Help: Identifying Silver Bars

carsgoby

The two that appear to be extruded are 10oz and the poured is 21.49toz. Do these demand any collector premium? Anyone know the mints/maker? Any help is appreciated!

asheland

I'm not sure who made them, but they look vintage...

Smudge

I would expect a premium for those, not sure how much, but they look cool, and collectors will pay a premium for cool bars.

Namvet69

W G & S is a big clue but I'm stumped. I do like that bar. Peace Roy G

Weiss

The only WG&S I could find is a British firm operating from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s (William Gallimore & Sons). But they made primarily flatware, and that in plated silver rather than solid. Seems very unlikely this is theirs.

My 2 cents:
I believe these are the type of bar made in the tens of thousands in middle of the 20th century by local smelters or scrap yards. Every town had a dentist, every major town had a photo mart that developed photographs, lots of WWII scrap and surplus was loaded with silver soldier.

So these are industrial raw materials--the product of crude recycling destined for whatever industry needed a manageable block of material for their product. The extruded bars may even be the product of an amature smelter from the 1980s metal run-up. They are interesting and nice to have. But in my experience, without a known maker's mark, they aren't really collectible. That's not to say they have no value over their silver content. But it seems like they rarely sell for much of a premium--and buyers are far fewer and far between than bars made by known companies. So they may take longer to sell and they may sell for less.

If ever there was a time to try to sell them for a premium, it's now. Unless you recently bought them because you like them. In which case, enjoy them!

dcarr

@Weiss said:
The only WG&S I could find is a British firm operating from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s (William Gallimore & Sons). But they made primarily flatware, and that in plated silver rather than solid. Seems very unlikely this is theirs.

My 2 cents:
I believe these are the type of bar made in the tens of thousands in middle of the 20th century by local smelters or scrap yards. Every town had a dentist, every major town had a photo mart that developed photographs, lots of WWII scrap and surplus was loaded with silver soldier.

So these are industrial raw materials--the product of crude recycling destined for whatever industry needed a manageable block of material for their product. The extruded bars may even be the product of an amature smelter from the 1980s metal run-up. They are interesting and nice to have. But in my experience, without a known maker's mark, they aren't really collectible. That's not to say they have no value over their silver content. But it seems like they rarely sell for much of a premium--and buyers are far fewer and far between than bars made by known companies. So they may take longer to sell and they may sell for less.

If ever there was a time to try to sell them for a premium, it's now. Unless you recently bought them because you like them. In which case, enjoy them!

I don't think "amateur smelters" had the capability to make smooth extruded silver slabs.
But a number of silver bar producers (such as "Swiss of America") purchased silver slabs from refiners such as Handy & Harman. I believe the two bars shown on the left were shear-cut from slab silver that was made by Handy & Harman or similar. A small-time operator then marked the sheared pieces with the content.

derryb

first two, without ID, generic. spot + 10%. Agree with Dan, signs of being shear cut from larger sheet.

WG & S likely a William Gallimore & Sons raw bar. If so probably dated 1891-1927. However it bears their initials, not their mark (logo). Initials and not a "mark" could indicate raw in-house stock to be used for plating.