Month: August 2020

Rounding out the P box, I’m going to share some pieces that you don’t often see. I few of the following are outstanding, but not well known hallmarks. I’m going to start with my favorite, which is from the great state of Florida. Precious Metals Inc. out of Ft. Lauderdale is one you very rarely see. This is a beautifully made bar with a great hallmark in center with weight and serial on opposite sides of the bar. Extremely unique look.

Next up is a mold that will look very familiar to you. It’s a spitting image of the popular West Coast Refining 10 oz ingots. Precious Metals & Refining 10 oz class odd weight. My theory is West Coast Refining likely made these for them in very limited quantity, because you never see these. I have only seen one other than the one pictured.

Next up is a PERCO 10 oz class. I’ve seen a few of these in different varieties over the years. Known for the superb pour lines. Check this out.

Next is a cool old pour 5 oz from P.C., which I know nothing about, but really dig the old style. Serial #22.

Here’s a very cool 10 oz class PMP with a serial/lot number of 913 on obverse. This comes from Brian R’s collection. I really dig these, especially the ingot shape with the PMP stamp on side of the image of the bar/hallmark. Thanks for sharing, Brian.

Last up is another from Brian R’s collection. Not a lot known a bout PAR R, but a nice looking bar for sure.

Nice looking old pour.

I’m a big fan of these ingots, which were 70’s era. Most don’t know that PMTARCO stands for Precious Metals Testing and Refining Company out of Anaheim, CA. They came in many sizes and varieties. Iv’e seen probably 5-6 different variations of these. I have several 2 oz pieces that I’ll post in my upcoming smalls blog posts.

Here’s another variety shared by Brian R. Beautiful bar!

Not to be confused with Phoenix Precious Metals, Phoenix Refining Corporation was actually a New York refiner. Most of the ingots found today are type 2 as per the picture below. Iconic hallmark with a Rocket going through the O. These have been found in 1 oz commercial art bars, to 5, 10 and 25 oz+ pours. The type 1 is exceptionally rare and only a handful have been discovered in 5 and 10 oz class. The type 1 has only the rocket hallmark on the obverse with no name stamped.

Placer Sierra out of Rocklin, CA, was another one of many California refiners back in the late 70s as a gold and silver reclamation company. They were in operation from 1979 to 1985 with their refining done in Orangevale, CA. Their ingots have been found in sizes ranging from 1 oz to 100 oz. They used to be commonly found in 10 oz, but with the growth in new collectors coming into the market, you don’t see these often.

Here is a rarely seen 1 oz class example shared by Jon M. Love this piece!

PPM out of Arizona has become one of the more popular and commonly collected vintage pieces. They came in 1, 5 and 10 oz mainly, although a few larger bars have come up from time to time. These used to be so easy to find, but with the growth of the collector market, people are starting to accumulate and hold so you don’t see as many come up as several years back. There are also different variety and stamping patterns for many ppm bars. I’ll be showcasing the smaller bars in some upcoming posts on silver smalls. Here are my PPM bars.

Can’t think of a more fitting ingot to kick off the “P” box than Perth old pours. The Perth Mint has a rich history going all the way back to 1899. Most of the collectible bars that you may see on rare occasions were done in the late 70’s to early 80s timeframe. There is a good resource to learn about some of the various pieces and varieties at allengelhard.com. These bars truly are among my very favorite of any old pours out there. There is a certain quality in the way they were made and a certain beauty that they achieve with age. Below are pieces from my collection. I’ll be doing more with Perth in the future with a focus on their smaller highly rare and collectible 1 oz ingots.

I have been wanting to do this write up and share of images for quite sometime. Hope you enjoyed it.

Not a lot of “O” box, but here are some of the more interesting “O” ingots I’ve collected over the years.

OIO is one that has been a mystery. They are beautifully done and I’ve seen them in 1 oz, 10 oz and even a few larger sizes. They are fairly scarce.

Oregon Gold and Silver, OGS, is another really cool old refiner. They use a mold that is nearly identical to the Brown Materials and Golden Analytical pieces. They mainly came in 10 oz, but I’ve seen a 5 oz and I own a 2 oz piece that I’ll post in my “smalls” blog later. These are really cool bars.

Oxford has been around for more than 40 years now and still operates today out of Anchorage, Alaska. They made bars ranging from one oz commercial pressed bars to poured bars mainly found in 5 and 10 oz class, but these bars have become quite scarce, particularly the high premium 5 oz class. Heres a link to their website. https://www.oxfordmetals.com

First up is a very scarce and highly sought after refiner, Nevada Smelting & Refining. These are incredible pieces. I wish I had more information on them. They are uniquely stamped in grams.

Next up is a National Mint Corporation which for a long time was thought to be Nevada Mining Corporation. A friend and fellow collector, Freddy V. was nice enough to share the pic below showing assay paper with hallmark. The company appears to have been based in San Diego, CA in the early to mid 1970s.

Next up is an extruded piece from Northstar Mint. These are highly collectible for the kit kat lover.

Last up is a beautiful extruded piece from New Hope Gold & Silver. This company has a very interesting history, not uncommon to many others who committed fraud and securities violations in the precious metals space at that time. This company operated out of Bucks County, PA. The owner was arrested for fraud having bilked investors out of more than 900k back in 1981.

https://www.poconorecord.com/article/20010416/News/304169990

NCM bars have become harder to find with the vintage silver collector market growing all the time. When I started collecting around 2014-2015 timeframe, these could be found regularly, but no longer. These are really cool bars and use the “Doyle’s” mold, which many collectors look for. They were founded in 1971 in Las Vegas and operated in the early-mid 70’s era.

And below are the 1 oz smalls variety. Note the non hall mark may not be an NCM, but it’s the exact mold and stamp.