it is for avoiding IRS or government critters. And can you swim? Don't answer that! ;D

[1970 silver art]

Today, I went off the beaten path to find this silver art bar.................


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/ChattChooChooFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/ChattChooChooBack.jpg


It is a 1-oz "Centennial Chattanooga Choo-Choo" silver art bar. Minted in 1980 but I do not know what private minted produced it and I do not know how many were minted. The "A0607" stamp is the serial number. The 4th edition of the Archie Kidd book does have it listed but there is no information on it. The 5th edition Archie Kidd silver bar price guide might have some updated information on this art bar.

The reason that I said that this art bar find was off the beaten path is because I bought this silver art bar at a flea market in Tennessee today. I usually do not go to flea markets to find silver art bars but this was an unexpected find for me in what I thought was an unusual place. I usually go to my local coin dealers and to coin shows to find silver art bars. I guess I will start going to flea markets more often now. I paid $24.00 for this bar. (Spot silver finished at $22.09/oz).

I remember seeing this silver art bar on ebay but I do not see it that much there and I spend a lot of time looking at silver art bars on ebay. Within the last year or so, I have seen only 2 regular ebay auctions on this Chattanooga Choo-Choo silver art bar but the last auction that I have seen on this particular art bar was several months ago. The last ebay winning auction price for this bar that I remember seeing was $61.

Of course I love this silver art bar. I feel good finding interesting silver art bars.

EDIT: I just found out from a poster on CoinTalk that there were 1500 of these minted.

EDIT (10-5-2010): A poster from a forum called Collectors Universe posted on 10-2-2010 that this art bar was minted by the Freedom Mint of Philadelphia PA.

[1970 silver art]

Here is what I think is a very interesting article from an online silver art bar bullion store that talks about the silver art bar history and how some of them are priced.

http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/res930cj/id1.html



The Silver Art Bar Story

The silver art bar field is very young compared to other numismatic fields. The decision to remove silver from coinage of the United States in 1964 raised the price of silver, and encouraged hoarders to grab all the silver coins they could get their hands on out of circulation. But there was also a group of investors that wanted to purchase silver in a convenient form to take advantage of future silver price appreciation.

That convienient form was born when a coin dealer in California bought a bunch of 1 oz. silver planchetts, stamped an eagle on them and sold them all over the country, through a mail order campaign. The Foster Company of Walla Walla, Washington sent buying teams all over the United States to buy silver and gold items from the general public. They took out full page ads in local papers all over the country that attracted a tremendous following of folks that traded collectibles, scrap and coins for the 19 1/4 oz. "Eagles Nest" of pure silver. The "Eagle's Nest" was six, pure silver units of different size, totaling 19 1/4 ozs. In those days of long past most bars sold for a dollar or two over the spot price of silver. Initially, thousands of each design were struck because a rare issue was not desired by the marketplace. The first commerative bar struck was done so by Danny B. Crabb. The bar he produced was "Secretariat" in 1973. Other mints began minting limited editions commerating everything imaginable at the time.

Now for the "quirk" that got this whole thing going. In 1979 and on through 1981 the spot price of silver soared (remember the Hunt brothers?). When the price raised so dramatically, many of the common art bars were sold for their original purpose...profit! How many are left for the collector is not certain. It is well known that a great many of them wound up in the melting pot during the great silver sell-off. All of the bars in existence today were or are held by someone that felt they were worth more than the high price of silver, or they would have been sold off for bullion.



The rest of this story is on the following link:

http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/res930cj/id1.html

This link also has a rarity/pricing scale in addition to some other information pertaining to silver art bars.

EDIT: It is an old article but is very informative IMO.

[1970 silver art]

I sold the 1972 Madison Mint "Old Ironsides" silver art bar (see post # 38 of this thread) and 2 other silver art bars + 5 oz's of generic silver. I will use part of the proceeds to buy (if I can find them) some of the rare '70's silver art bars that are on my silver art bar wish list as well as some hobo nickels that I am interested in. I will admit that the Old Ironsides silver art bar purchase was an impulsive purchase that I made earlier this year and with spot at $26, this was a good time to sell some silver art bars that I no longer wanted. I usually do not sell any silver art bars but this was a good for me to get rid of the silver art bars that I no longer wanted. My 1st goal as a silver art bar collector is to find some silver art bars that were minted by Great House Production, Green Country Mint, and The Mint at a decent premium over spot. My 2nd goal as a silver art bar collector is to find some more World Wide Mint Coca-Cola silver art bars.

[gunDriller]

My 1st goal as a silver art bar collector is to find some silver art bars that were minted by Great House Production, Green Country Mint, and The Mint at a decent premium over spot. My 2nd goal as a silver art bar collector is to find some more World Wide Mint Coca-Cola silver art bars.


http://www.collectingsilvercoins.com/1-oz-world-wide-mint-silver-art-bar-coca-cola-nice-bars/

found a pic -

http://www.collectingsilvercoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/-10783702818514290.jpg

[1970 silver art]

My 1st goal as a silver art bar collector is to find some silver art bars that were minted by Great House Production, Green Country Mint, and The Mint at a decent premium over spot. My 2nd goal as a silver art bar collector is to find some more World Wide Mint Coca-Cola silver art bars.


http://www.collectingsilvercoins.com/1-oz-world-wide-mint-silver-art-bar-coca-cola-nice-bars/

found a pic -

http://www.collectingsilvercoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/-10783702818514290.jpg




The Coca-Cola-Cincinnati silver art bar IMO a somewhat common Coca-Cola bar. It has a mintage of 6,000 according to the second editon guidebook called "Coca-Cola Bottler's 75th Anniversary Ingot and Round Guide Book 1975 to 1988". I do see those on a regular basis on ebay and based on the price action that I have seen on ebay, the Coca-Cola-Cincinnati art bar will have a winning bid that is usually between $5-$8 over spot silver. While this art bar is regularly seen on ebay and it is on my silver art bar wish list, I prefer to wait to try to find one locally at one of my local dealers or at a coin show since they tend to be priced at a lower premium over spot than on ebay.

[still afloat]

This thread got me into the purchase of my first Art Bar set , that and my kids sayin ohhhhhh they are so cute , buy them . They are in a box with the cover being like a set of double doors opening from the center .No ideal of production number or age.
The dark area is just a reflection.
Did I do ok at
Spot $24.75 + $1.50 ea.


http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg197/scaled.php?tn=0&server=197&filename=wildlifesilver.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640

[1970 silver art]

Still Aloat,

You did very well to get that Mount Everest Wildlife Tree for $1.50. A set like that on ebay will cost you much more than $1.50 over spot silver. I see individual bars of this set sell on ebay but it is very rare that I see the complete set sell on ebay. Congrats on your first silver art bar purchase set. :)

This set was minted in 1974 and the mintage number for each bar in this 6-bar set is 5000. These art bars have serial numbers on them. The serial number is located at the top of the silver bar. Since it came in the original packaging, then the serial numbers on all 6 bars should match.

[still afloat]

Thanks for the information , yes I just looked and the # matches on them all .
004206

[gunDriller]

This thread got me into the purchase of my first Art Bar set , that and my kids sayin ohhhhhh they are so cute , buy them . They are in a box with the cover being like a set of double doors opening from the center .No ideal of production number or age.
The dark area is just a reflection.
Did I do ok at
Spot $24.75 + $1.50 ea.


hell yeah !

that's one of the nicest art bars i've seen. i'm not an art bar collector yet, but i would have been tempted. $26.25 each ?!

it would make a good Christmas present too.

[still afloat]

Oh + the .06 % sales tax

Looking back I Missed out on several sets before I saw this one and keep kicking myself thinking about the ones that got away.I use to think of art bars as just generic silver ,nothing special but things are a changing.
Kids , gotta love em.

[1970 silver art]

Still Afloat,

I was incorrect on the mintage number for each of the six bars in the Mount Everest Wildlife Tree set. I mentioned in post # 91, that the mintage number for each bar in this set was 5,000. That mintage number is incorrect. The correct mintage number for each art bar in the Wildlife Tree set is 6,300 according to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's book titled "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars". I apologize for giving you the incorrect mintage number in post # 91. :-[ :-[ :-[

[still afloat]

No apology needed , I appreciate the information as well as the follow up information .
Does the guide list a price for the set or the rarity of the bars in the complete set with the original box ? Such as there were 6,300 of each bar made , but only X # of matching serial # bars in a 6 bar set produced out of the 6,300 total of each coin.
As I said I'm new to this so the question may not even make sense .
Thanks.

[1970 silver art]

No apology needed , I appreciate the information as well as the follow up information .
Does the guide list a price for the set or the rarity of the bars in the complete set with the original box ? Such as there were 6,300 of each bar made , but only X # of matching serial # bars in a 6 bar set produced out of the 6,300 total of each coin.
As I said I'm new to this so the question may not even make sense .
Thanks.



The rarity values in the 4th edition Archie Kidd Silver art bar guidebook are outdated, however, Archie Kidd published another silver art bar price guide titled "Price Guide of Silver Art Bars" in 2009 and this silver art bar price guide has the most up-to-date rarity values for this Mount Everest Wildlife Tree silver art bar set. The 2009 guide lists the rarity value for each bar in this set as an R-4. The R-4 in the guidebook means that these bars have a rarity value of $10 to $20 over spot silver. The 6,300 mintage is for each bar in the set. The silver art bar price guide lists mintage numbers for each silver art bar. The guidebook does not give a rarity value for the Wildlife Tree as a whole set and it does not factor in if it was in original packaging.

There is one major point that I want to make on this issue of silver art bar rarity values. The guidebook might say that a silver art bar has a rarity value of X but the ebay marketplace might say that the same silver art bar might have a rarity value of X-1. In other words, each bar in the Wildlife Tree set might be worth $10-$20 over spot silver in the guidebook but the ebay marketplace will value those same individual silver art bars in that set at only $5-$10 over spot silver based on past ebay auctions that I have seen. If this was sold as a complete set with matching serial #'s and original packaging, then it will more than likely fetch a greater premium on ebay.

Generally speaking, silver art bars will sell on ebay for less than what the silver art bar guidebook says that they should sell for. There are a few silver art bars that I have seen that have sold for more than price guide value but those are very hard to find. The reason that I mention ebay because people who sell silver art bars on ebay will get the rarity value from collectors who bid up the silver art bars.

The best way that I have found to buy silver art bars for the lowest premium over spot is to buy them from local dealers and at coin shows because bullion dealers will price silver art bar at .999 generic silver price. Most of the dealers will sell silver art bars for silver content only and that is where you can avoid paying an ebay premium for silver art bars.

[still afloat]

Thanks again. I understand about the price in a book vs the real life price , so far I've never met anyone who wrote a price guide that would pay the amount they put in a book for any item.
Now another question , would the art bars be a good route to take in aquiring silver , I know that the SAEs are more popular .But if I want to stock up on silver would the art bars and art rounds be a good route to take ?
Less mark up over spot it seems and cool / pretty to look at to boot .

