Information on Bars for redeeming silver certificates

airplanenut

I was asked to look through a collection today, and the highlight was a large silver bar, which was received by the owner's father when he redeemed silver certificates for silver before such a redemption was no longer allowed (does anyone know when that was)?

Anyhoo, the bar is a crude one, and well tarnished (I wouldn't dare call it toned ). On it, in permanent marker, were two numbers, 103.3 and 121. My assumption is that translates to 103.3oz., and the purchase price of $121 in silver certificates. Does anyone have any information about the redemption process, or the quality of silver used? The owner is considering selling, and as I understand, his mother still has quite a few more of the bars. Since there's no traceable provenance, I'm assuming the bar is worth just silver value, and doesn't have any collector value.

Thanks,

Jeremy

RWB

MsMorrisine

I was also thinking it was going to get assayed one way or another... but it is nice to know what to expect going in, plus it is a fascinating piece of history. I hope someone here can relate some personal experiences.

LindeDad

I thought the idea of the silver dollars (Morgans and Peace) was for the redemtion of silver certificates.
So as mentioned above it is probably not a mint product.

TomB

I can't recall reading where folks received larger bars for their silver certs after coinage redemption was halted. I believe I have read that up to the late 1960s one could receive small packets of silver shot for silver cert redemption.

cinman14

I've never seen a bar before.. I have seen these..

Silver Cert exchange..

topstuf

They're a mint product.
In 1968 the Treasury sold a million oz of .996-.998 and another million of .897 to .900
They were melt product and I believe either could be got for silver certs including some in shot form.

They are oooogly things. They WILL be discounted by buyers as the only market is for either coin or .999+

Even Sterling at .925 is easier to sell.

Call around. Dillon Gage probably buys them.

ProofArtworkonCircs

The redemption of silver certificates in coin dollars was stopped in 1964.
Until 1968, you could buy aproximately 1,000 ounce silver bars for $1300 in SC or bags of loose silver granules for as little as $1.
Silver granules and maybe the bars were only available in San Francisco and New York. No mail orders accepted although you might have been able to hire American Express as an agent.

Or you could get bars for a reasonable premium from Sam Sloat of Conn.
Another dealer sold souvenir sets of a SC paper dollar, a silver dollar and encapsulated silver granules. He was short changing you on the silver granules.

I remember silver certificates being worth $1.70 on the dollar.

mkman123

Actually if I am correct, when you exchanged the silver certs and got bars, the bars were unlabeled and look like generic old pour bars and just had in black marker the weight like 102.10, etc. I saw one before and it didn't have any logo or anything. Just a plain silver bar with no marks except black marker on it.

coindeuce

<< <i>Actually if I am correct, when you exchanged the silver certs and got bars, the bars were unlabeled and look like generic old pour bars and just had in black marker the weight like 102.10, etc. I saw one before and it didn't have any logo or anything. Just a plain silver bar with no marks except black marker on it. >>



These are the ingots that were exchanged by the Treasury Bureau. They were purposely made without a Mint or Treasury hallmark/seal to prevent the establishment of a black market for them. Reputable refiners that have been around long enough know exactly what they are and will usually buy them at fair market.

RWB

Lots of interesting information!

ProofArtworkonCircs

As the end day approached things got hectic at Sam Sloat's. At the last minute, a co-worker sent Sam about $1300 in silver certificates. The only bars available were slightly heavier than 1,000 ounces. Sam sent it with a bill. The creep never paid it. I sure hope that he didn't mention my name.

mkman123

One on ebay a while back got a little bit above spot. Not sure if they are too desirable. Now if they had some kind of neat stamp that separates it apart, then it would have some collectibility.

If a person had one and they didn't tell you the history of the bar, you'd assume is some generic old pour bar without any name and weight except some numbers written on it on a sharpie.

mkman123

Oh if that person wants to sell it, perhaps ebay it and write a little blurb on how the person got the bar. A bar like that would sell below spot at a B&M store. They would look at it and immediately see how it has no marks describing the fineness and weight and would be very hesitant.
Silver is up pretty good so even if she got like 2 bucks back an oz, she already made a lot of money considering she only pay 100+ silver certs back in the day.

gsa1fan

Wow, they had Sharpie's in the 1960's?








