US Government silver ingots - A lot of interest and bidding in recent Heritage Auction
Heritage Auctions just conducted a sale of US Government ingots from:
Philadelphia Mint ;
New York Assay Office ;
San Francisco Mint ;
San Francisco Assay Office.
Bidding interest seemed strong. The lots that I was most interested in sold for more than the amounts that I had rationalized to pay. Only the biggest ones (100+ troy oz) sold remotely close to "melt" value. The typical 5-oz to 50oz bars exhibited very significant collector premiums.
Here is a link to the completed sales (this link is for the first ingot in the auction, subsequent lots have the others) :
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Comments
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Wow. What a difference from even ten years ago. I bought this from a local shop probably 8-10 years ago. I kept it for a couple years but couldn't help flipping it for profit... I think I sold it for $650 and was very happy about it at the time...
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That's pretty spirited bidding.
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Not close to melt is an understatement! Those are strong prices
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@Meltdown said:
Wow. What a difference from even ten years ago. I bought this from a local shop probably 8-10 years ago. I kept it for a couple years but couldn't help flipping it for profit... I think I sold it for $650 and was very happy about it at the time...
.That is a neat bar. It does have some voids in the surface which interrupt the stampings. So that affects the value a little bit. And the oval is a little weak around the perimeter. But still, a bar like that probably would have sold in that recent auction for about $4,000.
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I read in a couple of places a few years ago that San Francisco US MINT silver bars with the oval stamp are being counterfeited so be careful buying them.
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."----Voltaire0 -
@PerryHall said:
I read in a couple of places a few years ago that San Francisco US MINT silver bars with the oval stamp are being counterfeited so be careful buying them.So isn't that the job of "Heritage Auction" to verify the authenticity of those bars?
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@SilverPlatinum asked “So isn't that the job of "Heritage Auction" to verify the authenticity of those bars?”
Yes, I would certainly trust Heritage. I would guess that @PerryHall’s concern is with less well known sources.
Higashiyama0 -
There was some really cool bars in this sale. But I couldn’t bring myself to pay up at these levels…
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Was this inscription done by the U.S. Mint or someone else?
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ingots/1955-ms-san-francisco-mint-silver-ingot-1058-ounces/a/1364-4125.s
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@SilverPlatinum said:
Was this inscription done by the U.S. Mint or someone else?https://coins.ha.com/itm/ingots/1955-ms-san-francisco-mint-silver-ingot-1058-ounces/a/1364-4125.s
Sold for over 31k. More than one bidder must have believed it to be mint inscribe. HA says they assume it was a mint inscription. Cool bar it sold for a lot of money.
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@tyler267 said:
@SilverPlatinum said:
Was this inscription done by the U.S. Mint or someone else?https://coins.ha.com/itm/ingots/1955-ms-san-francisco-mint-silver-ingot-1058-ounces/a/1364-4125.s
Sold for over 31k. More than one bidder must have believed it to be mint inscribe. HA says they assume it was a mint inscription. Cool bar it sold for a lot of money.
I placed what I thought was an aggressive bid on that, but I wasn't even close to winning it.
It is somewhat curious how the engraving was done. It looks like some sort of milling/engraving machine was used.
I assume the engraving is circa 1955, but likely done outside the mint.1 -
@tyler267 said:
@SilverPlatinum said:
Was this inscription done by the U.S. Mint or someone else?https://coins.ha.com/itm/ingots/1955-ms-san-francisco-mint-silver-ingot-1058-ounces/a/1364-4125.s
Sold for over 31k. More than one bidder must have believed it to be mint inscribe. HA says they assume it was a mint inscription. Cool bar it sold for a lot of money.
Not done by the US mint.
It was featured in the Ford book which helped raise the bid.
Owner, Lone Mountain Coin
Rare Ingot Collector - Always on the hunt for more!Founder of Pre33Goldbugs - 5500 member group
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@dcarr said:
That is a neat bar. It does have some voids in the surface which interrupt the stampings. So that affects the value a little bit. And the oval is a little weak around the perimeter. But still, a bar like that probably would have sold in that recent auction for about $4,000.
You've been watching antique roadshow
Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions1 -
That's some seriously overpriced gutter.......even 2 years later. RGDS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
Retiring at 55, what day is today?
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@MsMorrisine said:
@dcarr said:
That is a neat bar. It does have some voids in the surface which interrupt the stampings. So that affects the value a little bit. And the oval is a little weak around the perimeter. But still, a bar like that probably would have sold in that recent auction for about $4,000.
You've been watching antique roadshow
@blitzdude said:
That's some seriously overpriced gutter.......even 2 years later. RGDS!.
How do you know it is/was over-priced ?
Do you have anything like it for sale ?
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Cool bars. Thank you for sharing these are awesome pieces of history. Thanks for posting.
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One man's overpriced is another man's deal of a century. Type 3 bars are rare. Ford bars are rare. Examples in the book don't come around often. Combine the three and you have a recipe. Unique usually wins out in pricing.
Owner, Lone Mountain Coin
Rare Ingot Collector - Always on the hunt for more!Founder of Pre33Goldbugs - 5500 member group
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Be careful. I've read that these government issued silver bars have been counterfeited which is not surprising considering the high premium that they are selling for.
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."----Voltaire0 -
@PerryHall said:
Be careful. I've read that these government issued silver bars have been counterfeited which is not surprising considering the high premium that they are selling for.Speaking in general terms, most people haven't owned them let alone know what they're talking about and there's a TON of misinformation out there.
If you ever have any doubts on the authenticity of an ingot, feel free to holler.
I maintain a full census of all known 19th century pieces and through the process have also included many rarer fantasy pieces since they are collectible in their own right.
Owner, Lone Mountain Coin
Rare Ingot Collector - Always on the hunt for more!Founder of Pre33Goldbugs - 5500 member group
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