[1970 silver art]

Thanks again. I understand about the price in a book vs the real life price , so far I've never met anyone who wrote a price guide that would pay the amount they put in a book for any item.
Now another question , would the art bars be a good route to take in aquiring silver , I know that the SAEs are more popular .But if I want to stock up on silver would the art bars and art rounds be a good route to take ?
Less mark up over spot it seems and cool / pretty to look at to boot .


In my opinion, a definite yes. Then again I am biased because I am a silver art bar collector. ;D You can stack silver art bars. It is really no different than stacking SAE's, Engelhards, JM, and other brand names except for pricing. The rule of thumb here is to pay the lowest premium over spot possible and to do that, it is best to buy them locally from a coin dealer or at a coin show. Since most local dealers treat '70's silver art bars and other silver art bars as .999 generic silver, then you should be able to get them locally for the lowest premium over spot silver compared to SAE's Engelhards' etc.

A lot of the silver art bars that you might see in the local bullion dealers' .999 generic silver bin are common minted bars that are:

1.) Holiday Theme silver art bars (i.e. lots of Merry Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, etc.).

2.) Valentines Day theme (those are quite common).

3.) Mother's Day, Father's Day, Happy Anniversary themes.

4.) Silver art bars minted by Madison Mint, Hamilton Mint, Mother-Lode Mint, and Silvertowne Mint.

With that said, it is possible to find some truly rare '70's silver art bars at a local dealer or at a coin show that are priced at .999 generic silver bullion prices but that is very hard to do because of the low mintages (low mintage meaning 1000 or lower). I had some success earlier this year and last year in being able to find some truly rare '70's silver art bars and pay only generic silver prices ($1 to $2 over spot) for them instead of the ebay premiums of $20-$30 (or more) over spot. There will always be some rare silver art bars (with low mintages of 1000 or lower) that slip through the cracks and end up at a local coin dealers shop for $1 to $2 over spot instead of on ebay for $20-$30 (or more) over spot.

If you buy online from major online dealers such as APMEX or Provident Metals, then you might end up with some silver art bars if you choose to buy from the .999 generic silver bars and rounds section since APMEX and Provident Metals treat most silver art bars as .999 generic silver bullion. As to what silver art bars that you might end up getting when you order from them, it will more than likely be any of the 4 categories mentioned above.

[1970 silver art]

A hit a home run with this silver art bar purchase........................

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/HankAaronFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/HankAaronBack.jpg


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). This is one of my best silver art bar finds of 2010.

[Half Sense]

That's awesome, I haven't seen that one before. I like the USSC bars a lot.

I think art bars are an excellent way to collect silver. It certainly makes it more interesting than just stacking ASEs or Maples. If you can keep the premium to a few $ over spot, there's no reason not to get collectible art bars instead of generic bullion.

[1970 silver art]

That's awesome, I haven't seen that one before. I like the USSC bars a lot.

I think art bars are an excellent way to collect silver. It certainly makes it more interesting than just stacking ASEs or Maples. If you can keep the premium to a few $ over spot, there's no reason not to get collectible art bars instead of generic bullion.


I also think that it is a very interesting way to buy silver. I think that, for the most part, that it will not be a problem to keep the $ premium down if you buy silver art bars at a local dealer or at a coin show. Most of the time, a person can pay anywhere from spot silver price to $2 over spot on a lot of common minted '70's silver art bars and modern minted silver art bars. That, in my opinion, is the best way for a person who is interested in getting starting in collecting silver art bars. With that said, there are rare silver art bars that were minted in the '70's and '80's that are very hard to find today and they are not going to show up at a coin shop for .999 generic silver bullion prices. Those bars will usually never end up at a local coin shop. Most of those rare silver art bars will be on ebay for huge premiums over spot. There are times where very rare silver art bars have "fallen through the cracks" and ended up on a coin dealer's table for $1 over spot and I have been very lucky enough to find several truly rare '70's and '80's silver art bars at local coin shops and at coin shows and even luckier to pay only generic .999 premium instead of an ebay premium for them. I also want to point out that there is nothing wrong with paying an ebay premium for a rare silver art bar that you really love to have in your collection. I have done that and I did not regret it one bit. You should buy the silver art bar that you like.

It is all about obtaining the knowledge to recognize and know which silver art bars are rare and which ones are common. That is a continuous learning process for me and I like learning more about them buy reading my silver art bar price guides. I will admit that I have made mistakes buying silver art bars and I have overpaid on certain silver art bars (intentional and unknowingly). In terms of premium, I have intentionally paid a lot for certain silver art bars because 1.) They are very hard (if not impossible) to find locally for a decent premium over spot and 2.) I love those art bars and I am willing to pay the ebay premium (to an extent) for a rare silver art bar that is on my silver art bar "wish list". However, before I go on ebay and pay a huge premium, I will ALWAYS look locally to see if I can find the silver art bar at a local coin shop or at a coin show.


Based on my 2+ years exprerience of buying silver art bars locally and online, there are four categories that I put silver art bars in and they are:


1.) "Common" silver art bars: These are the silver art bars that you will more than likely find in local bullion dealer shops and coin shows on a regular basis and these bars are usually have a premium of $1 to $2 over spot. Those same common silver art bars that are sold on ebay cost a lot more. Ebay premiums for "common" silver art bars run between $3 to $8 over spot. These are the also the silver art bars that have very high mintage numbers usually between 4000 to 15,000 (or more). Bars that fall into this category are silver art bars that were minted by Hamilton Mint, Madison Mint, SilverTowne, and Mother Lode Mint, and USSC (Holiday, Mother's Day, Father's Day themes only).

2.) "Semi-rare" silver art bars: These are the silver art bars that you will have a harder time finding locally at the bullion dealers or at coin shows but if you find one locally then the bullion dealer will more than likely charge you between $1 to $2 over spot since it is just silver to the local dealer. The mintages numbers usually run bewteen 1000 to 3000 on a majority of them. On ebay, these "semi-rare" silver art bars will have premiums of between $10 to 20 over spot but sometimes you will have to wait for one to show up in a regular auction if you do not want pay the BIN price for one. BIN prices for silver art bars that I consider "semi-rare" are usually priced higher than regular auction style winning bids. There are exceptions to this rule. The bars that fall into this category are USSC (non-Holiday themed) art bars, certain Dealth Valley mint bars, Certain World Wide Mint bars (non-Coca-Cola), and some USSC/Greathouse bars. This category can be subjective and the silver art bar price guide might say differently on that.

3.) "Rare" silver art bars: These are the silver art bars that you rarely see in a local bullion dealer's coin shop, these are also the bars that you will rarily see at local coin shows. The mintage numbers on "true" rare art bars are under 1000 and some of the very rare silver art bars will have mintage numbers of between 50 to 250. While it is not very often that you see a "Rare" silver art bar locally in a coin shop or a coin show, it does happen and if a person can find, for example, a rare GreatHouse silver art bar with a mintage of only 200 and pay only $1 to $ over spot for it, then that a super find in my opinion. Ebay premiums for "Rare" silver art bars can range anywhere from $20 over spot to $200 over spot (or more). There are exceptions to this rule since it also depends on ebay buyer demand and what the price guide says they are worth. Silver art bars that I put in the "Rare" category are bars that were minted by GreatHouse Productions, Green Country Mint and The Mint. This category can also include silver art bars that are "cancelled" versions of certain art bars that were minted in the '70's.

4.) Coca-Cola silver art bars: These 1-oz art bars were minted by the World Wide mint from the mid-70's to the early '80's. I put this as a fourth category because these art bars do not, IMO, always fit the above 3 categories. For example, a Coca-Cola Atlanta bar might sometimes might have a winning bid of $10 over spot despite the fact that the mintage number for this particular Coke bar is 50,000. On ebay, the fact that it is a Coca-Cola bar will automatically sell for a premium that might be above that of a "Common" silver art bar. The ebay premiums are all over the place here ranging from as low as $3 over spot to as high $600+ over spot. The highest ebay winning bid that I have seen on a 1-oz Coca-Cola silver art bar was $752.00. Some of the Common Coca-Cola bars can be found locally at dealers for generic .999 silver premiums but do not expect to even find the common minted Coca-Cola bars on a regular basis. There can be times that very rare Coca-Cola silver art bars can end up on a local dealers .999 generic silver bin for $1 over spot.

These four categories are not etched in stone but this is just a rough guideline for me to get an idea of what price to pay for a silver art bar when I look for a silver art bar on ebay or locally at the coin shops and coin shows.

Buying silver art bars are IMO a lot more interesting than buying SAE's Engehards, JM, etc. because there are many themes that will attract a lot of people. I love collecting silver art bars, especially certain '70's silver art bars. I have been collecting silver art bars for over 2 years now and I love doing it and I will continue to do it. 2010 has been the best year ever for me as a silver art bar collector and that will be hard to top in 2011. I have found a lot of rare silver art bars and Coca-Cola bars on the local level for low premiums over spot. I was able to buy several silver art bars that are on my "wish list" and that is always a good thing. The Coca-Cola silver art bars that I purchased locally at a coin shop in late March-early April 2010 is the highlight of this year because 1.) I was able to find them and 2.) I was able to pay a decent premium over spot for them. I love collecting Coca-Cola silver art bars. Finding the "Hank Aaron" silver art bar at a coin shop yesterday and paying a low premium for it is also another highlight for me as a silver art bar collector.

OH BTW......I apologize for this very long post. I could not help myself.

[1970 silver art]

Ive been trying to find a wild turkey art bar, looked at ebay and found this set. Is it way overpriced or what can be expected with such rare bars? http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=wild+turkey+art+bar&_sacat=See-All-Categories


Honestly, this is the first time that I have seen these silver art bars on ebay or anywhere else for that matter and I do not know exactly if it is necessarily overpriced or not but I can still possibly help. They do not appear to show up on ebay that often because I am usually on ebay and I do not see these art bars show up on ebay in a regular style auction. I did look at the set from the link that you provided and It mentioned that it is a complete set with matching serial numbers. That is a key factor because a complete set that has matching serial numbers will fetch a higher premium on ebay. The most current silver art bar price guide does not have a mintage number listed for each bar of this set but I suspect that the mintage number on these Hamilton Mint Wild Turkey art bars is much lower than the usual 10,000 to 15,000 that is found on most Hamilton Mint '70's silver art bars and that is another key factor in this ebay BIN price. If these were common minted Hamilton Mint silver art bars that had a mintage of 10,000 to 15,000, then I would say that yes they are way overpriced but in this case, these Hamilton Mint Wild Turkey art bars appear to be much rarer than the average Hamilton Mint bar.