Recon I just learned something. I remember the stinking magic markers~toxic smell!

airplanenut

<< <i>Wow, they had Sharpie's in the 1960's








>>

Why, yes, in fact they were introduced in 1964

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<Wow, they had Sharpie's in the 1960's>>

He used to whine to me that he had almost 15 years on the job and at 15 years his pension would be vested. He expected to be let go before his 15 years were up. He was. This about scared me to death, but suddenly the 15 years was shortened considerably and I was grandfathered in already. I never expected to be let go at 32 years plus, but I was. I think my group wanted to get rid of my medical bills, which they did. They transferred them to corporate. Then corporate sold me and my bills (and the whole division) to another company and terminated me (laid off/retired as I was). Who would have thought it was possible? I never thought about health insurance in the old days, but consider myself very lucky to have it.

WoodenJefferson

<< <i>

<< <i>Wow, they had Sharpie's in the 1960's








>>

Why, yes, in fact they were introduced in 1964 >>



I can remember when felt tipped pens came out BEFORE the Sharpies...those were the sniff-able ones, ever see a six year old loopy from a marker?

firstmint

For exchanging silver certificates for silver bullion from the government, the cut-off date was June 24, 1968.

Public Law 90-29, S-1352, section II, stated: "Silver certificates shall be exchangable for silver bullion for one year following the enactment of this Act. Thereafter they shall no longer be redeemable in silver but shall be redeemable from any moneys in the general fund of the Treasury not otherwise appropriated".

Regrettably, the war in Vietnam took up most of the news of the day and few people were even aware of the deadline for such exchanges.

Elcontador

The exchange deadlines were mentioned in my local paper on a number of occasions in 1968. I think towards the cut-off date, you had to exchange silver certificates at the Federal Reserve branches. The LA Times ran an article on cut-off day showing a black and white pic of a line around the block of one of the branches, of people trying to exchange silver certificates.

Toward the end, I was looking for silver certificates, but they were hard to find, as people knew they were worth a premium over Federal Reserve notes. I still have a few of them; a few produced in 1957 (the last year $1 dollar silver certificates were made), and a blue seal, 1934 $5 silver certificate.

Speaking of old currency, from when I was a child in the 50s to this day, I have never seen an oversize note in circulation.

Gemini

Dealers were also trading your silver certificates for their coins and I obtained 2 twenty dollar gold pieces from a dealer in Connecticut his business name escapes me (it wasn't Sam Sloat) it was easy because we had a family run business at the time and there were still many s/s still floating around out there as I remember twenty dollar gold coins were selling for $48.00 at the time those indeed were the good old days alas I sold 11 pieces of gold a short time later for $680.00 which included a 1874 3 dollar gold piece but who knew...

Frankcoins

<< <i>Wow, they had Sharpie's in the 1960's >>



These

halfhunter

<< <i>

<< <i>Wow, they had Sharpie's in the 1960's >>



These

>>



Yep. Remember those well. Greatest thing since sliced bread ! ! !

Also remember dealers paying big premiums for Silver Certificates.

HH

MoneyLA

I remember those final days of the redemption well, even thought I was 12 at the time. Some other guys and I got on a bus from our small town about an hour outside of NYC and went into "the big apple" with about 100 of our silver certs that we had collected from paper routes, etc.

luckily, when I was in 6th grade and the first $1 FRNs were issued, my Uncle said to me to start saving the silver certificates, because they would be phased out soon.

back then savings accounts in banks paid, if I remember correctly, 3% so savings the silver certs was easy to do instead of going to the bank for a "christmas club account" that paid zero interest.

anyway, when only a few days were left before the redemption deadline, the coin stores in Manhattan were paying $1.25 for every $1 bill. on the last redemption day, they paid $2 for each $1. we were bummed that we lost out on so much "profit."

I knew the certs were redeemable for silver, but at the time the articles in the NY Times talked about getting an envelope of silver granules for each dollar-- nothing about bars unless you were a big redeemer.

so reading about this bar that the OP wrote about is interesting and new to me.

by the way some of the silver certs I sold were $5 bills and I think I had one $10 bill.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<Anyhoo, the bar is a crude one, and well tarnished (I wouldn't dare call it toned ). On it, in permanent marker, were two numbers, 103.3 and 121. My assumption is that translates to 103.3oz., and the purchase price of $121 in silver certificates.>>

The OP's number and assumptions check out. 103.3 x .900 x $1.29293 = $120.204.

I don't remember the small bars. Does anybody else have info on them?