Cool newp, Engelhard Industries of Canada Silver Bar

asheland

Just got this one tonight from a friend, this one has been around for a while!

Timbuk3

Sweet !!!

mbogoman

Here is a writeup that appeared in AG-Wire from the All-Engelhard site:

With each passing day, the ENGELHARD INDUSTRIES OF CANADA 1oz silver bar draws more acclaim and allure, resulting in immediate increase of investor and collector demand. According to AllEngelhard.com, the overall mintage for Engelhard’s flagship commercial 1oz bar was less than 25,000 units, accounting for less than 1% of Engelhard’s overall 1oz bar production run. To put this low mintage into proper perspective, in today’s terminology 25,000 units equals about 60 minutes of US Silver Eagle production in a normal 4 million production month!

Enter 1968, when the United States was at war with Vietnam, political unrest engulfed the country, and silver spot shot up almost overnight from a then near-constant of $1.29/oz to $2.57/oz in light of the RFK and MLK assassinations. Engelhard Industries of Canada introduced its first commercial production silver bar to satisfy the appetites of a growing breed of contrarian investors, in what became a long and varied ingot production run through the late 1980’s. This new commercial silver bar, commonly referred to as EI-1 by enthusiasts and collectors, came at a time when other refiners were either producing crude globular ingots that were barely pure, or conversely, known retail refiners (Foster, Whitman, Hamilton)
were producing specific art bars for collectors, as well as for the novelty gift market.

Engelhard Industries of Canada took their trade very seriously and stamped a beautiful landscape 1 troy ounce bar with Engelhard’s new hallmark, and of course, an individual serial number. Little did anyone know at the time, but these shiny new bars would become one of the most sought after varieties of the entire Engelhard 1oz bar production run. Clean examples regularly trade at 2 to 3 times silver spot price, but we consider this a bargain today given the rarity and beauty of these bars. And, without doubt, they are poised to increase exponentially as the collector market catches on to these seldom seen gems. It is now common knowledge that many of these were melted in the great melts of 1980 and 2011, leaving few available for collectors to accumulate. So, dare we repeat ourselves, as with any vintage Engelhard bar or ingot with limited production, pick ‘em now when they’re still within reach!

Here's my consecutive low serial numbered pair:

Weiss

Wow. So this is arguably the first commercially available 1 ounce silver bar. That's pretty cool.

asheland

That's a great write up! I guess $18 wasn't bad...
A friend sold it to me and he knew it was better than silver. It's awesome to have friends like that!

ricko

Very nice, and thanks for the history of the pieces....I knew nothing about the silver bar collector market, now I know a tiny bit.... Cheers, RickO

asheland

@ricko it makes stacking a lot more fun (when you can buy it like I did) Admittedly I have a hard time paying $30 and up for a 1oz bar, not to say I haven't done it before, but it's nice when you can get them like regular bullion. Patience is the key.

ricko

@asheland..... Patience....in many areas... is not my strong point...I watched for a couple of months for one coin on ebay and a couple other sites...never showed up (not one I liked).... stopped looking.... three weeks later, two got posted on the coin forum... just like I wanted, from ebay. Unbelievable... Cheers, RickO

asheland

@ricko yeah, weird stuff like that happens from time to time...

Did you get one from the coin forum?

1630Boston

I own only one silver bar.
A 1 oz bar with the San Diego Zoo on it, purchased it around 1970 or so.
Do you think I can find it...................answer is no.

I must keep looking

asheland

@1630Boston My brother lives in San Diego and I visited him in San Diego for the first time a few months ago.
That's a really pretty city! If you find that bar, please post a picture in this thread. I'd bet he would find that pretty interesting. I'd like to see it, myself.

ricko

@asheland.....No... still looking for one... well, will start to actively look again.... Cheers, RickO