Here is something else to keep in mind when you are dealing with ebay BIN auctions vs. regular ebay auctions. The ebay BIN prices on silver art bars are, generally speaking, higher than the winning bids in a regular auction. However, the new trend that I have been seeing for some time is that a lot of silver art bars are now BIN auctions instead of regular bidding auctions. I will also say that if you can find a complete set with matching serial #'s at a local coin shop for a generic .999 silver premium, then jump on it but otherwise ebay seems to be your best bet for this set since the chances appear to be low that you will find this set locally at a bullion dealer. This set is priced above silver art bar price guide, however, since it is a complete set with matching serial #'s, then I think that this price can be justified in my opinion.

I also want to mention the ebay seller in the link. I have not bought anything from this ebay seller yet but I plan to buy a silver art bar from this seller at some point in the near future once I find the one that I want. Even though I have not bought anything from this ebay seller yet, I have met this ebay seller in person when I was at a coin show in Chattanooga, TN in early November of this year. It is couple and they are nice people to meet with IMO. I had a very good conversation with this ebay seller when I met them in person. They have a lot more experience collecting silver art bars than I do and they are more knowledgeable about silver art bars than I am. I like this ebay seller and even though I have not bought anything from them yet, I will vouch for them because I met them in person and I feel that they will be great people to do business with in my opinion.

[Cobalt]

Merry Christmas! ;D


Ha ha excellent!

[1970 silver art]

This is, in my opinion, an interesting ebay article for people who collect or want to start collecting silver art bars. This article lists some pitfalls to avoid when buying silver art bars on ebay (or anywhere else).

Silver Art Bar Pitfalls (http://reviews.ebay.com/Dummies-Guide-For-Buying-Silver-Art-Bars-Volume-I_W0QQugidZ10000000004304344)




~ NEW NEWS ~ A new 5th Edition Index Guide Book of Silver Art Bars Is Coming out Nov 2007 ( Changed to December 31st 2007 ) as Archie J. Kidd has sold his publishing company ~ Beware of those looking to unload there old silver art bar guide books from now until this date ~ Buy any old book as cheap as possible due to the new books most likely will cost you the same and yours will be out of date :) ~ No brainer, lets continue ~

So your purchasing silver collectible art bars on Ebay ~ Doing a search in " Silver Bar " then " Silver Bars " Bullion, Rounds, Ingots, Sterling .925, Silver Collectibles, Franklin Mint and the bottom line is your looking for a deal " OR " a collectible that may someday pay off later down the road or next week ~

Let's start at the top and try to prevent you from falling prey to " Some of the Predators " Selling ~

I've have been collecting art bars of all sorts, gold, silver and sterling since the late 1960's early 1970's ~ There isn't much I haven't seen, bought, owned, sold or sought & exchanged information on ~ There is only a hand full of silver art bar collectors that can match my experience and I don't think any will say they surpass it as I would bow to the same sometime surprises we each encounter from time to time ~

FOR TRUE COLLECTORS ~ These are the top 3 silver bullion ~ art bars ~ items you need to avoid with out hesitation ~ Right now!

1> Marilyn Monroe ~ All the bars introduced as Westfall designed products still in mint condition today, the " Novice " collector should avoid and those same bars offered at " below silver spot price value " should only be looked at as collector misrepresentations and for entertainment value only ~ Look for a couple things such as titles saying 100 mil clad, clad means a silver layer covering a copper or other metal core, or no photos showing the reverse of 1 full troy ounce of .999 fine silver ~ 2 bars for 1/2 price ~ Anything to good to be true is ~ The number 1 on the back, troy ounce .999 silver is only a description if it doesn't say one ounce pure ~ Some bars we've bought recently don't match any we've seen on any of the index guide book of silver art bars up to the 1991 and 1993 editions and are copies in my opinion since they have only seemed to appear in the past 2 years and makes the true bars worthless ~ Cutting them in half showed silver clad bars, not full .999 silver ~ Even the World Wide Mint bars are suspicious now at $ 40 BV and when purchased look like they are new off the press ~ It's hard to trust the bar and sometimes the seller ~

Oh wait ~ They are being called " Commemorates " or " 1 Troy Ounce Type " now ~ 1 word ~ RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

The above is a repeat of the USSC Save the Grizzly popularity and counterfeits that followed ~ Unlike the spotting of no serial numbers gave away the counterfeits of the USSC bar the blank reverse gives away a fake copy or reproduction of the Marilyn Monroe bar commemorative. That's only 1 example as the sellers won't show you the reverse in the photos they try and hawk on Ebay ~

NEVER TURST A SELLER WHO ADVERTISES " These are the classic designs introduced by Robert Westfall in the mid-1980s ~ a 100 mill Commemorative " He is not saying this " is " a Robert Westfall Silver Art Bar collector book reference # WEST - ZZZ

" Clad description to follow below "

The only " Today ~ 2007 " Marilyn Monroe collectibles are the COL-4 Colonial mint bar struck for Harry Forman with a incused reverse and the Marilyn Tentex reverse bars ~ No known copies exist that I'm aware of ~ The others such as the Westfall bars have been wasted & copied by A profiteer ~ This isn't hard to prove ~ He almost admits it in his adds on Ebay but he won't come right out and say it ~ Again, keep in mind the words " Robert Westfall " Style designs and commemorates ~ These are copies some to the extent that should be examined by the law for infringement ~

He also has an about me page that hawks his wares off ebay and you have no way of fighting infringement, copies, fakes or misrepresentations. Don't buy them off Ebay ~

They are not alone ~ there are more ~

2> Big Cats are Dangerous but a Little Pussy never hurt anyone silver art bar ~ Again another copy called 100 .999 pure mil silver-clad and the .999 1 ounce bars ~ Another Robert Westfall Stolen Design ~ Making the originals worthless to the novice silver art bar collector ~ Giving credit for the description of a Westfall copy if you can read between the lines. It's not the true bar and worthless as a collectible, not worth the price of shipping you paid ~ Clad is a silver covering with a different metal in the middle ~ These are not collectibles of value and never will be 50 years down the road ~

All true collectible bars should have a collector reference number in the ad ~ If you don't see one ask the seller for one.

Currently this one seller is trying to get around these issues by presenting them now as " Commemorative Issues " which in fact means, "I've been caught hawking copies, someone got sick and tired of me preying on the uneducated buyer, how do I get out of this now" ~

Silver Collectible Art Bar Predators ~ Beware ~ You'll be exposed ~ I've no problem with doing so ~

There is one notable silver bar and round self manufacturing rip off artist on Ebay right now ~ Can't wait until the day he's caught then all those titles he thought he could hide behind will tumble right on top of him ~ Same person doing all the above ~

3> American Royal Mint 15 Grain .999 silver art bars ~ Do you know how much 15 grains of .999 silver is? About 1/32 of an true troy ounce of pure .999 silver. If you own any of these bars you've been hoodwinked. There are 480 grains of .999 pure silver in a 1 troy ounce bar of .999 silver. If you took a hack saw and cut a 1/8th slot into this bar you would see a copper color underneath ~ it's called clad and in as a collector / investors opinion it's worth value is -0-, nada, nothing. You would be lucky to sell it for what you paid the shipping on it ~ It will never have a collector value ~ Don't get me wrong, they are very nice looking bars, just not one ounce .999 fine true silver collectible art bars ~

Don't be mad at most of the predators that sold it to you they were honest by saying 15 grains of .999 pure silver in the title though they never ever mentioned anything about 1 true ounce of .999 silver in the below description ~ Not just me but many true are bar collectors burn these guys when ever they make a listing mistake ~ But if they list it as they do, mostly zodiac bars as 15 grain .999 silver there is nothing we can do, it's the truth ~ They do not say 1 ounce of .999 silver they say 15 grains of .999 silver ~ The silver's 15 grain worth at today's value is about 38 cent.

If your going to be mad at anyone be mad at yourself ~ There are plenty of places for you to educate yourself in this field and joining a local coin club would be a good start ~

The problem comes when they are resold. Inexperienced resellers or collectors have no idea they are selling a copy, clad or out right fake so they will list it improperly by accident and so it goes down the line ~ There are always people looking to make a buck off others in the grey areas of collectible art bars ~

Silver rounds ~ Press errors ~ Buy this error round at a discount ~ Have you ever figured out why the same individual seller is the only one that has these double pressed errors, off centered silver rounds? Let me be the one to slap you, He is the only one that makes them ~ Making art bars and rounds will be in another chapter ~ It's not hard, it's demonstrated at every large trade convention, no need for sophisticated dies and you can make as many mistakes as you want in the silver round business if you are the individual manufacture ~ Don't buy into them if they are not of a quality brand name manufacture such as Silver Towne ~ Engelhard ~ A-Mark ~

Only buy from trusted sources for your silver art bars ~ Who do you know who to trust? ~ Ask other dealers? Naw ~ No Way ~ Ask high rated feedback buyers who they trust ~ And for the TRUE SERIOUS COLLECTORS, ASK THE SERIOUS HIGH ROLLER BUYERS ~ They have the experience your looking for and can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the silver collectible art bar purchasing business over time ~

Be humble when asking there advice ~ Most have paid a very high price over many years for what they can save you in only a few words ~ One being buy the 5th Edition 1991 or 2007 silver index guide book first chance you get or any year guide book for that matter as cheaply as you can ~

More Dummies Guides coming forth ~ Did you know that a troy pound is 12 troy ounces? A troy ounce is 31.1 grams ~ A troy ounce is 480 grains ~ check out metric-conversion.org ~ Look at weights/troy-pounds-to-troy-ounces.htm ~ Ebay pages do not allow full links in these guide pages ~

If this reading has helped you in anyway please provide the feedback so that other volumes to assist you can be written ~ Were already looking at a couple guide previews ~ Thanks again ~



Source: Silver Art Bar Pitfalls (http://reviews.ebay.com/Dummies-Guide-For-Buying-Silver-Art-Bars-Volume-I_W0QQugidZ10000000004304344)

[1970 silver art]

I finally got my silver art bar wish list completed today and I am happy that I did because it took me a while to put it together. This wish list will help me remember which silver art bars that I am looking for when I shop on ebay and shopping locally at the local dealers and at coin shows. With my silver art bar wish list now completed, then I am ready to start looking for those rare silver art bars in 2011 and beyond.

2010 will end up being my best year ever as a silver art bar collector and it will be very hard to top. Hopefully 2011 will be a good year for me as a silver art bar collector. :)

[wvojak]

What do you think of this bar?

http://cgi.ebay.com/troy-ounce-silver-coca-cola-bar-Corinth-Mississippi-/300512557566?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f7f1b9fe

1 ounce silver bar sold for $575!!!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/bcvojak/RVNet3/Coke-Bar1.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/bcvojak/RVNet3/Coke-Bar2.jpg

[1970 silver art]

What do you think of this bar?

http://cgi.ebay.com/troy-ounce-silver-coca-cola-bar-Corinth-Mississippi-/300512557566?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f7f1b9fe

1 ounce silver bar sold for $575!!!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/bcvojak/RVNet3/Coke-Bar1.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/bcvojak/RVNet3/Coke-Bar2.jpg



I had this on my ebay watch list because I was curious of how high the winning bid will go . I am not surprised that this Coca-Cola bar had that high of a winning bid. This particular Coca-Cola bar is very hard to find and it does not show up on ebay that much. According to the second edition of Thomas A. Mock's guidebook called "Coca-Cola Bottler's 75th Anniversary Ingot and Round Guide Book 1975 - 1988", the Corinth Coca-Cola silver art bar has a mintage of only 750.

