Interesting VERY OLD silver bar, looking for some info...

mbogoman

This came this week. It was listed in an incorrect category and there were only two other bidders, so I won it at a little over melt. In hand, it looks pretty old. The weight checks out as it weighs 60.22g on my scale. The style and content is certainly from many years ago. I can't find anything on "Tilson & Co" but I did find a Tilson Mine in the Rainy Lake, MN area that operated around the 1890s. Don't know if it's related to my bar.

Can anyone provide any info on Tilson & Co or on the Assayer, W. Kelly?
TIA

CaptHenway

I know absolutely nothing about it, but my gut feeling is suspicious. Can't see how anybody this unskilled in making ingots could be producing exact coin silver.
Perhaps it is something made in the 1979-80 bubble by somebody who simply melted down U,S, junk silver. I don't know.

mbogoman

@CaptHenway said:
I know absolutely nothing about it, but my gut feeling is suspicious. Can't see how anybody this unskilled in making ingots could be producing exact coin silver.
Perhaps it is something made in the 1979-80 bubble by somebody who simply melted down U,S, junk silver. I don't know.

That is a possibility. I wondered about the coin silver, too, but also wondered why there would be reference to gold content if it were just melted coins. Seems superfluous at best and a waste of space in any case...

asheland

That looks like a newly made piece to me.

mbogoman

The photos make it look shinier than it really is. It's a dull gray, like an old worn SLQ. It has been cleaned in the past as it has cleaning hairlines.

Timbuk3

I think it's "cool" !!!