FRIDAY METAL PORN: The UNLOVED edition
Weiss
Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
Early 1970s "art bars". For as long as I can remember, they've been the red headed stepchild of the bullion market. The lowest of the low. I know there are many people on the board who were there in the trenches in the 1980 run-up who threw these into the crucible by the truckload. And every time silver topped $10 or $20 an ounce ever since.
Corny. Irrelevant. Dated. As soon as they were minted, they were obsolete.
But...
For the longest time, you couldn't give mid-century fashion, artwork, decor, or furniture away. And now it's on fire.
Is it time to reconsider 1970s art bars? Surviving numbers have to be a tiny fraction of their original mintages. Some of their artwork is phenomenal compared to modern pieces. I've never heard a comment about them being under weight or less than their stated .999 purity. There are great websites and references for them. The market for _very specific pieces _appears to be strong and has been for a long time. And would you believe they are coming up on half a century old now?
I had a chance to buy several dozen recently at a very attractive price. At first I scoffed. Once junk, always junk, right? But then I figured, what the heck?
What do you have that most would consider junk, unloved, or unworthy. Don't be shy 
let's put the really pretty stuff aside for a week and just share your ugly, unloved, cringy bullion.
--Severian the Lame
Comments
I ordered this off ebay last week. $179 delivered.
Happy Friday ladies and gents
Not much on the acquisition front here, just a 5oz'er, along with a family photo with last weeks pickup
I'd like to work on picking up a few new platinum pieces in the coming weeks, I've had my eye on a Valcambi bar and another Maple also.
Figure platinum goes well with the 'unloved' theme. (Tho I LoOOoVe it)
Weiss,
I love collecting '70's silver art bars and have been doing it for almost 9 years now. As a buyer and as a seller (on ebay), I can say the following:
1.) They are very hard to find. Most of the ones that you mentioned are fair common but that a relative since old '70's bars are hard to find now. The "Big Melt" of the early 1980's got rid of a lot of old '70's bars when they were thrown in the smelters. If you can get them at .999 generic silver prices, then that is a great score. Like you, I have also been able to get them at .999 generic silver premiums when they show up, however, more dealers are starting to charge higher premiums for them once they know what they have. I have had some very good luck buying a lot of '70's silver art bars some at collector premiums and some at .999 generic silver premiums.
2.) There is a strong market for them on ebay. As an ebay seller, I have sold various old '70's silver art bars for multiple of spot and they go quickly depending on what it is. For example, '70's Coca-Cola bars from World Wide Mint will always sell for well over spot on ebay. Usually between $40 - $700+. The bars pictured could go for $25 - $35 on ebay.
3.) Some of the are under weight (might weigh between 30.5 - 30.9 grams) and some were also over weight (might weigh between 31.8 - 32.2 grams). Some of the Madison Mint, Colonial Mint and Ceeco Mint bars have been under-weight but since spot was $3 - $4 per oz back in early 1973 (???), the mints were not precise on weight. That seemed to be a pattern on old bars like that since the quality control was not a great as it is now with exact weight of the silver.
4.) Various designs and themes are what makes '70's silver art bars great to collect. Themes and designs covered various social, economic and political (ex: Watergate) events during that 1970's decade that were currently going on
The subject matter makes all the difference. A 1969 moon landing bar, gimme! A 1973 happy 25th wedding anniversary bar, not so much.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Yep that is very true. It all depends on the theme and the mintage and current demand for a particular bar.
The way I can sum up 70's silver art bar collecting is the following: One man's junk is another man's treasure. There is money to be made on selling old '70's silver art bars on ebay but one has to know which ones will bring the "big bucks". The dealers that treat (and price) them like "junk" are the dealers to buy from at .999 generic silver premiums. The ones who treat them as "treasure " (i.e. collectors) are the ones to sell to for "collector premiums" on ebay.
I have bought '70's silver art bars from coin shops and coin show. Some I bought for .999 generic premiums and some I bought on ebay and paid collector premiums because I liked and wanted them.
I have also sold many '70's silver art bar on ebay for collector premiums that I bought for only .999 generic silver premiums. I made decent profits on them.
The following site is a good source for information regarding '70's silver art bars:
http://www.silverartcollector.com/
Sango, I like the 5 oz RMC cast bar. I never knew RMC sealed their bars. Are you gonna go for the trifecta and get the 10 oz. bar?
Great art bars! While they are not really my thing, I can certainly appreciate the collectibility of them.
VanHalen, I kick myself for not jumping on one of those Canadian pucks! I had a chance to get it at the deep discounted price that was mistakenly entered on the eBay auction linked on the "metal deals" thread in the PM forum.
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
I have a few of the old bars... I picked them up for the theme... i.e. a Secretariat bar and a couple others that appealed to me at the time. Coin shows were my sources.... not sure where they are now... Yes, I still have them, just in another storage box. Cheers, RickO
Downtown,
I didn't either, could have been something the US gold bereau in Austin, TX did after the fact
And yep I'm going to have to get a 10 to complete the set
@1970SilverArt : A couple of the bars I got inexpensively were better bars--The 1973 Colonial Mint Nixon-Mao COL-11V bar and the 1973 George Patton SCL-17-Silver-Creations bar. I listed them individually on eBay with high but not impossible prices, with the make an offer option. Got zero interest in either. When I finally listed them as true auctions, they sold for little over melt. To make it worse, the buyer of the Patton bar tried to extort money from me claiming the bar wasn't "virtually pristine" as I'd indicated, despite it being in its original flip and having provided multiple massive images that allowed the buyer to zoom in. When I offered to accept a return for full refund--twice--they claimed they "didn't have time for that" (in other words, they were demanding a full or partial refund without returning the bar). The outrageous amount they paid? About $30. For a full ounce of silver that routinely sells in the $75 to $100 range. And the buyer gave me a neutral feedback--my first in 20 years on eBay.