On ebay this Corinth Coke bar and other Coca-Cola bars will sell for hundred's of dollars on ebay. Here are a 3 other 1-oz Coca-Cola silver art bars that I saw on ebay that had winning bids that were $100's of dollars above spot silver.

1. Frederick, MD Coca-Cola bar. The highest winning bid that I saw was $611. 500 of of these were minted in 1986. I have only seen only 2 Frederick Coke bars sold on ebay and the winning bids that I saw on those 2 ebay auctions are $517.00 and $611.00.

2. Youngstown, OH Coca-Cola bar. Less than 200 of these Youngstown bars were minted in 1981. $752.00 is the highest winning bid that I saw on this Coca-Cola bar. The last auction winning bid before that on this bar was $730.00. Like the Frederick Coca-Cola bar, the Youngstown bar is rarely seen on ebay. $752 is the highest winning bid that I have seen on any 1-oz silver art bar that was sold on ebay.

3. Mt. Hood. Coca-Cola bar. I think that the highest winning bid that I seen was somewhere the $400 range.

There are several more that sell for over $100 on ebay. Historically speaking, a lot of the Coca-Cola silver art bars (except for the most common ones) have done very well on ebay even if the spot silver price drops. A lot of these Coca-Cola bars are very hard to find locally because some of them have very low mintages.

I love collecting Coca-Cola silver art bars but there are a lot of them that are very hard to find locally. Not all Coca-Cola silver art bars are rare. For example, The Chattanooga, TN Coca-Cola silver bar has a mintage number of 10,000 and is one of the most common Coke bars that was minted by the World Wide Mint. When it comes to Coca-Cola bars being sold on ebay, the winning bids will range from as low as $5 over spot to as high as $750+. It depends on the Coca-Cola bar and the demand for that particular Coca-Cola bar.

EDIT: If a person can find any Coca-Cola silver bars at a local coin shop or at a coin show for a .999 generic silver premium, then that is considered a very good find because most (but not all) local dealers will treat a 1-oz Coca-Cola silver art bar like any other .999 generic silver bar.

[Dogman]

What do you think of this bar?

http://cgi.ebay.com/troy-ounce-silver-coca-cola-bar-Corinth-Mississippi-/300512557566?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f7f1b9fe

1 ounce silver bar sold for $575!!!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/bcvojak/RVNet3/Coke-Bar1.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/bcvojak/RVNet3/Coke-Bar2.jpg



I had this on my ebay watch list because I was curious of how high the winning bid will go . I am not surprised that this Coca-Cola bar had that high of a winning bid. This particular Coca-Cola bar is very hard to find and it does not show up on ebay that much. According to the second edition of Thomas A. Mock's guidebook called "Coca-Cola Bottler's 75th Anniversary Ingot and Round Guide Book 1975 - 1988", the Corinth Coca-Cola silver art bar has a mintage of only 750.

On ebay this Corinth Coke bar and other Coca-Cola bars will sell for hundred's of dollars on ebay. Here are a 3 other 1-oz Coca-Cola silver art bars that I saw on ebay that had winning bids that were $100's of dollars above spot silver.

1. Frederick, MD Coca-Cola bar. The highest winning bid that I saw was $611. 500 of of these were minted in 1986. I have only seen only 2 Frederick Coke bars sold on ebay and the winning bids that I saw on those 2 ebay auctions are $517.00 and $611.00.

2. Youngstown, OH Coca-Cola bar. Less than 200 of these Youngstown bars were minted in 1981. $752.00 is the highest winning bid that I saw was $752.00. This is the highest winning bid that I have seen on any 1-oz silver art bar that was sold on ebay.

3. Mt. Hood. Coca-Cola bar. I think that the highest winning bid that I seen was somewhere the $400 range.

There are several more that sell for over $100 on ebay. Historically speaking, a lot of the Coca-Cola silver art bars (except for the most common ones) have done very well on ebay even if the spot silver price drops. A lot of these Coca-Cola bars are very hard to find locally because some of them have very low mintages.

I love collecting Coca-Cola silver art bars but there are a lot of them that are very hard to find locally. Not all Coca-Cola silver art bars are rare. For example, The Chattanooga, TN Coca-Cola silver bar has a mintage number of 10,000 and is one of the most common Coke bars that was minted by the World Wide Mint. When it comes to Coca-Cola bars being sold on ebay, the winning bids will range from as low as $5 over spot to as high as $750+. It depends on the Coca-Cola bar and the demand for that particular Coca-Cola bar.



Short "vacation" bro! :taunt:

:ROFL:

[1970 silver art]

What do you think of this bar?

http://cgi.ebay.com/troy-ounce-silver-coca-cola-bar-Corinth-Mississippi-/300512557566?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f7f1b9fe

1 ounce silver bar sold for $575!!!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/bcvojak/RVNet3/Coke-Bar1.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/bcvojak/RVNet3/Coke-Bar2.jpg



I had this on my ebay watch list because I was curious of how high the winning bid will go . I am not surprised that this Coca-Cola bar had that high of a winning bid. This particular Coca-Cola bar is very hard to find and it does not show up on ebay that much. According to the second edition of Thomas A. Mock's guidebook called "Coca-Cola Bottler's 75th Anniversary Ingot and Round Guide Book 1975 - 1988", the Corinth Coca-Cola silver art bar has a mintage of only 750.

On ebay this Corinth Coke bar and other Coca-Cola bars will sell for hundred's of dollars on ebay. Here are a 3 other 1-oz Coca-Cola silver art bars that I saw on ebay that had winning bids that were $100's of dollars above spot silver.

1. Frederick, MD Coca-Cola bar. The highest winning bid that I saw was $611. 500 of of these were minted in 1986. I have only seen only 2 Frederick Coke bars sold on ebay and the winning bids that I saw on those 2 ebay auctions are $517.00 and $611.00.

2. Youngstown, OH Coca-Cola bar. Less than 200 of these Youngstown bars were minted in 1981. $752.00 is the highest winning bid that I saw was $752.00. This is the highest winning bid that I have seen on any 1-oz silver art bar that was sold on ebay.

3. Mt. Hood. Coca-Cola bar. I think that the highest winning bid that I seen was somewhere the $400 range.

There are several more that sell for over $100 on ebay. Historically speaking, a lot of the Coca-Cola silver art bars (except for the most common ones) have done very well on ebay even if the spot silver price drops. A lot of these Coca-Cola bars are very hard to find locally because some of them have very low mintages.

I love collecting Coca-Cola silver art bars but there are a lot of them that are very hard to find locally. Not all Coca-Cola silver art bars are rare. For example, The Chattanooga, TN Coca-Cola silver bar has a mintage number of 10,000 and is one of the most common Coke bars that was minted by the World Wide Mint. When it comes to Coca-Cola bars being sold on ebay, the winning bids will range from as low as $5 over spot to as high as $750+. It depends on the Coca-Cola bar and the demand for that particular Coca-Cola bar.



Short "vacation" bro! :taunt:

:ROFL:


:ROFL:

Actually, I am on vacation from GSUS but there are times where I will occasionally "interrupt" my vacation to post on my Silver Art Bar Porn thread. ;D I still feel somewhat burned out from posting but I wanted to write a response to Wvojak's post on the Corinth Coke bar.

[osoab]

Art and others what do you use to take pics of the bars? I mean the settings on the camera?

I cannot get a good setting on my camera. Pics never turn out in a decent quality.

[1970 silver art]

Art and others what do you use to take pics of the bars? I mean the settings on the camera?

I cannot get a good setting on my camera. Pics never turn out in a decent quality.


Osoab,

I use the Macro function on my digital camera. The Macro function helps with close-up details of a coin or bar. The Macro function is the "flower" symbol that is on the digital camera and that function by itself will make a big difference in detail of the coin or bar that you are taking pictures of. I take a majority of my silver art bar pictures outside in an semi-closed area where there is not too much light coming in. The various outdoor semi-closed areas also provide me some privacy when I take my outdoor pics. I prefer to take outdoor pics of my silver art bars because outside pictures give the silver art bars a "realistic" look since I am using the natural light. I use various outside scenes as the "dark" background for my bars because silver is shiny and too much glare would take away the details of a particular art bar if I took the picture in an open area outdoors with a light background.

I occasionally do take some indoor pictures with my digital camera using regular indoor lamps but they are not as good as the ones that I take outdoors. For example, the Hank Aaron silver art bar picture (see post # 100) is a picture that I took indoors. Taking outdoor pictures is much easier for me than taking indoor pictures. I plan to eventually take more pictures indoors but I need to get some special lighting to take really good pictures indoors.

I also use a loupe (i.e. small magnifier) and place it over the camera lens to get a greater close-up of certain details of a certain silver art bar because the Macro function of my camera will only go but so far and sometimes that might not be good enough to get the kind of detail that I want people to see. I do not use the loupe that much because most of detail of the silver art bars can be captured by just using the Macro function. I use the loupe when there are very small details of a silver art bar that the Macro feature cannot capture but that is the tricky part for me in when taking silver art bar pictures with very small details and sometimes I will have to take several pictures using the loupe to get it just right. I want the art bar picture to be as clear and detailed as possible in the picture.

I do not use the flash feature of my digital camera and I do not use the zoom feature of my camera because I can never get it to work when I take close-up shots of my bars. Most of the time, the Macro feature is good enough to take most of my silver art bar pictures.

Once I finish taking the picture, then I import the pictures from my digital camera to my computer and I use a software called ArcSoft Media Impression to crop the pictures that I just took because I do not want too much background in my pics. I want just enough background to try to make the picture look good but not too much background. The ArcSoft Media Impression software came with the digital camera. There are better photography software programs out there but I stuck with ArcSoft Media Impression because it came with the camera.

I also want to disclose that I am not a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination and I do not have any sophisticated photography equipment. I am really just an amateur photographer with a decent digital camera. The digital camera that I use is a 10 MP Polaroid T1031. I bought this camera at Walmart in June 2009 and paid $140 for it. I also use a table top Tripod to help me take the pictures because I want the camera to be completely still while I take the picture and the table-top tripod allows me to take pictures of a silver art bar at different angles without moving the camera. For me, I want to be creative when taking my art bar pics and sometimes I will use different outside dark backgrounds to attempt to make the silver art bar stand out. I am still learning and it does take me several attempts to get the picture the way that I want it.

