September 2020 – Vintage Silver Bars

Tri-State Refining

This old refiner started back in 1973 in Iowa, but settled in South Dakota in 1976 where they ran a smelting operation near the owners farm in Hudson, South Dakota. The following link is from a 1988 court case that details the inner workings of the business with some related entities. It appears the entities became hostile toward one another in the late 80s with Tri-State being awarded damages. Very interesting link. https://law.justia.com/cases/south-dakota/supreme-court/1988/15953-1.html

Tri-State did pressed and poured bars in sizes of 1, 5, and 10+ oz. Here are a few from my collection and Brian Rs collection.

My extruded 5 and 10 oz Tri-State Refining pieces.

First gen poured vs second gen poured from Brian Rs collection. Very cool.

Other Notable “S” Refiners

Rounding out the “S” box with some known and not so known hallmarks. Enjoy!

Sumitomo Metal Mining 10 oz class ingot. These are neat bars, unique mold. Note the SMM on stamp. Hard to read at first glance, but once you see it, you get it right away.

Weight and purity stamp on bottom of bar.

The lowest serial number I’ve seen. Happy to own this.

Extruded style. Crazy toning on the ends of this bar.

Very cool Silver Investments Inc. 10 oz bar. I’ve only see 2 of these ever.

Interesting reverse stamp. Some sort of lot number.

Very desirable and sought after bar. Seaside Silver Recovery out of California. Really cool piece!

This is a rare one, old first gen SSR 10 oz class. Very few of these circulating.

SS old pour. Odd 7 oz with great toning.

This is a beautiful piece. Wish I knew more about its history.

Another crazy toned SWS old pour. This bar is so nice in hand. The pics don’t capture the color.

A pair of old SMS bars from Brian Rs collection. Very cool.

Crazy toned SMRC from Brian Rs collection.

Show stopping reverse. Check out those lines and color. Sic!

Silverfarm

Silverfarm is another West Coast refiner that I’m fond of. They operated out of San Francisco, CA circa late 70’s to early 80s. They are typically found in 10 oz poured and 1 oz pressed bars. I have both varieties, but will save the small ones for a later post. Here are my two 10 oz Silverfarm pours.

Definitely a unique hallmark with San Francisco stamped under the refiner name and centered inside an oval shape.

Weight stamp along top of oval and purity on bottom.

Note the reverse top has weight on reverse along with lot #, but bottom only has lot #. The top also appears to have a brushed finish, much like Great Western Coin and Bullion ingots that were made nearby in Modesto, CA. Very similar appearance.

Silvermat

I wish we could dig up more information on Silvermat ingots. They are great looking bars that have only been found in 1, and 5 oz class. There are two generations of these, one with the hallmark without the name and one with hallmark only. Note the difference in the two varieties below.

Top example is a 4 oz odd weight and bottom is a 5 oz odd weight.

Great little bars. Nice reverse pic of the 1st gen Silvermats.

Note the 2nd generation has the full name stamped out.

Weight stamp on side, with nice pour cracks on side.

SilverTowne

SilverTowne has a long and rich history starting out in 1949 as a coin shop and to growing into a major enterprise in the bullion market. They continue to produce huge amounts of bullion bars today out of Winchester, Indiana. Here’s a neat link to some of their history. https://www.silvertowne.com/t-SilverTowne-History.aspx. In addition, http://www.allengelhard.com has some very good information with estimated mintages on various size bars. Here are a few from my collection.

Old School 5 oz. These are getting more expensive to acquire all the time.

The majority of SilverTowne old pours are serialized.

These are very under appreciated bars in my opinion.

Silver State Bullion

SSB ingots have become in high demand over the last few years. This hallmark comes from Las Vegas, NV. Really great looking bars with the Nevada state hallmark with SSB and a star stamped on the inside. The have side stamping for weight and purity, not unlike Metalrex, another Nevada bar. Big fan of these. They came in 5, 10 and 25 oz class. Here are a few for your viewing.

Patina for days. Gorgeous example.

Caught the light a bit better here. This is crazy purple toning.

Nice character with a pour bubble on left side.

Purity on the other side. Love this style.

Another ridiculously awesome example from Brian Rs collection.

Strickland Refining

Strickland Refining has become very sought after by serious collectors over the last several years. Premiums have gone up substantially on these ingots. They are found in 1, 5, 10, 25 and 100 oz size. Strickland Refining, Inc. was founded in 1987 and became Maguire Refining some years later. They still operate out of Minneapolis, Minnesota today. These are fantastic ingots. Here’s a few below for your enjoyment.

I’m a big fan of the look of these. I just acquired my second example (bottom bar in this pic) after a long search.

Here a few from Brian Rs collection, including a 1 oz pressed bar.

Pretty awesome to see the original sticker on the 5 oz bar with date of 1983.

Sandoval Jewelers & Refiners

This is the twin of E.D. Marshall as you can tell. Identical mold and stamping pattern. My opinion is that Sandoval Jewelers is also from Arizona, somewhere around Scottsdale, where E.D. Marshall is still in business today. My theory is it was a friend and or relative of E.D. Marshall and they did bars in fairly limited quantity. These bars are high premium and particularly in 5 oz class. They are distinct with their square mold and really well done.

Love the 5 oz piece. Nice patina and character.

San Diego Refining Company

Another recognized CA hallmark, the SD bars have a great look and have developed a strong collector following as the vintage ingot hobby has grown. The company started in 1979 out of Escondido, CA (not far from San Diego). They primarily produced 5, 10 and 20+ oz bars in different varieties, some with the characteristic picture frame style and some without. Very cool pieces. The company is still in business and can be visited at http://www.sandiegorefining.com.

I believe the top example to be much older than the bottom example. You can see the difference in the stamps, mold, texture of bar, and fonts used in stamp.

Really neat to compare the differences in style.

These beauties are from Brian Rs collection. The picture frame 10 oz is my favorite here. Awesome bar.

Star Metals

Being a native of the West Coast, I have always been partial to bars from this region. Star Metals was an old CA refiner from the 70s era. They are one of the more popular, albeit common vintage bars. They used to be found often, but with the increase in new silver bar enthusiasts entering the hobby, they are becoming harder to find. The first gens are high premium and the 5’s are nearly impossible to find. I’m aware of only 3, one of which I own. Sky is the limit on price if you find one of these. The 25s carry premiums, but nothing like the 5, as there are many comps for first gen 25s, but no comps for 5 oz.