Like the Green Valley post I did earlier today, Midas Metals are also thought to be commemorative pieces from the silver rich area of Elko County, Nevada. The Midas property was acquired by Hecla Mining in 2018. Here is a link for reference. https://www.hecla-mining.com/midas/
These have become harder to come by and prices continue to rise on them when they come up for auction.
As I go through the silver smalls genre, one that comes up frequently with high collectibility is Green Valley 1 oz ingots. These are really interesting pieces believed by many to be from Green Valley, AZ, which is home to a few very well known mines, the Sierrita Mine owned by Freeport-McMoRan and the Mission Mine owned by ASARCO. These are characterized by an “Atom” like hallmark and a unique reverse with a narrow rectangular cavity on the back. They are very well done and command healthy premiums. There are two varieties of this bar. See pics below for differences.
Here is a more scarce variety that we will refer to as type 2 that has two horizontal lines on the obverse to the left and right of the atom hallmark. Big thank you to Tim C. for sharing these images.
When it comes to Australian vintage bullion, there are the Big 3, Perth, Harringtons, and ABC. Hard for me to like one over the other, as they are all so beautiful. ABC has been around since 1972 and still in business today out of Melbourne, Victoria Australia. They are high premium ingots, but not to the level of Perth and Harringtons ingots. Regardless, these are absolute gems if you can find them. It’s taken me quite some time to assemble the following collection, which are all from my personal collection
Beautiful toning forming on reverse of the 100 gram ingots.
Here is a new update to the ABC Blog. A fellow collector in Australia, Bradley J. recently contacted me through the blog with a very rare and unique ABC 52.2 gram ingot. This is a stunning piece. Enjoy the pics and thank you Bradley!
Hope you enjoyed this blog entry. Comments are welcome. Would love to hear from like minded collectors.
I’m finally getting around to writing about my favorite genre of vintage silver bars, which are what I refer to as “Silver Smalls.” My definition may differ from others, but I consider anything 100 gram and smaller as a “Small.” I can’t wait to share some of the many 1-3+ troy oz pieces in my collections, but wanted to kick it off with one of my very favorites and among the most rare pieces in my collection. Perth made these pieces circa late 70s-early 80s era from what I gather. They came in serialized and non serialized. There are theories that the non serial variety were a test run, because they are far less often found than serialized. I have 30 pieces and of the 30, 4 are non serial. That pretty much sums it up. Both carry ridiculous premiums, but if you can put together sequential sets, it goes to even a higher level. I have 5 different sequential sets pictured below. Enjoy.
Note the estimated mintage of the serialized variety is <500 and estimated non serial <500. I personally believe the non serial is far lower, but regardless, many of these 1 oz Perths have disappeared for good. Aside of my collections, I’m aware of cumulatively maybe a few dozen at most from my knowledge of various collectors in the community who have shared pictures of their Perth 1 oz ingots. Hope you enjoyed this post. If you are a collector of these, please do follow the blog and or drop a note/email. Would love to hear from you.
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.
Vintage Silver Bars 