If you were on GIM1 (R.I.P.), then you might remember a GIM1 poster named TomD and a GIM1 poster named MorganTheGoat. They are both excellent photographers and they gave me the inspiration to take pictures of coins and bars using a digital camera. During my time on GIM1 as OutlawJoseyWalesJr, I started a silver art bar thread but in the beginning of that GIM1 thread, I had to use my HP scanner to take pics of my silver art bars because I did not have a digital camera at the time that I started that silver art bar thread. However, when I used my HP scanner to take art bar pics, they did not always turnout the way that I wanted and that got frustrating and that, along with help from TomD and MorganTheGoat, made me buy a digital camera to take silver art bar pictures.

For me, taking art bar pictures helps me express my love for the hobby of silver art bar collecting and it helps me write about my experiences as a silver art bar collector.

[osoab]

Macro. Thanks Art.
I don't know what to do with the mirror finish. ;D

[1970 silver art]

Macro. Thanks Art.
I don't know what to do with the mirror finish. ;D



That is not a bad picture Osoab. For the most part, it looks good to me IMO. :)

The mirror finish can be a hard thing to try to fix especially if it was taken indoors. If you can take the pictures of the them at a different angle, then that might eliminate some of the mirror finish and show more clarity of the bottom part of the reverse. The dark background is good and that is what you want since the dark background will make the silver stand out. You might want to crop the picture to cut out more background and to "zoom in" on the silver rounds. What you could do is to take an individual picture of each silver round using that same background and crop the picture on your computer to show more of the coin. That might help with the signature.

The mirror finish and shine of silver can indeed be a downside of taking pictures of silver and I find myself still having problems with that mirror shine. Sometimes it will take several attempts for me to take silver pics to get it just right. That can be a challenge. If the silver art bar that I am taking pictures of has any significant toning on it, then it is a little bit easier to take a picture of it.

Sometimes it might take several times taking the same picture to "perfect" it. I might find myself having to take several pics of the same silver art bar because there is something that is not quite right about the picture (ex:too much shine, detail not clear enough, etc.) and I will go out and try again. I try not to be a perfectionist but I like the picture to look its best.

[osoab]

Thanks for the tips art. Just had to try it out. I apologize for dirtying your art bar thread with measly rounds. :D

Here are a couple more. Which one doesn't belong?

[osoab]

I should add that it is 22 degrees outside now. I'm not taking pics outside today. :D

[1970 silver art]

Thanks for the tips art. Just had to try it out. I apologize for dirtying your art bar thread with measly rounds. :D

Here are a couple more. Which one doesn't belong?




:ROFL:

HAHAHA!!!! Do not worry about "dirtying" my silver art bar thread with measly rounds. I forgive you. :D ;D

Those 3 art bar pictures look really good in my opinion. There is not too much shine on them and I can look at the detail of each of those art bars. I am satisfied with the way those 3 pictures look. Good job Osoab. :)

Those look like silver art bars that were minted by the Silver Mint. I have one of them in my local dealer last year. Each of those silver art bars should weigh 20 grams each. According to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's silver art bar guidebook called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars", those 3 bars are part of the "American Patriots" series that was minted by the Silver Mint in 1975. The guidebook also lists the mintage number of 5000 for each art bar in that series.

BTW I do not blame you for not wanting to take pics outside today. That's understandable. 22 degrees would be too cold for me too. ;D

[osoab]

I'll try to keep the silver round posting to a minimum from now on. :D

All three have the same set number. They are in the 3xxx range. After I saw the middle one, I laughed hard at the dealers shop. Then I knew I had to scoop them up.

[1970 silver art]

I'll try to keep the silver round posting to a minimum from now on. :D

All three have the same set number. They are in the 3xxx range. After I saw the middle one, I laughed hard at the dealers shop. Then I knew I had to scoop them up.


Congrats and good job on finding those art bars Osoab. :) You never know what silver art bars you will find at a local coin dealer and, for me, that is part of the excitement of going to a local coin dealer and to coin shows.

[1970 silver art]

Here are a some 2011 ebay purchases of the silver art bars that I absolutely love to collect...........................

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/AbottCostello.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/AbottCostelloback.jpg

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). 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............

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/EmmetFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/EmmetBack.jpg


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..............

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/SBXXVIFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/SBXXVIBack.jpg

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.

[ximmy]

I could soooo easily get caught up in collection, rather than stacking... I fight it all the time... ;D ;D ;D I do have some large coins and a few other things... because you just can't help yourself... :P

[1970 silver art]

Elvis has entered GSUS.....................

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/GreenCountryElvisFront.jpg


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/GreenCountryElvisBack.jpg


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/GreenCountryElvisSide.jpg


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. I think there were 20 different Green Country Mint art bars minted between 1977 to 1979.

[solid]

Wow, that's a nice artbar. Great find Art! Thanks for sharing. That's a very low mintage, imagine you own one of only a 100 of those. Quite rare, indeed. I like how it's stamped on the bar, limited edition of 100.

[ximmy]

sweet... Limited Edition... only 100 made :P

GCM really identifies these well.

Congrats on the rare find...

[gunDriller]

I could soooo easily get caught up in collection, rather than stacking... I fight it all the time... ;D ;D ;D I do have some large coins and a few other things... because you just can't help yourself... :P


well, you better avoid this place -

http://rvcoinandjewelry.com/

they have a nice big straw basket full of silver art bars. it looks very tempting.

[osoab]

Art, didn't know if you could tell me anything about these bars. Not the cleanest in the world. No markings other than .999 fine and one troy ounce on the back side. TIA.


The bars are:

Winchester Model 61
Winchester Model 21
Winchester Model 94

[1970 silver art]

Osoab,

Those 3 Winchester silver art bars were minted in 1993 by the Silvertowne Mint.

[1970 silver art]

My wallet had to eat plenty of spinach to pay for this following silver art bar but it is definitely worth it IMO........................

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/PopeyeFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/PopeyeBack.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/PopeyeSide.jpg


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. As I stated in an earlier post on this thread, GreatHouse bars are 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 FRNs 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:

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/AmericanPirateFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/AmericanPirateBack.jpg

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.

[1970 silver art]

1980's Japanese silver art.............


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/USStampFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/USStampBack.jpg


It is a 1-oz "U.S. Postage - Five Cents" silver art bar. While this was not on my silver art bar wish list, I bought it because of the interesting shape of this silver art bar. It is shaped like a large postage stamp. I also like the smooth enameled finish that makes it great to look at. I had to use the flash feature of my digital camara to get a decent shot of front side of this bar because the enamel surface area is too dark to take pictures of it in the outside natural light. If I tried to take the picture without the flash, then it would be too dark to see the enameled detail on the front side of this art bar.

When I first bought this ar bar, I did not know anything about it except that it was made in Japan. I had to email another silver art bar collector to give me what information he had on this bar. One of my silver art bar price guides also had some limited information on this silver art bar.

The 6th edition of the guidebook called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars" mentions that this art bar is part of a 50-bar set. The 6th edition book does not list all of the bars in the set but there are a couple of illustrations of the bars that have the same reverse type as mine. I do not know exacly what year this was minted but I suspect that it was minted in the early 1980's because the two bars mentioned in the guidebook were minted in 1981 and 1982. The mintage number is unknown since there is no mintage number listed in the art bar guidebook.

I bought this silver art bar at a coin show that I went to in Dalton, Georgia last Friday (April 15) and I paid $50 for it (4-15-2011 spot silver = $43.05/oz). Serial # 33.

[ximmy]

eek... sweet find... $177.49 won't seem so high when silver is $144.00 oz. ;D

[Sparky]

I like the Popeye, and especially the beautiful reverse. That's a hefty price, but I understand you are collecting these, and not simply stacking. The most I paid for an ounce was $40 for a 1996 SAE, because it was the missing year from my "collection". It goes for $80 now.

Do you have some kind of display for your collection, or do you just keep them all loose?

[1970 silver art]

I like the Popeye, and especially the beautiful reverse. That's a hefty price, but I understand you are collecting these, and not simply stacking. The most I paid for an ounce was $40 for a 1996 SAE, because it was the missing year from my "collection". It goes for $80 now.

Do you have some kind of display for your collection, or do you just keep them all loose?


Sparky,

It depends on the silver art bar. For common minted '70's silver art bars that I still have in my collection, I keep them in the plastic flaps that they came in. This also applies to rare silver art bars that do not fit into a standard 1-oz silver bar airtite or into a Dansco album.

For some of the rare silver art bars that I have such as the GreatHouse Productions "Popeye" art bar, then I will put those in airtites to preserve the condition. Some of those GreatHouse art bars that I have in my collection look very nice and I want to keep it that way and that it why I use silver bar airtites to keep them in. For other certain silver art bars that I have, I use Dansco albums to keep them in. Dansco makes 2 album that fit 1-oz silver bars. The 1-oz silver bar Dansco album #'s are 7085 and 7086. The Dansco # 7085 album fits silver art bars with a horizontal strike (see the "American Pirate" silver art bar for an example of a "horizontal" bar in post # 126 of this thread) The Dansco # 7086 album fits silver art bars with a vertical strike (see the "Coca-Cola - Shelbyville silver art bar as an example of a "vertical" bar in post # 3 of this thread). I like the Dansco album because I am building a collection of silver art bars with a specific theme and I like to keep those together and to be able to open the album to look at all of them.

I do not have a display case to show my bars them in. I was not planning to buy one. I like my art bar collection in airtites and in Dansco albums or just in the plastic flaps that they came in.

[1970 silver art]

An ebay auction win from last week...................


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/1980CountyFair.jpg


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/1980CountyFairBack.jpg



It is a 1-oz "LA County Fair 1980" silver art bar (AGSC-2). It was minted in 1980 by American Gold & Silver Corporation. There were 275 of these were minted. I won this ebay auction and I paid a total of $82.99 for it (spot was $45.23/oz at that time). The serial number is on the reverse side (see second picture). Serial # 1 (of 275). This art bar was not on my silver art bar wish list but it got my attention and I decided to bid on it because it was the first one of the 275 that were minted. During the almost 3 years that I have been collecting silver art bars, this is only the 3rd time that I have seen a #1 issue art bar on ebay. I have never seen a #1 issue of any art bar on the local level. #1 issue bars are interesting to collect because it is the first minted bar and it always feels good to get the first bar of a particular title. This is my first serial #1 silver art bar.

[ximmy]

An ebay auction win from last week...................


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/1980CountyFair.jpg


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/1980CountyFairBack.jpg



It is a 1-oz "LA County Fair 1980" silver art bar (AGSC-2). It was minted in 1980 by American Gold & Silver Corporation. There were 275 of these were minted. I won this ebay auction and I paid a total of $82.99 for it (spot was $45.23/oz at that time). The serial number is on the reverse side (see second picture). Serial # 1 (of 275). This art bar was not on my silver art bar wish list but it got my attention and I decided to bid on it because it was the first one of the 275 that were minted. During the almost 3 years that I have been collecting silver art bars, this is only the 3rd time that I have seen a #1 issue art bar on ebay. I have never seen a #1 issue of any art bar on the local level. #1 issue bars are interesting to collect because it is the first minted bar and it always feels good to get the first bar of a particular title. This is my first serial #1 silver art bar.




