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What is the Refinery Mark on these Silver Bars?

taxmadtaxmad Posts: 982 ✭✭✭✭
I picked up these today and can't figure out what mine/refiner made them. Any ideas? The stamp looks like a southwestern star, but the outer is actually the letters AIN. Thanks!

image

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Comments

  • MeltdownMeltdown Posts: 8,832 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm not sure, but those look great! I love that old, crude style.

    I suppose the marks could also be repeating AW
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,273 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Is it AINAINAINAIN or AWAWAWAW?
    I can't tell.
    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.
  • taxmadtaxmad Posts: 982 ✭✭✭✭
    Try a better pic. The line forming the A's & N's are continous around the stamp, with the 'I' just a bit above on some of them. So does the 'I' mean 'I' or is it turning the 'N' into a 'W'? Anyway, a neat buy for 35cents over spot.

    image
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Looks like it says "Wawa" to me. That happens to be a mining district in Ontario, Canada.

    Auric mining in Wawa, ON

    Just a thought.
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Way, way out on a limb, here, but since I'm seeing Wawa, the circle in the middle could be a stylized "OT", which I think might have been the original postal code for Ontario.

    Or I could be completely full of elmo. image
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • taxmadtaxmad Posts: 982 ✭✭✭✭
    Better idea than anything I had. I love these old bars, but would like to find a resource that has 'mint marks'.

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,279 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Way, way out on a limb, here, but since I'm seeing Wawa, the circle in the middle could be a stylized "OT", which I think might have been the original postal code for Ontario.

    Or I could be completely full of elmo. image >>



    I don't see the T. Looks like a regular plain ol' sun to me. Interesting but I would hesitate to pay any premium over melt value.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • sebrownsebrown Posts: 424 ✭✭
    This eBay Seller states the bar is from A&W Smelter, Mojave, California. He also states:



    << <i>"A & W was one of the first smelters and refining operations to register their hallmark stamp with The Silver Institute (the first time in silver history that a data base was established for hallmark stamp registration). By doing so, buyers of the precious metals were guaranteed uniformity and purity standards. A & W's hallmark stamp can be found in the book titled "The Silver Refiners of The World and Their Identifying Marks" (a rare commodity in and of itself in my reference library). A rare find to highlight any collection. All A & W ingots are considered RARE." >>



    "In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation [...] Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights." - Alan Greenspan
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Well done, sebrown! You nailed it!
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,273 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>This eBay Seller states the bar is from A&W Smelter, Mojave, California. He also states:



    << <i>"A & W was one of the first smelters and refining operations to register their hallmark stamp with The Silver Institute (the first time in silver history that a data base was established for hallmark stamp registration). By doing so, buyers of the precious metals were guaranteed uniformity and purity standards. A & W's hallmark stamp can be found in the book titled "The Silver Refiners of The World and Their Identifying Marks" (a rare commodity in and of itself in my reference library). A rare find to highlight any collection. All A & W ingots are considered RARE." >>

    >>



    image
    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.
  • taxmadtaxmad Posts: 982 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>This eBay Seller states the bar is from A&W Smelter, Mojave, California. He also states:



    << <i>"A & W was one of the first smelters and refining operations to register their hallmark stamp with The Silver Institute (the first time in silver history that a data base was established for hallmark stamp registration). By doing so, buyers of the precious metals were guaranteed uniformity and purity standards. A & W's hallmark stamp can be found in the book titled "The Silver Refiners of The World and Their Identifying Marks" (a rare commodity in and of itself in my reference library). A rare find to highlight any collection. All A & W ingots are considered RARE." >>

    >>




    Many, many thanks sebrown!!!!
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,273 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Why do I have this craving for a frosty mug of root beer.......?

    image
    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.
  • taxmadtaxmad Posts: 982 ✭✭✭✭
    Found another eBay auction using Bing! search (eBay only goes back 15 days). The full name of the company is: A & W Smelters & Refiners (Alexander Westerfall Smelters and Refiners) Silver Queen Mine, Mojave, CA



    eBay Sale
  • dontippetdontippet Posts: 2,609 ✭✭✭✭
    Definitely "AW". The letters all point towards the center of the circle. If you look at the "N", the parralel lines of the "N" do not point towards the center.
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