Vintage Silver Bars

PPM out of Arizona has become one of the more popular and commonly collected vintage pieces. They came in 1, 5 and 10 oz mainly, although a few larger bars have come up from time to time. These used to be so easy to find, but with the growth of the collector market, people are starting to accumulate and hold so you don’t see as many come up as several years back. There are also different variety and stamping patterns for many ppm bars. I’ll be showcasing the smaller bars in some upcoming posts on silver smalls. Here are my PPM bars.

Can’t think of a more fitting ingot to kick off the “P” box than Perth old pours. The Perth Mint has a rich history going all the way back to 1899. Most of the collectible bars that you may see on rare occasions were done in the late 70’s to early 80s timeframe. There is a good resource to learn about some of the various pieces and varieties at allengelhard.com. These bars truly are among my very favorite of any old pours out there. There is a certain quality in the way they were made and a certain beauty that they achieve with age. Below are pieces from my collection. I’ll be doing more with Perth in the future with a focus on their smaller highly rare and collectible 1 oz ingots.

I have been wanting to do this write up and share of images for quite sometime. Hope you enjoyed it.

Not a lot of “O” box, but here are some of the more interesting “O” ingots I’ve collected over the years.

OIO is one that has been a mystery. They are beautifully done and I’ve seen them in 1 oz, 10 oz and even a few larger sizes. They are fairly scarce.

Oregon Gold and Silver, OGS, is another really cool old refiner. They use a mold that is nearly identical to the Brown Materials and Golden Analytical pieces. They mainly came in 10 oz, but I’ve seen a 5 oz and I own a 2 oz piece that I’ll post in my “smalls” blog later. These are really cool bars.

Oxford has been around for more than 40 years now and still operates today out of Anchorage, Alaska. They made bars ranging from one oz commercial pressed bars to poured bars mainly found in 5 and 10 oz class, but these bars have become quite scarce, particularly the high premium 5 oz class. Heres a link to their website. https://www.oxfordmetals.com

First up is a very scarce and highly sought after refiner, Nevada Smelting & Refining. These are incredible pieces. I wish I had more information on them. They are uniquely stamped in grams.

Next up is a National Mint Corporation which for a long time was thought to be Nevada Mining Corporation. A friend and fellow collector, Freddy V. was nice enough to share the pic below showing assay paper with hallmark. The company appears to have been based in San Diego, CA in the early to mid 1970s.

Next up is an extruded piece from Northstar Mint. These are highly collectible for the kit kat lover.

Last up is a beautiful extruded piece from New Hope Gold & Silver. This company has a very interesting history, not uncommon to many others who committed fraud and securities violations in the precious metals space at that time. This company operated out of Bucks County, PA. The owner was arrested for fraud having bilked investors out of more than 900k back in 1981.

https://www.poconorecord.com/article/20010416/News/304169990

NCM bars have become harder to find with the vintage silver collector market growing all the time. When I started collecting around 2014-2015 timeframe, these could be found regularly, but no longer. These are really cool bars and use the “Doyle’s” mold, which many collectors look for. They were founded in 1971 in Las Vegas and operated in the early-mid 70’s era.

And below are the 1 oz smalls variety. Note the non hall mark may not be an NCM, but it’s the exact mold and stamp.

We will close out the “M” box with some very nice examples, all highly collectible vintage pieces. Enjoy.

A favorite of mine and I wish I had more examples, is Mastiff Metals. Iconic hallmark of a Bullmastiff. These are so hard to find and considered tier one bars among collectors. Found in 5 and 10 oz class, albeit hardly ever, you’d be lucky to come across one in the wild.

Here is an absolute stunning example of a 5 oz class shared from Brian R’s collection. This is as good as it gets

Next up is an MSR ingot, a nice old pour with picture frame on both the 5 and 10 oz. Not an easy bar to find, particularly in 5 oz.

MEE is another neat vintage piece that typically is found in 5 oz class. I like the look at style of these.

Morris and Watson is an Australian refiner that’s been around for years and still in business today. This is a nice 250 gram example.

Next is a Mehlos Refinery ingot. Classic old pour style.

Next is another very cool old pour from MCR Division of Greb.

Last is MSC, that can be found in 5 and 10 oz class. Note this mold is same mold as Doyle’s Mint, RCG, Regold, and a few others.

Love this mold.

Arizona is another state with a very rich history of silver refining and many highly coveted hallmarks come out of this state, including Yellow Daisy, Arizona Assay Office, and Gila Development Company, just to name a few. For a number of years until recently, collectors were discovering these beautiful ingots with a “Cactus” hallmark, but nobody knew the maker. We finally have provenance. I believe one of the few who has paperwork that goes with the ingots pictured below.

Love this old refiner out out of Brandon, MS. Very unique hallmark of a Magnolia flower, which is the state flower of Mississippi. These came predominately in 5 and 10 oz class bars. They are very high premium and scarce today. Here are a few from my collection.

Something about ingots from Nevada. The state has a rich mining history and many collectible ingots have come from this area of the country. I’ve always been a big fan of Metalrex ingots, out of Reno, NV. They came in sizes ranging from 1+0z (very scarce) to 25+ oz. They are not common by any means and have become very sought after by serious collectors. Below are a few from my collection.

Her’s a nice 10 oz example from Brian R’s collection. This is a type 2 10 oz. Note the differences from my 9 oz odd weight above. Thanks for sharing.