WOW!!!
That's an amazing catch... from my neck of the woods too...

[1970 silver art]

I have been collecting silver art bars for almost 3 years and during this time that I have been collecting silver art bars, I have come across various silver art bar guidebooks that I bought and these silver art bar price guides have proven to be very helpful to me since I consider myself a "student" of the silver art bar hobby. These silver art bar price guides have also been very helpful to me when I was creating my silver art bar "wish list" last year.

Here are the various silver art bar guidebooks that I currently have and I use these books to identify and to learn more about silver art bars:

Here is what I believe is the very first silver art bar book that came out....................


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/1stsilverartbarbook.jpg

I bought this silver art bar book from a GIM1 poster named Rodzm. This silver art bar book is a piece of history for me as far as I am concerned.


Here is the main silver art bar guidebook that I use...........


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/4theditionsilverartbarguidebook.jpg


It is an Archie Kidd silver art bar guidebook. This is the 4th edition. I use this as a reference to identify silver art bars as well as to obtain information such as mintage number, year minted, and the illustration of the front and back of the art bar. This is the most valuable guidebook that I have in terms of the information that is in it. This is the main silver art bar guide book that has helped me put together my silver art bar "wish list" that I refer to on a regular basis when I talk about silver art bars.

This silver art bar guidebook was published by Archie Kidd in 1986 and this is the 4th edition of the guidebook. I bought it on ebay and I think that I paid just over $50 for it but I did not exactly remember because it has been a while ago since I bought it. This is the best reference for the price because the 5th edition Archie Kidd guidebook will cost between $150 to $300 on ebay since the 5th edition is hard to find. The 4th edition lists the silver art bars that were minted in the 1970's and part of the 1980's.

Here is the suppliment to the 5th edition Archie Kidd silver art bar guidebook......................


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/5theditionsuppliment.jpg

I do not have the 1991 5th edition guidebook. This is just a suppliment to the 5th edition Archie Kidd silver art bar guidbook. This just lists the silver art bars that were not in the 5th edition guidebook. It is somewhat useful to identify certain silver art bars and it does have illustrations in it. This book was published in 1993.


Here is what the 6th edition of the Archie Kidd silver art bar guidebook looks like:


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/6theditionsilverartbarguidebook.jpg

This silver art bar guidebook lists the silver art bars that were minted in the 1990's to 2007 (?). This guidebook also has illustrations of the silver art bars as well as mintage and other information pertaining to a particular silver art bar. I bought this on ebay for about $50 + shipping. This was published in 2008.


Here is the latest Archie Kidd silver art bar guidebook that came out in 2009.................


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/2009SilverArtBarGuideBook.jpg

This particular art bar book does not have any silver art bar illustations in it. I only use this guidebook to look up the latest mintage numbers for a silver art bar. I bought this on ebay for about $50 + shipping.

Overall, These Archie Kidd books are what most silver art bar collectors use to identify silver art bars. The Archie Kidd guidebooks are the "Red Book" of silver art bar collecting.


The following art bar guide book is the one that I use to get more information on Coca-Cola silver art bars........


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/CocaColaArtBarGuidebook.jpg

This was written by Thomas A. Mock and this is the second edition that came out in January 2009. I think I paid about $60 + shipping for this book on ebay. It is a very useful guidebook to help me learn more history about particular Coca-Cola silver art bars that came out at that time. The early Archie Kidd silver art bar price guides have information on Coca-Cola silver art bars but this Coca-cola Ingot guide book has more in-depth information on them. This guidebook also gives some mintage numbers for a lot of the Coca-Cola silver art bars that are listed. It also gives some history about the World Wide Mint as well as some history on some of the Coca-Cola art bars. I like this book very much.


Here is the lastest silver art bar guidebook that another silver art bar collector gave me.....................


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/FFSilverBar.jpg


It is titled "F & F Silver Bar Red Book Guide". This is a very thin book but it does have some information on certain silver art bars that the Archie Kidd books do not have. It does have illustrations of the silver art bars that came out when this book was originally published.

I also belong to a club called IASAC. IASAC stands for International Association of Silver Art Collectors. I have been a member of this club since 2009 and every 2 months, they come out with a publication called the Silver Bugle. Here is an example of what one looks like:

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/SilverBugleNewsletter.jpg

This publication gives current happenings and events (mainly major coin shows) that pertain to the silver art bar hobby. It also has articles that other IASAC members have written that talk about what type of art bars they like to collect and this publication also has other information about other things that affect the silver art bar hobby such as the rising price of silver. I look forward to getting this publication because I like to read about what other silver art bar collectors talk about that pertains to silver art bars.

These books and publications have enabled me to gain a lot of knowledge about silver art bars, however, I still have a lot to learn because these books contain a lot of very useful informaton that will help me in the future. These art bar books have been very helpful when it came to listing the rare '70's silver art bars and the rarity values that are listed in the guidebook gives me a very rough idea on why some of them are fetching the winning bids that they are currently getting on ebay. Just like any other collector, having some books on the hobby helps a lot to understand what you are collecting.

[1970 silver art]

During the silver smackdown, I went silver art bar hunting today at various local dealers and I found this.............................

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/FMGFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/FMGBack.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/FMGSide.jpg

It is a "FMG - Fragrance Marketing Group" silver art bar. Actually, it looks more like a commercial bar than an art bar IMO. I bought it today from a local dealer and I paid $36.74 for it. Spot was $33.74 when I bought it earlier today since this particular dealer was charging $3 over spot for silver bars but spot ended up closing at $34.62 for today. This bar was minted by the World Wide Mint but I do not know what year. I am guessing '70's or early '80's but I will have to do some more reseach on this since I did not see it in any of my silver art bar guidebooks. It is stamped "One Troy Oz. .999 Fine silver on the side of the bar (see third picture). This is the first time that I have seen this bar anywhere. A decent find IMO.

[ximmy]

Yeah, perhaps some advertising paraphernalia. Nice stamping on the edge... one of the things the producers of ATB coins was how to stamp the edges, they cried over it being too thin although it is thicker than any once ounce art bar I have seen. The end product shows how miserably they failed... unbelievable in this day & age.

I see a lot of finger prints on the back of this bar. I suppose they are embedded into it, no way to remove them huh?

[1970 silver art]

Yeah, perhaps some advertising paraphernalia. Nice stamping on the edge... one of the things the producers of ATB coins was how to stamp the edges, they cried over it being too thin although it is thicker than any once ounce art bar I have seen. The end product shows how miserably they failed... unbelievable in this day & age.

I see a lot of finger prints on the back of this bar. I suppose they are embedded into it, no way to remove them huh?


Yeah it has been "fingered" quite a bit well before I touched it. I guess that it is safe to say that there is a lot of "fondling" history on this silver bar. :D I do not think that the fingerprints are embedded into it. I could probably clean it if I wanted to but there is one problem........The problem is that I have this very weird habit of leaving silver art bars in the condition that they were in when I buy them. I buy them "as is". It does not bother me that it has been "fingered". When I handle silver art bars, especially very rare silver art bars, I try to be careful in that I handle them on the sides and when I take pictures of certain art bars, I put them on something that will not mess up the bar.

[1970 silver art]

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 my "Silver Art Bar Porn" thread on GSUS.

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.

[osoab]

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 my "Silver Art Bar Porn" thread on GSUS.

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.


You can still post here once and a while bud. ;)

Glad to see you are still around.

[gunDriller]

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 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.


Silver Art, just out of curiosity - if you ordered from Provident or APMex, their "1 oz .999 Fine Silver Bars | Our Choice", maybe 20 bars - would you probably already have all of the bars they might send you ?

i'm just curious if their "grab bag" would normally contain the same bars over & over again, like when you go to Salvation Army and they have 20 copies of Top Gun and 20 copies of Happy Gilmore.

http://www.providentmetals.com/1-oz-999-fine-silver-bar-mixed-type-secondary-market.html

for example, they have that "Happy Birthday 1983" bar. that seems pretty unique.

http://www.providentmetals.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/300x/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/g/e/gen-s-1-bar-pile.JPG

from
http://www.providentmetals.com/1-oz-999-fine-silver-bar-mixed-type-secondary-market.html


how many different silver art bars are there, say with mintages of 100 or more ?

they show an Engelhard 1 ounce in the picture ... but i'm dubious that they would send one of those.

at APMex, their 1 ounce silver bar grab bag -
http://www.apmex.com/Resources/Catalog%20Images/Products/22_slab.jpg

it doesn't look like APMex is advertising art bars. more just Amark, NTR, Silvertowne. i like the Silvertowne donkey + miner + wagon image.

from
http://www.apmex.com/Product/22/1_oz_Silver_Bar___Mint_Varies___999_Fine.aspx


anyway, it does look like a fun hobby. you're not just collecting art, you're collecting silver art.

sort of like numismatics, but with more variety in the imagery.

got any naked woman art bars ? what's the raunchiest art bar you have ?

[1970 silver art]

Gundriller,

I have never ordered from Provident Metals in the past and the last time that I ordered from APMEX was in 2008, just before I started seriously collecting silver art bars. Once I started to seriously collect silver art bars, I stopped ordering from APMEX. The reason that I currently buy silver art bars locally and bid on a lot of the rare silver art bars on ebay is because I know exacly what I am looking for and I can see a picture and ask questions to the seller about a particular art bar (if bidding on ebay) or if I am buying locally from a dealer or at a coin show, then I can see the bar in person. With an APMEX "grab bag", you get whatever they chose and I would not have a chance beforehand to see exactly what I am getting. I am very picky because I am mainly concentrating on rare silver art bars that are on my silver art bar "wish list".

However, I will venture a guess that the APMEX grab bag will contain common-minted silver art bars such as holdiday-themed bars and a lot of happy birthday silver art bars (such as that illustration of the 1983 Happy birthday that was minted by National Mint). The APMEX "grab bag" might also contain some other common-minted silver art bars such as the ones that were minted in the 1970's by Hamilton Mint, Madison Mint, and Mother-Lode Mint. More than likely, if there are any silver art bars that you get from one of APMEX's "grab bags", they are going to be the high mintage ones such as the Hamilton Mint bars, the Madison Mint bars, the Mother-Lode mint bars, the Merry Christmas bars and other Holiday-themed art bars.

I also noticed that APMEX had some Coca-Cola silver art bars on their web site (under "Unique Silver Items") but when I looked at what they priced them for, it was priced too high IMO. For example, the Coca-Cola-Chattanooga silver art bar they had was priced at $79.99 (check or bank wire price) and that was before shipping charges are factored in. If you factor in shipping charges of $12.95, then that Coca-Cola-Chattanooga art bar will cost $92.94 if you order it from APMEX. That is way to high for this particular common-minted Coca-Cola silver art bar. With current spot silver price range of $36-$37, A Coca-Cola-Chattanooga silver art bar will fetch a "conservative" winning bid somewhere between $10 to $15 over spot on ebay.