I know the Silver Towne naughty grandpa bar above is a better bar, but i'm reluctant to list it given the experience with Mao and Patton. My recent experience hasn't been all bad, though: I did sell a nice 1974 MAD-102 Halloween bar for a nice premium:
--Severian the Lame
@Weiss Sell your silver here, you won't get the kind ebay idiots like you got on that patton bar.
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
I'm as interested in the 'tumbled-polished' stones as in the silver
@Sango
But seriously, the 5 OZer is nice.
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Theme-wise, the COL-11V bar is not bad and the SCL-17 bar is not bad either IMO.
I used to do the true auction when I sold old silver art bars on but I stopped it doing it that way because I would get winning bidders that would not pay although that was not often when I was doing true auction. It was a pain-in-the-butt to go through the hoops to get your final value fee refunded . I now do just straight BIN listings now and I put the price that I think is reasonable based on past ebay completed listings. I also do the immediate payment on every BIN listing that I do. Every once in a while I will do a few listings of BIN with Best offer option. When I do the best option, I usually will set a lowest price that I will take for a particular bar to prevent "low ball" offers. If I did not do that, then I would get low ball offers such as $15 and $16 and some that are $20-$21. I was born at night but not last night LOL!!!!.
Unfortunately, you will get some buyers that will find something to complain about a bar they bought and will ask for a refund. So far, that has not happened to me but I have not been selling on ebay for very long. Even though I have been collecting old bars for 9 years, I have been selling them on ebay for only 14 months. In my case, some repeat customers will ask me if I have a particular bar that they are looking for. Sometimes I do have that bar and I will sell it to them for a lower price while still making a net profit but if I do not have that bar, then I can search for one for them. I do get messages from potential buyers that will try to low ball me on certain bars but I decline their offers by telling them that I can not go that low on a particular bar.
The Silvertowne Grandpa price can be all over the place. I have seen some sell for only $26-$27 range but I have seen some that sell for over $40.
Congrats on selling a 1974 MAD-102. My last '70's silver art bar that I sold on ebay was 1975 WWM Coca-Cola Nashville bar that I sold for $40 a few days ago. Most of the time, most '70's silver art bars that I sell on ebay are duplicate bars. A lot of the silver that I have been selling lately have been silver coins such as ATB 5-oz bullion pucks and Mexican libertad/onzas.
Overall, my ebay selling is very successful but there are a-hole buyers that will try to make life difficult for you as an ebay seller.
A little late to the party... Here's a cool bar I picked up last week.
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
And just for fun... an "art bar"
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
picked one up like this one about a month ago..$192 delivered...slightly overpaid, but I had to have it (rev proof like)
I like some of those art bars. I pick them up from time to time.
My YouTube Channel
@OPA I too have the 10 oz maple......its such a beautiful round and its huge too!
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
Yup, about the same size as the "hockey pucks" but twice as thick.
I'm sad to see 10 OZ Canadian pucks in this unloved thread because I also picked one up recently, and I absolutely LOVE it!
The large silver 'coins'... or what ever they are termed, can be interesting. I have a one troy pound silver eagle...that sucker is substantial.... nice as a conversation piece and .999 silver. Cheers, RickO
ricko, I'm not sure of how many troy pound eagles were produced, but they very rarely come up for auction. A co-worker of mine sold me some of his silver a few years ago. He had one of those monsters and I was prepared to pay him spot for it. It seemed like a novelty piece. I checked completed listings on ebay back then and was shocked to see the premium on them. I passed on it because I couldn't in good faith pay him spot for it, but I also wasn't prepared to pay the premium on it.
The half and quarter pounds are fairly common, but you have a great chunk of silver with that 1 pounder!
edited to add....I just checked completed listings on these. I was shocked to see so many. Word on the premium got out I guess. lol
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
@Downtown1974 ....Thanks for the information.... I purchased that back in July 2001 from Supercoin..... I see it has more than tripled my investment...just based on melt. I have no idea of the premium on these. Cheers, RickO
Speaking of the 1-lb silver eagle, see today's post in the buy sell trade thread
--Severian the Lame
That is one big "hockey puck."
I did not find and buy any '70's silver art bars this week but this particular silver art bar was one that I bought a week ago from a flea market. A 1974 Mount Everest Mint Bejeweled Christmas Tree. I paid $40 for it but this particular version of this bar is very hard with stones in it. Here is what it looks like:
Also note that it is missing a stone but I guess that is to be expected from a silver art bar this old. Also the chain is sterling silver and the chain weighs about 13.5 grams.
@1970SilverArt....That is interesting, I have not seen an art bar with inlaid jewels before... Cheers, RickO
I agree, the only thing that would of made this puck better is if the details on the Queen would of been
more like the Queen on the Australian pucks. Canadian version looks a little to cartoonish, but LOVE the reverse. JMO.