Anyone here collect "Art Bars"

BigE

Anyone care to admit it Some of these little 1 ouncers sell for 5 bucks over spot and have interesting designs with mintages of 1000 or less. Mintages of 200 or less about 100.00. Not too many collectors out there I guess. Any thoughts?--------------------BigE

OPA

I agree, I do collect and have collected Art Bars for some time now. Since there are literally thousands upon thousand different bars issued over the last 40 years, you need to concentrate on one area. My focus is on bars related to flight, trains, Berlin Germany or artistically superior to my eyes. ( Franklin Mint excluded ) Yes, some are quite pricey, just like coins.

BigE

Opa, seems not as pricey as coins to me, there are only 1000 members of the art bar club, if the hobby would catch on a little, I see the 100.00 bars selling for 500.00 or more. Going to get me some, neat designs too!--------BigE

ksammut

I try to pick up a few art bars each week at my local B&Ms. There is no rhyme or reason to my collection. I am able to get the bars $1 over spot so they are part of my weekly silver buying (mostly 90%).

mrearlygold

I remember sending lots and lots of them off to the scrap heap back in 79/80.

I also remember keeping lots and lots of them ( coming out of my ears after awhile ).

They're neat and I'm always interested in them.

Meltdown

I've got an album full of about 50 neat designs. I haven't added to them in quite some
time because my album got filled up. I have quite a few I know sell for much more than melt.
I keep thinking I should sell those off before silver takes off and the premium dries up.

1970SilverArt

<< <i>Anyone care to admit it Some of these little 1 ouncers sell for 5 bucks over spot and have interesting designs with mintages of 1000 or less. Mintages of 200 or less about 100.00. Not too many collectors out there I guess. Any thoughts?--------------------BigE >>



Big E,

I am a silver art bar collector. I have been collecting 1-oz silver art bars since August 2008 and I love this hobby. I mainly collect silver art bars that were minted in the 1970's from various private mints such as World Wide Mint, Madison Mint, Mother-Lode, United States Silver Corp(USSC), and Mount Everest Mint to name a few. My favorite '70's silver art bars are the Coca-Cola silver art bars from the World Wide Mint. Earlier this year I had some very good luck buying a lot of them. I paid $25 for most of the Coca-Cola silver art bars that I bought earlier this year. In my opinion, $25 is not that bad of a price considering that most of them will sell for between $35.00 to $100 on ebay. The highest price that I paid for a Coca-Cola silver art bar was $31.00. The lowest price that I paid for a Coca-Cola silver art bar was $17.00.

There are other silver art bars that I like to collect also but I am very picky on what silver art bars that I want to buy. I prefer to buy silver art bars locally from local coin dealers and local coin shows because I premium is lower and I can see exactly what I am getting.

Here are some of the ones that I have:






A 1-oz 1976 World Wide Mint "Coca-Cola-Shelbyville" silver art bar. The Coke bars are always my favorite silver art bars in my collection.





A 1-oz 1973 Belford Mint "Kentucky Pistol" silver art bar.







A 1973 "KittyHawk" silver art bar that was minted by the United States Silver Corporation (USSC).

OPA

<< <i>Opa, seems not as pricey as coins to me, there are only 1000 members of the art bar club, if the hobby would catch on a little, I see the 100.00 bars selling for 500.00 or more. Going to get me some, neat designs too!--------BigE >>



Yes, most bars are cheap compared to coins......I believe, I may be wrong, but during the Art Bar heyday, there were 10 x as many collectors as now, just like with stamps, overproduction during the 70's killed the goose.

Meltdown

I'll bet you do not have this Coca Cola Ingot.

1970SilverArt

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Meltdown,

You are right. I do not have that Coca-Cola silver art bar. That Coca-Cola "Mt Hood" bar is currently on my silver art bar "wish list".

That is an awesome find. I think that those "Coca-Cola-Mt Hood" bars have sold for about $100 on ebay. There is also another Coca-Cola silver art bar called "Coca-Cola-Mt Rainer". The "Coca-Cola Mt Rainer" silver art bar will usually sell for about $100 give or take. The last ebay auction that I saw for the "Coca-Cola-Mt Rainer" bar sold for about $92. I do not see many "Coca-Cola-Mt Hood" silver art bars on ebay but when I do see one on ebay, it will usually sell for about $100 (give or take) on ebay. I hope to find a Mt Rainer and a Mt Hood Coke bar locally in my lifetime at the right price to add to my Coca-Cola silver art bar collection.

Awesome silver art bar find.

Meltdown

Thanks but your numbers are just a bit off...
I have found two here in the NW and both were $19 purchases.
This last one I put on ebay about a year ago and it closed for over $700.

1970SilverArt

<< <i>Thanks but your numbers are just a bit off...
I have found two here in the NW and both were $19 purchases.
This last one I put on ebay about a year ago and it closed for over $700. >>



HOLY COW!!!!!!!!! I was way off. I think I got that confused with Mt. Rainer because I saw a Mt Rainer Coke bar sell for $92 on ebay very recently. My apologies.

I humbly stand corrected. That is awesome!!!!!! I am still learning. That fact that you got it for $19 is even better. That is why I prefer to buy Coke and other silver art bars locally at my local coin dealer and at coin shows because I can get them at a dirt cheap price. They are hard to find but I do not give up. I do not have a Coke-Frederick Maryland silver bar but I saw a Coca-Cola "Frederick Maryland" bar sell for about $517 on ebay a few weeks ago. That was the highest winning bid that I saw on a Coke bar. The $700 closing on the Mt Hood bar just blows my mind. There are a lot of other Coke bars that I have on my silver art bar "wish list" that I hope to find at a low price and to add to my collection.

Congrats to you Meltdown.

CaptHenway

We get in a lot of the old art bars at the store, but I have never seen that Kitty Hawk one!
TD

tydye

This is the second one I have owned of these. First one sold for $75 on a BIN before I knew better. This time gave to my wife to auction off. $600+ this time.

1970SilverArt

^^^^^^

That is very amazing Tydye. Congrats on selling it for $600+ on ebay. So far I have not been that lucky to find rare Coca-Cola silver art bars such as that Coca-Cola-Frederick, Maryland art bar. Some of the most hard-to-find Coca-Cola silver art bar cities that I know of are Cornith, MS, Youngstown, OH, and Terre Haute, IN, Frederick, MD, Mt Hood, and Mt. Rainer.