As to the number of different silver art bars out there with a mintage of 100 or more......................There were thousands of different silver art bars that were minted by well over 100 different private mints back then. According to the cover of My 4th edition Archie Kidd silver art bar price guide, this guidebook lists over 5,000 different silver art bars that were minted in the 1970's and 1980's. The 5th edition Archie Kidd silver art bar price guide, which I do not have, will have more listed than my 4th edition book. That is why it took me so long to create a silver art bar "wish list" because there were so many different silver art bar themes that I was interested in.

Technically speaking, silver art bars are not numimatics but you are right in that collecting silver art bars is sort of like collecting numismatics because there are other factors that determine what a particular silver art bar will sell for on ebay besides the metal price. I have spent so much time observing silver art bar prices on ebay and I can get a feel for some of the prices that certain silver art bar prices will sell for. I love what I do and that is why I like to spend time writing about it on my silver art bar journal. Sometimes there will be something that is silver art bar hobby related that might jump out at me and I want to write that down in my silver art bar journal while it is still fresh in my mind.

EDIT: I do have some "Adult" silver art bars in my silver art bar collection but I do not have that many because these are usually very hard to find. My silver art bar guidebook mentions a few of the "Adult" silver art bars that were minted but there are no illustations of those silver art bars in my silver art bar guidebook. Some of them were minted in the 1970's but they do not list the mintage numbers. I suspect that most of these '70's "adult" silver art bars are low mintage silver art bars because those seem to be very hard to find anywhere online and locally.

[Santa]

Glad to see you posting, Silver Art.

I was beginning to think that Ponce had quietly sent a hit man to take you out so he wouldn't have to pay up on the tp bet.

He may yet still. Remain vigilant. Cubans are notorious. ;D

[Half Sense]

There is a husband & wife dealer I see at the coin shows in Florida who stocks some of the adult art bars. They had a complete set of the Crown Mint Beauties last week. I bought from them an unusual 5-oz Marilyn Monroe (nude) round I had never seen before. On the back it lists all her movies and has a very small Madison Mint logo. I have found zero information about this round anywhere on the net.

[1970 silver art]

There is a husband & wife dealer I see at the coin shows in Florida who stocks some of the adult art bars. They had a complete set of the Crown Mint Beauties last week. I bought from them an unusual 5-oz Marilyn Monroe (nude) round I had never seen before. On the back it lists all her movies and has a very small Madison Mint logo. I have found zero information about this round anywhere on the net.


I know exacly who you are talking about. They always attend the two coin shows in Dalton, GA and the two coin shows in Chattanooga, TN. They also have a silver art bar store on ebay.

They are very good people and I have bought silver art bars from them in the past when they were at the coin shows and I also won some of their ebay silver art bar auctions in the past.

When they attended the last Dalton, Ga coin show this past April, I did see the Crown Mint Beauties complete set. They also had a complete set of "Dr. Peepers" nude silver art bars (12 bars in the set). I do not have any of those nude silver art bars because I could not afford the whole set at that time.

I plan to buy more silver art bars from this couple when they
attend the Summer Dalton coin show in late August and I also plan to bid on some more of their ebay silver art bar auctions. They are great people to deal with and I will vouch for them because I always have good transactions with them.

As for the nude Marilyn Monroe silver art round, I do not no much about it. The nude Marilyn Monroe silver that I am familiar with was a 1-oz nude Marilyn Monroe silver art bar that was minted in 1973 by the Colonial Mint.

[1970 silver art]

Today, I went to various coin shops in my area to go silver art bar hunting. I found and bought this silver art bar at one of the area coin shops that I went to. Here is what it looks like:


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovemansFront.jpg


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovemansBack.jpg


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovemansSidePart1.jpg


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovemansSidePart2.jpg



It is a "Lovemans" silver art bar. It was minted in 1975 by the World Wide Mint. I paid spot silver price for it at one of the local area coin shops that I went to today. The spot silver price was $36.35 at the time that I bought this bar. This bar is toned. The 2009 silver art bar price guide mentions that 500 of these were minted but apparently that there were more of these minted because the serial number on the side of this silver bar is #624 (see the last picture of this post).


It has been a long while since I found and bought a silver art bar in my local area because for the last 1 month or so, it has been very hard to find much silver. A lot of people are buying silver now than 2 years ago and it is making it much more of a challenge to me to find any interesting silver art bars that I like from any of the local coin shop level.

[ximmy]

Is that building "7"...

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovemansFront.jpg

[1970 silver art]

Is that building "7"...

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovemansFront.jpg


This silver art bar theme is that of a chain of departmeent stores called Loveman's. I think that the building on this silver art bar was the corporate headquarters in Chattanooga, TN. The building is still there but the Loveman's department store chain no longer exists.

Here is some more information on Loveman's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveman%27s_(Chattanooga)

[Eyebone]

Beautiful and historically important.

Could you include a weight with these pictures, that would help me visualize.

[Dogman]

Beautiful and historically important.

Could you include a weight with these pictures, that would help me visualize.

Ruler? Seeing they are all one troy ounce.

[1970 silver art]

Beautiful and historically important.

Could you include a weight with these pictures, that would help me visualize.


http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovemansWeight.jpg


It is stamped "One Troy Ounce .999 Fine Silver" on the side of this bar but when I put this silver art bar on the my digital scale, it was underweight (30.4 grams). That was not very surprising to me because, in my experience of collecting old 1-oz '70's silver art bars such as this Loveman's bar, I have seen (and also own) a few silver art bars that weighed between 30.4 grams and 30.9 grams. That weight varience seemed to be more of an occurance in these old silver art bars than on the newer silver art bars. This silver bar did make that distintive ringing sound that silver makes when it is tapped against something else. The only thing that I cannot answer is why there can be much as a 0.7 gram weight varience in these silver but that seems to be the case with some bars that were minted in the 1970's.

[1970 silver art]

Beautiful and historically important.

Could you include a weight with these pictures, that would help me visualize.

I do not have a ruler but I put a couple of quarters right under it to give you and idea of the size of this Lovemans silver art bar.

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovemansComparison.jpg

[1970 silver art]

Since I have not posted on this thread in a while, I will post a 1-oz silver art bar that bought for only $25 when I attended an out-of-town coin show last Saturday (July 2, 2011). Here is what it looks like:

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/CHATT1Front.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/CHATT1Back.jpg

It is a Centennial Chattanooga Choo-Choo art bar (CHAT-1). It was minted by Freedom Mint. Serial # A1013. All of you reading this post might find this hard to believe but I paid only $25.00 for it but I did. Here is my story:

When I went inside the coin show I saw it in one of the glass cases. There were also two 1970's Franklin Mint sterling silver bars inside the glass case along with the Choo-Choo silver art bar. I asked the coin show dealer about those bars and the dealer said that those 3 bars were all sterling silver bars. He was wrong on the Choo-Choo art bar because I knew that this bar was NOT sterling silver and it was a 1 oz .999 pure silver bar. So I asked him if that the Choo-Choo bar was really a sterling silver bar. After I asked the coin show dealer that, the dealer picked it up and took out his magnifier to examine the front of the bar. When he saw the ".999 silver One Ounce" stamped on the front, then he acknowledged and mentioned that this was a .999 silver bar. I was familar with this art bar because I bought another Centienial Choo-Choo silver art bar last year but I wanted to buy another one to add to my art bar collection if it was at a decent premium over spot silver.

I asked the dealer how much he wanted for the Choo-Choo bar. What he did next was to weigh the bar on his digital scale. It took him a while to weigh it. I guess he was double checking the weight of the bar. After what appeared to be a long while, he took the bar off his digital scale and gave me a price of $25.00. I said to myself........"WHAT??????" Spot silver was $33.85/oz at that time according to Kitco.com and he was selling it to me at $8.85 UNDER SPOT SILVER PRICE. At that point, I was deciding if I wanted to get it. It seemed too good to be true when I first heard that price so I asked that coin show dealer if that bar weighed 1-troy oz. He said that it did not weigh 1 troy oz. He said something about it weighing only "2/3 of an oz". I thought to myself "HUH? WTF???". So what I did next was to take a chance and buy that Choo-Choo bar for $25.00.

After I left the show, I decided to go to one of the coin shops in that area to get them to weigh this bar for me. I did not want to believe that this bar weighed well under 1 troy oz. The coin shop employee weighed the silver bar and it weighed 1 troy oz and I saw the reading for myself. Clearly this was an error on the coin show dealer's part but I suspect that he was using sterling silver conversions to figure out how much .999 pure silver was contained in this bar but I do not understand that because he clearly saw that it was .999 pure silver stamped on the bar and it weighed 1 troy oz when I took it to a coin dealer that was far away from the coin show. I suspect that he was trying to weigh this like a sterling silver bar and priced it like a sterling silver art bar despite the fact that the weight and purity was cleary stamped on the bar. I am just guessing on my part for why the dealer was asking for only $25 for a 1 troy oz .999 silver art bar when spot silver finished Friday (July 1, 2011) at $33.85/oz (Kitco quote).

I thought to myself.........I ended up getting this 1-oz silver art bar $25 which was well under spot because this dealer somehow kept thinking that this was sterling silver. I am not complaining because that was the price he gave me and I agreed to it. This ended up being the best silver art bar find of this year. This is the first time that I bought a 1-oz silver bar for a steep discount under spot. :)

[1970 silver art]

Here is another silver art bar that I bought from an out-of-town coin shop that I visited about 2 weeks ago

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/ChurchHillFront10.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/ChurchHillBack10.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/Churhillconfirmation.jpg


It is a "Sir Winston Churchill" 1-oz silver art bar (SCL-20V). It was minted by Silver Creations in 1972. I paid a total price of $38.91 for it about 2 weeks ago (spot silver was $34.32/oz on June 24, 2011).

[ximmy]

Very nice Churchhill... Nice choo-choo too

[1970 silver art]

I decided to take my 1975 World Wide Mint "Lovemans" bar to one of my local dealers for a "silver bath" to make it nice and shiny. Here is what the front of the bar looks like after it was cleaned by the dealer:

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/CleanLovemans.jpg

I usually do not clean any of the silver art bars that I buy but this was a rare exception because this bar was heavily toned when I bought it and I did not like that much toning on a silver art bar. While not perfect after the cleaning process, it looks much better than it did when I bought it yesterday (see post #151 for comparison). I was planning to put it in an airtite but the thickness of this art bar caused it to not fit properly in the airtite. I ended up putting it in a plastic flip.

[1970 silver art]

My latest silver art bar purchase...........................

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovablePandasFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/LovablePandasBack.jpg

It is a 1-oz "Lovable Pandas" silver art bar (ISIC-1V). It was minted in 1973 by International Silver Ingot Co. Mintage number for this particular art bar is 500 according to the 4th edition of Archie Kidd's silver art bar guidebook. I bought this last Tuesday (July 12) on ebay for $33.90 (spot silver was $36.15 at that time). I received it in the mail today and I was able to take a couple of pictures of it. I will have to admit that the two above pictures are IMO the best silver art bar pictures that I took so far since I started taking pictures of silver art bars.

