Why I collect Engelhard silver

piecesofme

Collect the most collectable if you're going to bother collecting at all.

Jinx86

There are exception within every market. There are many 1914-D Lincoln Cents there are however very few in high grade. Same as the 1932 D&S Quarters, many low grade common examples, but very few nice examples for the seasoned collector. So to say all Engelhard Bars are rare would be wrong. You should rather state that there are many Engelhard bars and rounds out there, but only a few that are truly rare and worth a hefty premium.



Currently the coin I would prefer to hoard is the 1895-O Barber Dime VG+ grades. I believe there are only 3 or so examples on eBay currently.

ricko

For some collectors, it is nice just to have a rarity.... Cheers, RickO

slantycouch

I'm a dedicated Engelhard collector, and I love the stuff that AE.com does. Very thankful for someone to put that much time toward documenting Engelhard stuff.



Their points regarding rarity (or at least production numbers) seem to be true, but I think there's a lot of apples/oranges comparisons they're making when saying because of the low volume of a lot of those bars that they should, or ever will, command huge premiums. Or when they use those numbers to say Engelhard bars are therefore (conclusively) undervalued in direct comparison to some of those other collectibles.



I think it's always going to be a (relatively) small niche of people that care enough to collect Engelhard, let alone each of the specific types of Engelhard bars. Yes the "Engelhard market is much smaller than most people would realize" but so is the number of people fighting to make purchases in that market.



To a lot of people that even care enough to invest in silver bullion an Engelhard bar is an Engelhard bar, regardless of design (with some exceptions of course). Yes you usually see a small premium because it is a known and trusted brand. But at my LCS, most coin shows I've been to... you can usually find "deals" (no exaggerated premium) on some of the rarer designs because by-and-large people just don't care about subtle differences in Engelhard design and the associated production runs. Until there is a LARGE faction of people that care to differentiate and collect specific bars, it just seems like a stretch. And again, I'm an Engelhard nut that would love to think someday I'll see a huge jump on my investment. I just don't think I'm out of line assuming there will always be fewer people that collect specific Engelhard bars than US Silver Eagles, Pete Rose cards or Action Comics.

chumley

I collect Engelhard because I cannot spell Argor Chiasso

Weiss

My favorite "Engelhard" bar. They don't come turn up very often, but I see one sold recently on eBay...

Weiss

From All Engelhard :



The Sheffield Smelting Company, Ltd. was a subsidiary of Engelhard Industries of Great Britain. Sheffield Smelting was founded in 1760 on the site of former Royds Brewery.



Sheffield was originally an Anglo Saxon settlement called Escafeld or Ecclesfield, and was later named Sheffield after the River Sheaf that runs through it.



Engelhard eventually sold the company around 1984 to Solder Products. It is currently Thessco Limited, producer of brazing alloys, electrical contact raw materials, Silversmithing alloys trade as well as precious metal coin blanks.

PerryHall

Originally posted by: Weiss

My favorite "Engelhard" bar. They don't come turn up very often, but I see one sold recently on eBay.

I was the one that bought the bar you are referring to. I have four of these bars so far and I agree that they don't show up very often. His asking price of $2200 was unrealistic so I PMed him a more realistic offer and he changed his auction to a BIN for that amount.

Weiss

That's awesome, Perry. FWIW: I wouldn't sell mine for what he was asking for