Vintage Silver Bars

One of my all time favorites, Simmons is an iconic hallmark and well known among silver bar enthusiasts. The company operated out of Chicago, Illinois in the 60’s and 70’s. The made many varieties of bars from small 5 and 10 gram bars to 1 oz pressed commercial bars and a slew of beautiful poured bars from 5-14.5 oz class for the most part, but did some larger bars in their later years.

The hallmark changed later with Simmons to be a more industrial looking S. They began using Simmons Refco in their name. Some believe this is short for Simmons Refining Company. According to Allengelhard and I’m quoting them hear, “While one might assume  the “REFCO” designation would represent “Refining Company”, the acronym was in reality derived from Raymond Earl Friedman & Co. in New York, a financial services company specializing in commodities and futures contracts.” I have not seen provenance for either of these designations, but would love to know for sure.

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.

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.

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.

I decided to pair these two old hallmarks together, as they are cousins. If you look at the 5 and 10 oz mold on these, you will notice they fall into the what we call the Doyle’s Mold type. It has always been believed that many of these bars originated around Southern California, as this is where Doyle’s Mint was located. We recently got some provenance that proves Regold indeed was in Southern California. In fact, it was founded by John Rego, who was also the founder of JJSR. Regold was later mentioned in advertisements as formerly being J & J Smelting and Refining, which is really an amazing find in terms of the history. See the below pic with the back story.

Riverside Coin & Gold was in Riverside, CA, but not a lot of info available on them. RCG is the stamp within the state of CA hallmark. These are highly collectible and have become harder and harder to find.

RMMR old pours are thought to be the same company as RMM out of Salt Lake City, Utah, known for their extruded bars (same style as the Swiss of America and Kingsmen bars). These old RMMR pours are very well done and have tons of character. Here are a few examples for your viewing pleasure.

Here are a few killer examples from Brian R’s collection, which includes a very scarce 5 oz example.

This hallmark is a favorite of mine and among the more recognized hallmarks from the “R” box. The company operated in the early 1980s out of Anaheim, CA. They poured bars primarily in 5 and 10 oz class, but also did 1 oz silver rounds and bars, including rounds specifically made for Disney. Premiums are high on the bars if you can find them. Many have a double stamping phenomenon common for this maker.

Here is another fantastic 5 oz example from Brian R’s collection.

This was a company out of Hamburg, NY that operated in the early 80’s. It took me awhile to acquire this lone piece for the “Q” box. I have only come across a handful of 10 oz class examples. Check out this link from Silver Ingot Info, http://silveringotinfo.com/doku.php?id=q:quatre which has a few nice images of another 10 oz variety not commonly found. There is also a picture of an assay paper for a transaction occurring in 1981 which gives a good idea of their operational timeline. I have a Cascade Refining 10 and an IPM (Intermountain Precious Metals) 10 oz that use the exact mold and stamp pattern as this piece below. Check out my blog posts for those two refiners in earlier blogs to compare images. https://vintagepouredbar.com/2020/05/06/10-more-examples-of-c-hallmarks/ is the link for the Cascade Refining and https://vintagepouredbar.com/2020/07/12/intermountain-precious-metals/ is the link for the IPM bar.

Rounding out the P box, I’m going to share some pieces that you don’t often see. I few of the following are outstanding, but not well known hallmarks. I’m going to start with my favorite, which is from the great state of Florida. Precious Metals Inc. out of Ft. Lauderdale is one you very rarely see. This is a beautifully made bar with a great hallmark in center with weight and serial on opposite sides of the bar. Extremely unique look.

Next up is a mold that will look very familiar to you. It’s a spitting image of the popular West Coast Refining 10 oz ingots. Precious Metals & Refining 10 oz class odd weight. My theory is West Coast Refining likely made these for them in very limited quantity, because you never see these. I have only seen one other than the one pictured.

Next up is a PERCO 10 oz class. I’ve seen a few of these in different varieties over the years. Known for the superb pour lines. Check this out.

Next is a cool old pour 5 oz from P.C., which I know nothing about, but really dig the old style. Serial #22.

Here’s a very cool 10 oz class PMP with a serial/lot number of 913 on obverse. This comes from Brian R’s collection. I really dig these, especially the ingot shape with the PMP stamp on side of the image of the bar/hallmark. Thanks for sharing, Brian.

Last up is another from Brian R’s collection. Not a lot known a bout PAR R, but a nice looking bar for sure.

Nice looking old pour.

I’m a big fan of these ingots, which were 70’s era. Most don’t know that PMTARCO stands for Precious Metals Testing and Refining Company out of Anaheim, CA. They came in many sizes and varieties. Iv’e seen probably 5-6 different variations of these. I have several 2 oz pieces that I’ll post in my upcoming smalls blog posts.

Here’s another variety shared by Brian R. Beautiful bar!

Not to be confused with Phoenix Precious Metals, Phoenix Refining Corporation was actually a New York refiner. Most of the ingots found today are type 2 as per the picture below. Iconic hallmark with a Rocket going through the O. These have been found in 1 oz commercial art bars, to 5, 10 and 25 oz+ pours. The type 1 is exceptionally rare and only a handful have been discovered in 5 and 10 oz class. The type 1 has only the rocket hallmark on the obverse with no name stamped.

Placer Sierra out of Rocklin, CA, was another one of many California refiners back in the late 70s as a gold and silver reclamation company. They were in operation from 1979 to 1985 with their refining done in Orangevale, CA. Their ingots have been found in sizes ranging from 1 oz to 100 oz. They used to be commonly found in 10 oz, but with the growth in new collectors coming into the market, you don’t see these often.

Here is a rarely seen 1 oz class example shared by Jon M. Love this piece!