Generally speaking, silver art bars sell for very high premiums on ebay. The ebay BIN price for this bar was about $60 but the reason that I was able to pay only $33.90 for this particular silver art bar is because I able use my ebay bucks certificate that I earned in the last quarter to bring this price down.

[1970 silver art]

I apologize to the GSUS community for the broken picture links in this thread. I did not notice this until now when I was looking through earlier posts on this thread. Apparently my old picture links no longer worked after GSUS switched over to vBulletin forum software in early June 2011, however, I was able to "fix" the picture links on most of my silver art bar pictures on this thread.

[1970 silver art]

Some sport-themed silver art bar porn.............................

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/1978WorldSeriesFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/1978WorldSeriesBack.jpg


It is a 1-oz "World Series 1978" silver art bar (TM-19). It was minted in 1978 by a private company called The Mint. These are very hard to find at coin shows and the mintage number for this particular silver art bar is 150. Serial # 75 (of 150). I paid $60.00 for it today (spot closed today at $42.90/oz). On a relative basis, it is a decent buy and this bar was on my silver art bar wish list. I am very happy with this purchase. :)

[1970 silver art]

I meant to post this silver art bar find last month but better late than never..................

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/BabeRuthFront.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/COScollect/BabeRuthBack.jpg

It is a gold-plated version of the 1-oz "Babe Ruth Batting" silver art bar (SCL-5G). I bought it last month from my main local dealer and I paid $43.40 for it (spot silver finished at $40.55 on the day of purchase). This silver art bar was minted in 1973 by Silver Creations Ltd. Serial # 999. The mintage number for this version of the Babe Ruth silver art bar is 1000. This bar attracts me because I love collecting sports-themed silver art bars and this hits the spot for me. It is also an interesting local coin shop find because, since early May, I have not had much luck finding many silver art bars at the local dealers in my area. This is my reward for being at the right place at the right time.

[Half Sense]

1970 silver art, you have some nice rare bars in your collection. I think you should do a blog about your hobby, a place where you can collect all your thoughts and post about individual bars you have obtained.

Blogger and Wordpress are 2 places that offer free blogs.

[1970 silver art]

1970 silver art, you have some nice rare bars in your collection. I think you should do a blog about your hobby, a place where you can collect all your thoughts and post about individual bars you have obtained.

Blogger and Wordpress are 2 places that offer free blogs.

Actually, K-os brought up this idea of me doing a silver art bar internet blog but thanks for bringing it up. However, I do keep a "silver art bar journal" that is offline and I have been writing in that silver art bar journal since May 2011. My silver art bar journal is a lot more detailed than this thread. This thread is only for sharing knowledge of particular silver art bars but my silver art bar journal gives my perspective on that particular buying experience as well as who I might meet and certain observations that I have on the hobby. My silver art bar journal is much longer and more detailed than this thread.

I have not made a final decision yet on whether or not I will do an online blog on this topic but it is a good idea and there is a very good possibility that I will do one. am a member of IASAC (International Association of Silver Art Coolectors) and I might decide to write an article or two for that particular club before I go out on my own to do a blog. I am also working on some other things pertaining to the art bar hobby. If I end up doing a silver art bar blog, then I will mention it on this thread.

[1970 silver art]

There is a husband & wife dealer I see at the coin shows in Florida who stocks some of the adult art bars. They had a complete set of the Crown Mint Beauties last week. I bought from them an unusual 5-oz Marilyn Monroe (nude) round I had never seen before. On the back it lists all her movies and has a very small Madison Mint logo. I have found zero information about this round anywhere on the net.

Half-Sense,

I forgot to mention this but the husband and wife dealers that you were referring to in your above post were at the coin show in Dalton, Georgia last weekend. I checked out what he had and I ended up buying the "1978 World Series" silver art bar from him (see post # 159). He always had different silver art bars each time that he and his wife attend the Dalton and Chattanooga Spring and Fall coin shows each year. They are nice people to do business with in person and online (on their ebay store).

[osoab]

I meant to post this silver art bar find last month but better late than never..................

It is a gold-plated version of the 1-oz "Babe Ruth Batting" silver art bar (SCL-5G). I bought it last month from my main local dealer and I paid $43.40 for it (spot silver finished at $40.55 on the day of purchase). This silver art bar was minted in 1973 by Silver Creations Ltd. Serial # 999. The mintage number for this version of the Babe Ruth silver art bar is 1000. This bar attracts me because I love collecting sports-themed silver art bars and this hits the spot for me. It is also an interesting local coin shop find because, since early May, I have not had much luck finding many silver art bars at the local dealers in my area. This is my reward for being at the right place at the right time.

So you got gold and the dog in one buy? Sweet.
What would the approximate gold weight be?

[1970 silver art]

So you got gold and the dog in one buy? Sweet.
What would the approximate gold weight be?

Honestly I do not know but I am guessing that it is not that much gold in that silver art bar since it is gold plated. When I bought it from the main local dealer, they did not care about the gold-plating on this silver art bar because it was priced at the same .999 silver premium as the other .999 silver that they had at that time. That is good that they did not care about the gold-plating because there are probably some dealers elsewhere that will charge an extra premium for the gold-plating on a silver bar.

[gunDriller]

can we have some more Silver Porn please ?

http://images.replacements.com/images/images5/flatware/T/towle_old_lace_sterling_1939_monograms_flat_handle _butter_spreader_P0000165350S0063T2.jpg

i got one of these recently. 29 grams of Sterling, cost me 25 cents. it was in a pile of silver-plated silverware.

it's wierd though - there's 2 different Towle Sterling butter knives in the Old Lace pattern.

http://i2.ebayimg.com/07/i/001/2c/ab/015b_35.JPG

same pattern & Manufacturer - Towle Old Lace.

i think the one with the sharp point is the butter knife, the one i got is the butter spreader.

[1970 silver art]

can we have some more Silver Porn please ?

http://images.replacements.com/images/images5/flatware/T/towle_old_lace_sterling_1939_monograms_flat_handle _butter_spreader_P0000165350S0063T2.jpg

i got one of these recently. 29 grams of Sterling, cost me 25 cents. it was in a pile of silver-plated silverware.

it's wierd though - there's 2 different Towle Sterling butter knives in the Old Lace pattern.

http://i2.ebayimg.com/07/i/001/2c/ab/015b_35.JPG

same pattern & Manufacturer - Towle Old Lace.

i think the one with the sharp point is the butter knife, the one i got is the butter spreader.


Yep. That can be considered silver porn by some but not silver art bar porn. Silver art bar porn is the best kind silver porn that you can own IMO. Silver art bar porn is also the most addicting silver porn. Once you get the silver art bar porn addiction, then there is no turning back. Take me for example. 3 years of collecting silver art bars and my addiction to silver art bars is stronger than when I started seriously collecting them in August 2008. However, I am not complaining because this is a good addiction to have IMO.

[gunDriller]

in honor of Silver Art, i propose we keep posting pictures of Beautiful Silver, of Bar form or whichever form.

one of my favorites is the 1000 ounce Penoles bar. not 'art' in the conventional sense, but i still think they're beautiful.

http://www.apmex.com/Resources/Catalog%20Images/Products/45229_Obv.jpg

http://goldprice.org/bob/uploaded_images/penoles-silver-close-722436.jpg

[1970 silver art]

As 2011 came and went, I will say that 2011 has been my best year EVER as a silver art bar collector. In several ways it has been my best year ever in that I was able to find and buy a lot of rare and semi-rare silver art bars that were on my silver art bar wish list. I went to a total of 20 coin shows in 3 states (TN, GA, and AL) in 2011 and most of them ended up being well worth it for me because I have found some very interesting art bars and that felt great to be able to find what I was looking for. It was well worth the miles that I traveled. Some of my best silver art bar finds have occurred at the 2 Chattanooga coin shows, TN and the 2 Dalton, GA coin shows that I have attended and a lot of my rare silver art bar finds have also occurred at the various local coin shops that I frequently visited.

During various times in 2011, I met several other silver art bar collectors and that was a great experience for me be cause they are more knowledgeable and more experienced than I am. It felt great to hang out with them and discussing the silver art bar hobby. I have learned a lot from them. Meeting other silver art bar collector is priceless and I will never forget that.

Also during 2011, I have also increased my time in writing about my purchases, my observations, my opinions on a particular bar and other silver art bar hobby issues in my silver art bar journal. This journal is offline and I will write in it after I find and purchase an art bar or if I have observed something on ebay or when I am looking for art bars locally at the dealers. I thought about starting a blog on this but I decided not to start a blog because I post on 4 other collector-oriented internet forums and Facebook and I am also busy putting together a digital silver art bar scrap book that will be for my personal records only. Between doing all of that and working overtime at my job, I feel that I could not give it my time and my best effort to start an internet silver art bar blog at this point in time.

Ebay has also been a good place for me to buy some of the rare silver art bars that I was looking for in 2011. With the exception of one silver art bar that I bought on ebay, most of the ones that I won or bought as a BIN auction on ebay I paid a "collector's premium" for it which was expected but I did not mind because I bought what I was looking for and what I liked. In 2012, I will continue to use ebay to buy the rare silver art bars that are in my wish list.

As I mentioned, 2011 was my greatest year EVER as a silver art collector and 2012 will be very hard (maybe impossible) to match but I hope that 2012 will be a decent year for me as a collector. I plan to go to several coin shows in 2012 but it will not be nearly as many as in 2011. Since I now have an idea of which coin shows are the best ones to go to, then I will concentrate on them. Of course, I will continue to go to the several local dealers in my area to seek out more rare and semi-rare silver art bars because that seems to work really well for me and I will continue to look there. I still will use ebay to buy some rare art bars but since I have a feel for what certain ones are worth, then I will be a little more picky in what price I will pay for certain ones and not overpay. I still will meet and communicate with other silver art bar collectors online and in person at the coin shows that I will go to in 2012.

Since the 2012 IASAC (International Association of Silver Art Collectors) Convention is held in Dalton, GA in August 2012, then I plan to meet more silver art bar collectors there and I hope that will be a great experience for me. Besides buying the art bars, meeting other collectors that share your same interests is a great thing IMO and I look forward to the 2012 IASAC convention in August in Dalton, GA.

My desire to collect silver art bars is very strong and it is that desire that keeps me going and I will continue to enjoy this hobby because that is who I am as a person and it makes me happy. I hope that 2012 will be a good year for me as a collector. I will see.

[StreetsOfGold]

I went to a total of 20 coin shows in 3 states (TN, GA, and AL) in 2011 and most of them ended up being well worth it for me because I have found some very interesting art bars

You had the best year since you were putting into practice a Bible principle (even if you didn't know it)

Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

[MNeagle]

indeed!





(my sig...)