Month: October 2020

Yardney Electric Corporation was founded in 1944 in New York City. They were among the first companies in the world to successfully produce and commercialize rechargeable silver-zinc and magnesium silver chloride batteries. They were acquired in 1969 by Whittaker Corporation. In 1970, the company moved to Pawcatuck, Connecticut. They went through a series of changes over the years and today are known as Yardney Technical Products. Many of the ingots they did were presentation pieces and have initials of the recipient stamped on the ingot. I have two serializes pieces that are not personalized. I believe these to be much less common and very happy to have them. Each of these weigh 4 troy oz. This is common for all Yardney pieces.

These ingots are a bit of a mystery and no real provenance has been discovered, but these are most commonly referred to as the name above suggests. They came in two styles a chunky pour and a second variety flat longer pour. I suspect these originated on the West Coast, because both of mine came from California sources. If anyone has more definitive information, please leave a note. Thank you.

This is my only “X” box ingot. These are part of what is known as the “Ohio” typeset, a series of local Ohio coin shops if you will, that had bars made for them by Jackson Precious Metals (the predecessor of Ohio Precious Metals). These are most commonly found in 10 Jackson Precious Metals variety, but others include Allen’s, Lexington, Pilolli’s, and Columbus Precious Metals. Big fan of this bar.

Finishing out the “W” box with a handful of old refiners, some better known than others. First up is WEM, Wechsler Manufacturing Enterprises (owner Dave Wechsler). Some of these appear polished and others not. There are also a few varieties of molds and variations of Serial/Lot #s. See pics below.

Next up is Western Pacific Coin & Silver Exchange. These bars come out of Nevada circa early 70s. The company was shut down in 1974 after being sued by numerous investors for failing to deliver on silver contracts that were called in. They had a sister company, Western Pacific Gold and Silver Exchange that was also shut down at that time.

Next up is World Wide Coin Investments Limited. This is a really nice looking bar from Brian R’s collection.

Lastly, is another “W” bar from Brian R’s collection. WESCAN is one I’ve come across several times, but have not been able to find any information about them.

The Windmill Mine was located in Clark County, NV and operated until the early nineteen hundreds. These ingots were most certainly commemorative pieces of some sort, but hugely popular and very scarce. They came in two types, a flat pour and a chunky pour. Below are bars that I still own or have previously owned.

Another collector shared a type 1 piece on 2/6/21 that is larger in size. I very rare piece to come across. Thanks to Josh C. for sharing this!

Some really great information has been discovered on Wilkinson over the last few years. The company operated out of Santa Monica CA in the late 60s through 70’s era. They went by the name The Wilkinson Dental Manufacturing Company and were a large supplier of metal castings at the time. Years later they moved to Post Falls, ID. They are still in business today as The Wilkinson Company. Here are a few pieces from my collection. These were purchased from a coin shop in Southern California about 4-5 years back, along with a third button that I no longer own. Makes sense that they survived close to their original home in Santa Monica. Pretty cool history! They also made traditional old pour style bars in 5 and 10 oz class, of which I have come across a few. It’s a special day when you come across a Wilkinson piece. Very rare. Here are the two that I still own today.

WGB bars have become quite collectible, particularly after discovered they were related to the Buschmeyer bars. This old refiner operated out of Louisville, KY. Great looking pieces.

Here are some great pieces from Brian R’s collection. Awesome!

Check out the big boy below, shared by Prashant K.

There was a time not so many years ago that you could scoop up World Mint pieces for reasonable premiums, but no longer. These have gotten very hot among vintage collectors. World Mint is among the more well know of the old refiners having operated for many years, coupled with the wide variety of bars they made from pressed to extruded and poured styles. They operated out of Phoenix, AZ until 1975 from what I have discovered through research. I’m a big fan of these. Here are a few from my collection.

Big fan of this old refiner out of Fontana, CA. They operated from 1975-1983 and have quite a following among vintage collectors. They made vintage silver rounds in 1 oz, as well as poured bars ranging from 5 oz up to 100 oz class. Below are some examples.

I recently discovered something crazy while reviewing WSR on Allengelhard.com. They had a rare 10 oz piece that had a logo that I’m quite familiar with, but never associated with WSR. The bar I’m going to show is a unicorn in that I’ve never seen another like it. It was made no doubt by WSR for another Southern California company called Western Bancorp Data Processing Company (WBDPC) that operated in El Segundo, CA. They operated from 1972-1981.

Brian R. has an amazing WSR collection that he was nice enough to share. Enjoy.

Had to kick off the “W” box with this old refiner. I’m a huge fan of these bars and they have really come into their own, as collectors are aggressively buying these up when they come up, which is seldom. These ingots came in 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 oz size. Here are my two 10 oz which have slight differences in stamping.

Here’s another beautiful 10 oz class from Brian R’s collection.

Lastly, a family photo of my West Coast Refining pieces.