Other Notable “R” Hallmarks

There are several other “R” ingots that I’d like to highlight for fellow collectors. First up is a bar that was incorrectly labeled as Rainier for quite some time. We have discovered provenance that this is in fact Rainbow Vacuum, which is a product of Rexair (still in business today). It only came in 15 oz and we believe was given to customers and or internal employees as gifts and or rewards.

Note the hallmark and compare with picture below.
This is the one of the logos that Rexair/Rainbow Vacuum uses.
Reverse pic.

Next up is Rio Grande, which looks almost identical to the mold that Academy used for their “finger pour” bars. Rio Grande also did 1 oz commercial art bars. This is the only pour variety I have come across for them.

Note the similarities with the Academy finger pours.
Weight and purity stamp on other side.

Rosario Mining is last up. These are really cool pieces. The company was based in New York with mine in Honduras. Note the NYH stamp and you will know the meaning behind it. These were presentation pieces given out to shareholders of the company. They did come in several varieties.

Very nice stamp with nice lines and patina.
Really nicely made little ingot.
Weight stamp on reverse. This SP stamp is a mystery, but appears to be consistent style with the weight stamp. I have a theory that it may have been a prototype piece, but it remains a mystery. Only one I’ve seen with this SP stamp.
Beautiful pair of Royal Mint ingots courtesy of Brian R. These are really nice pieces.
Check out the patina on the 10 oz class piece at bottom. Dark!

Author: Vintage Poured Bars

New blogger with a passion for old poured silver bars. I'm a Bay Area native and self employed. Active buyer of vintage silver poured bars and occasional seller.

4 thoughts on “Other Notable “R” Hallmarks”

  1. On the Rosario Mining Company Bar if it’s not marked with a fineness its a presentation ingot to shareholders for the annual meetings. The “SP” most likely means “Specie” or Dore bar. Some of these have been tested. Both ingots were analyzed at American Assay with two sample sites. The El Mochito silver ingot sites averaged 937.54 fine silver, 001.24 fine gold, 033.71 fine copper. The Rosario ingot avreraged 954.22 fine silver, 001.36 fine gold, and 005.83 fine copper (As per Holibird/Kagin)

    https://holabirdamericana.liveauctiongroup.com/Silver-Ingots-and-Brass-Tags-El-Mochito-Mine-Honduras-132283_i43490712

    The New York & Honduras Mining Company yearly reports can be found here:

    https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6283911_000/mode/2up?q=New+York+Honduras+mining+company

    A copy of the note accompanying the ingot to shareholders can be found here:

    my ingot can be found here

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  2. The other oddly shapes presentation ingots were shaped after the industrial sized 100lbs. ingots from the mine that were shipped from the mines to the US for refinement. These were also given out at the shareholder meeting or other special occaisions. They are also “Specie” or “Dore” bars with SIlver,Gold & Copper.

    This is a picture from the 1964 Shareholders report showing the Full Sized ones

    https://ia904705.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/19/items/NewY0685_1964/NewY0685_1964_jp2.zip&file=NewY0685_1964_jp2/NewY0685_1964_0004.jp2&id=NewY0685_1964&scale=8&rotate=0

    along with the complete report

    https://archive.org/details/NewY0685_1964/page/n3/mode/2up?q=Rosario+mining+company

    Please see this presentation bar as an example:

    https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/36-oz-mining-hand-pour-silver-bar-1815375403

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