Vintage Silver Bars

Where to begin with Foster ingots. All I can say is they have been on fire these last 3-4 years. I regret selling several of my more rare Foster pieces, but happy to say I still have several that I plan on keeping! The company was started in the 60’s and started making pieces in the late 60’s era. They came in all sizes from 1 oz up to over 100 oz. The company operated out of Walla Walla, Washington. Enjoy the images of some various pieces that I have previously owned and some that I still own today.

On the 3 oz pieces, there is a first generation with only the Deak Triangle and second generation, which has the Deak and Star on reverse. Below are pictures of both pieces I own.

Reverse pic.

Note the toned second gen below. It appears to be slightly shorter and thicker than the first gen at top.

I was going to save these for my upcoming “silver smalls” blog posts, but decided to include them here. I have a type 1 and type 2 one oz class Foster/Comstock Mines pieces. Sources estimate mintage at <1000, but honestly these rarely come up. Not many have survived. Premiums on these are exceptionally high. The top example is estimated at <1000, but the bottom example is one of only a handful known and has tested at a lower purity. This one has not been tested, but one featured on allengelhard has tested at 83.631% silver and 16.985% copper. Very interesting.

Here’s some images of Foster pieces I owned previously. These are all my pictures, by the way.

My good buddy Brian R. was nice enough to share a great pic of a 3 and 10 oz class poured Foster below.

I’ve struggle to find any information on Franklin Bros. operation. Based on the style of the ingots, my guess is late 70’s era and I suspect they were not around too long, based on the limited number of these that exist in the collector market coupled with the the fact that I’ve only seen 5 and 10 oz class. Both the 5 and 10 oz came in a type 1 and type 2 variety. One has the stamp of Chico, CA and one does not. See below. These are high premium bars, particularly in 5 oz class.

The 5 oz are far and away my favorites. These are beautiful little bars. Enjoy.

I have been digging for awhile on Finer ingots with no success. I’m in love with these bars and fortunate to own a few different examples. If anyone has more information on these, please send me an email at silverblogger@vintagepouredbar.com. These are very high premium pieces and tend to tone up very nicely. All of them have great color.

I was able to recently dig up some information on this old company out of Roanoke, Texas. They were incorporated in 1974 and were dissolved in 1993. Not much else known, but their ingots are unique in shape and style. Very similar to Sumitomo bars for those that have seen these. Thanks to Brian R. for the below images.

Empire International are some of the most difficult ingots to track down in 5 and 10 oz class. When they are found, it’s typically been in 25 oz class. They have a really unique “Pinecone” hallmark with the word “Empire” vertically spelled out from top of pinecone to bottom. Take a look below at a rare 10 oz that Brian R. owns with a 1 oz commercial art bar.

These 10 oz are exceptionally rare. Great example. Note the extreme space between the 1 and 0 in the weight stamp.

I previously owned the below bar, and miss it dearly. It’s a great example of 25 oz class.

After conducting research on the origins of these ingots, I believe they are from E.D. Marshall Jewelers out of Scottsdale, AZ, who have been in business since 1971 and still have a chain of stores in AZ to date. It’s the only E.D. Marshall I could find that fits the profile, so I’m placing a high likelihood that it’s them. For those that collect bars from this sought after hallmark, you will know that the Sandoval Jewelers ingots in 5 and 10 oz are identical. I’m convinced that E.D. Marshall made these for Sandoval, which was likely a related operation in AZ. The premiums on both refiners are very high. The 5 oz E.D. Marshall is about as scarce as it gets, along with the Sandoval 5 oz.

I wish I knew more about Electrum. These are scarce pieces that came in both kit kat and poured variety. I have only come across this one kit kat and jumped at the opportunity to buy it. If you have looked at California Crown Mint kit kats you will notice that both the purity stamps, weight stamps and lot number stamps appear to be identical. I think that it’s possible that CCM did these bars for Electrum because CCM has dated bars at the exact timing of this date below. For those that collect kit kats, enjoy this one.

EPM was a mystery to me for quite some time, but as the hobby has grown, more and more collectors have done due diligence in finding provenance on these bars. I formerly referred to EPM bars as Empire Precious Metals, which is inaccurate. Thanks to silveringotinfo.com, this mystery has been cleared up. They posted an old advertisement confirming this is in fact Eastern Precious Metals and it was started in 1980 out of Lancaster, PA. It was affiliated with a business called Steinmetz Coins and Currency. I have a type 1 and type 2 example. There as an extruded type 3 ten oz bar that I sold a few years back.

When it comes to collecting vintage silver bars, it’s hard to top Engelhard. They have been the biggest name over the years in the silver bar game and have a very large following among serious collectors. While I’m not an expert on Engelhard, there is a lot of great information available on the company, and particularly the reference site allengelhard.com, which breaks down the different sizes, varieties, estimated mintages, etc. Check out this resource if you have not already. I started slow with Engelhard, but over the years started to hoard them and believe these are value bars with fair premiums in many cases. Some can get ridiculously expense, but such is the game of supply and demand. The P series “waffle backs” are one of my favorite Engelhard bars to stack because they can still be found for premiums that don’t break the bank. With that said, these will most certainly appreciate in value as more collectors enter the market and hold these in their collections.

7th series ‘P’ serial variation and 10th series ‘P’ serial variation. These were made out of Plainville, Massachusetts in the late 70s, hence the ‘P’ serial. Estimated 50,000 were made of each, but many have not survived over the years due to being melted down, especially in 1980 during the height of the silver rush.

One of my personal favorites is the 9th series ‘W’ prefix Engelhard bars that were made on the West Coast out of Anaheim, CA from 1979 onward until they ceased operations there in 2000. These bars have really appreciated in value over the 6 years that I’ve been collecting. I’m really fortunate to have a nice group here.

It could take a lifetime to collect all the varieties that Engelhard has to offer. I’d like to share some additional varieties that I have acquired over the years.

My favorite Engelhard is the rare 6th series in ‘P’ serial variety with SilverTowne counterstamp. I waited a long time to acquire one in this condition.

My real love is 5 oz pieces, though, and I have some nice examples, but always looking to add more Engelhard pieces in this weight class.

These are my rarest of the 5 oz Engelhard pieces below.

Hope you enjoyed these. I’ll be added a few more in the near future to this blog post.

Happy to add some more updates today on 6/4/20. My friend and fellow collector Brian R. has a very impressive Engelhard collections. Below are pictures of his Engelhard ingots.

Here are a trio of 5 oz class Engelhard MFR ingots shared by Prashant K.

To round out the “D” box, we have a few notable refiners to share. DHF has been in operation for many years and operate on the West Coast with offices in Southern and Northern California. They still operate today, but have not poured bars for the retail market for quite some time to my knowledge. The example shown below is consistent with 70s era characteristics.

DMSI is another that you don’t often see. I have seen examples in 5 and 10 oz class, but not a lot of available information on this refiner. It’s a classic old pour style and very collectible.