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Here's an interesting ingot with assay card...

MeltdownMeltdown Posts: 8,789 ✭✭✭✭✭
It's a Liberty Trade Silver ingot with assay certificate and a photo of the ingot.
It gives the weight & purity and "unconditional guarantee", but also says it was minted & assayed by Engelhard Corporation.
I'm not sure what M.T.B. stands for, it sounds familiar but I cannot remember. There's an address from
30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.
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Comments

  • gsa1fangsa1fan Posts: 5,566 ✭✭✭
    I have one just like itimage They are cool!
    Avid collector of GSA's.
  • AboutAgAboutAg Posts: 201 ✭✭


    << <i>I'm not sure what M.T.B. stands for, it sounds familiar but I cannot remember. There's an address from >>



    It's Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, Inc.

    It seems that they are much smaller now, from their website at mtbcoins.com. A few years back, it seemed that they had tons of gold/silver coins available in large quantities.

    Thanks for posting the pics -- there was speculation recently that the 'E' meant Engelhard, but I doubted it, as JM had made several bars with a nearly identical design, for MTB. But this removes all doubt!
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,128 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, a huge bullion firm in New York.
    We get our American Eagles from them.
    TD
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • gecko109gecko109 Posts: 8,231
    I have his 5oz big brother sitting on my desk as I type.
  • MeltdownMeltdown Posts: 8,789 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I have his 5oz big brother sitting on my desk as I type. >>



    Cool, with assay certificate?

    So they are not rare I take it?
  • gecko109gecko109 Posts: 8,231
    With assay certificate. Not calling them common or rare.....just stating that I have a 5 oz here. I have no real idea as to the rarity, but they dont/wont command too much of a premium. I paid spot + $3 for my 5 oz bar....a price that I think it might realize if offered for sale in an ebay auction.
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,128 ✭✭✭✭✭
    We do not get them in very often.
    TD
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • MeltdownMeltdown Posts: 8,789 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My ingot serial number does not match the one on the assay cert. Does anyone elses match?
    I was wondering if it was a "generic" photo on the card... it would be much more work to print them out for
    each individual ingot I would imagine.


  • << <i>I was wondering if it was a "generic" photo on the card... >>



    If the numbers don't match, then the cert is not of any value. There is no sense in issuing a cert if the serial numers don't match.

    Your bar is fine though. The cert would not mean a thing to me if I were buying it.
  • gsa1fangsa1fan Posts: 5,566 ✭✭✭
    My cards # looks to be the same as yours. It does not match bar serial#.

    I took a side by side of a JM & Engelhard versions.
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    Avid collector of GSA's.
  • gsa1fangsa1fan Posts: 5,566 ✭✭✭
    Front & back of JM bar
    image
    Avid collector of GSA's.
  • AboutAgAboutAg Posts: 201 ✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I was wondering if it was a "generic" photo on the card... >>



    If the numbers don't match, then the cert is not of any value. There is no sense in issuing a cert if the serial numers don't match.

    Your bar is fine though. The cert would not mean a thing to me if I were buying it. >>



    FWIW, many bullion coins come with COAs (many with serial numbers on the COA), even though the coins have no serial number. Collectors as a whole fine that the COAs have a value (some of the knockoffs of the Chinese pandas even include a *real* COA -- which I guess proves your point).

  • gecko109gecko109 Posts: 8,231


    << <i>

    << <i>

    << <i>I was wondering if it was a "generic" photo on the card... >>



    If the numbers don't match, then the cert is not of any value. There is no sense in issuing a cert if the serial numers don't match.

    Your bar is fine though. The cert would not mean a thing to me if I were buying it. >>



    FWIW, many bullion coins come with COAs (many with serial numbers on the COA), even though the coins have no serial number. Collectors as a whole fine that the COAs have a value (some of the knockoffs of the Chinese pandas even include a *real* COA -- which I guess proves your point). >>




    Absolutely never understood this. If the counterfeiter is adept enough to make a "passable" gold or silver coin, then why in the hell would a little piece of paper be any kind of obstacle? Gotta be 20x easier to fake a piece of obscure paper than a solid metal coin.
  • OPAOPA Posts: 17,119 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The bullion refineries, in my opinion, used the assay card on silver bullion bars, primarily as a marketing tool, and it seems to have paid off. You might even compare it to a "First Strike" label on a coin. ... It's still the same amount of PM with or without the assay card or label. image
    "Bongo drive 1984 Lincoln that looks like old coin dug from ground."
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