Silver art bar ?

I have a silver art bar from the 70's that is to thick to fit in a air tight and weighs a few grams more than the rest any Idea's

 

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A few grams is questionable. However in the '70s silver was cheaper than today. Whoever minted the bar could have been lenient on the weight. Did you do the magnet slide test? Also, post a picture.

 

What was the weight? What is the silver art bar?

It depends on the silver art bars but it is not unusual for several silver art bars from the '70's to be underweight or overweight. I know that you said a "few grams" but the weight tolerance will typically be +/- 0.7. In other words that 1-oz '70's silver art bar could weigh as less as 30.4 grams and as much 31.8. However, there were some Hamilton Mint bars and some Mother Lode bars that weighed as much as 32.5 grams and were still ok after doing ring test. The '70's silver art bars that were minted by Madison Mint, Colonial Mint (certain ones) and Ceeco Mint seem to have bars that were underweight by as much as .5 grams (usually between 30.5 and 31.0 grams if underweight).

Some of the '70's silver art bars that were "too thick" to fit in an air-tite included some World Wide Mint Coca-Cola bars and some Colonial Mint bars. You also have to keep in consideration that not all of them that were minted in the '70's were a "standard size" and they did not have "standard" dimensions like most of them probably do now. There is really no idea of how thick they should be or how long that they should be except that they were concentrating on it weighing a troy-oz and sometimes they were off since apparently the quality control during the '70's was probably not that great.

 

Overweight is suspect. A few grams on 31.103 g could be 10% - that's HIGHLY suspect for "1 Troy Ounce"

And presumably this "art bar" also doesn't say 'replica' on it .... ?

 

Thanks so much for the info, I just thought about this today but would have to visit my SDB to get pics and find out what ones for sure but they were both 1973 Easter art bars, I think the heavier one has Jesus on a cross. and the other a Easter egg sticks up to much, or the side has a lip that sticks up to much for a standard air tight.
THANKS AGAIN FOR THE GREAT INFO

 

From the description that you posted, it sounds like both of those bars might be Madison Mint bars. The "Jesus on a cross" bar that you described sounds like it might be a Madison Mint bar that was minted in 1974 but I am not completely sure and it appears that I am wrong since you said they were both 1973 mint years. The "Jesus on a cross" bar has a high relief that prevents it from fitting in an air-tite.

 

It may be a 74 You probably know about this a lot more than me. I have not stayed at the holiday inn in a long time LOL. I also believe you have the weight about right also a little under I think one was 30.7 and 30.9 maybe

 

It says 74 on this bar these are mine

 

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Wow you know your bars.

 

thanks guys I think I may start stacking these. Maybe one every 2 weeks or so.

 

Yep. That 1974 Madison Mint bar is the bar that I was talking about. The high relief of the "Jesus on the cross" on the front of that Madison Mint silver art prevents it from fitting in an air-tite. The relief of the "egg" is high enough on the 1973 Madison Mint Easter bar to prevent it from properly fitting in an air-tite.

 

So I have some engelhard flat bars with a serial number on them, are they from the 70's or the 80's now that see we have a bar expert on the forum.

 

You're right about that. I've been collecting coins for 6 years now, but just started collecting silver art bars last month. If I ever have a question about them, 1970 Silver Art will be the guy I'll ask. :thumb:

 

To be honest with you, I do not know. I am not familiar enough with the Engelhard flat bars with the serial #'s to know whether they are minted in the '70's or in the '80's.

The only type of silver bar that I am familiar with are silver art bars especially ones that were minted in the 1970's. Even with that, I do not consider myself to be an expert on silver art bars since I have been a silver art bar collector for only 4 years and I am still learning myself from other collectors who have more experience and knowledge than I do. The Archie Kidd silver art bar guidebooks also are very helpful to me to gain knowledge on silver art bars. It is also my observations and experience that helps me gain some knowledge on them. I do get it wrong sometimes but I try to learn from my mistakes as best as I can.

 

Is there an affordable price guide or art bar resource out there anywhere? I looked some up and they're asking $350.00+ for some of them. Ouch. I went to the County Library where I live and they had to get one on loan from the Library of Congress. It came and they said I would'nt be able to check it out, that I could only look at it in the library. It couldn't leave the building. And it's pretty old too. Pictures of some of the contributers clothes looked like sometime in the late 60's early 70's. Some good info though. Just wish the photos were better and the prices up to date.

 

The Archie Kidd silver art bar guidebooks are the best books to get on silver art bars IMO. They are pricey and they usually can sell up to the amount that you mentioned but if you look on ebay and are patient enough, then you will find one for a decent price. A decent price for a 5th edition Archie Kidd book is around $100. Any price above $150 for a 5th edition is too much IMO. There is also a 2009 Archie Kidd "redbook" that you can buy on ebay for $60-$80 but the only problem with this particular book is that it does not have any silver art bar illustrations in it. The 5th edition Archie Kidd book is the best one to get IMO and that is the guidebook that I would recommend buying and using. The 5th edition is the one that I currently use as a reference to identify and to look up information such as mint years and mintage numbers. The original 5th edition was published in 1991 but there is a 2007 version of the 5th edition available and that is the version that I have and use. There is a 4th edition Archie Kidd guidebook that usually sells for $80 or less but it is not as complete as the 5th edition if you want to look up any '70's or 80's silver art bars. There is also a 6th edition Archie Kidd silver art bar guidebook but it only lists bars that the 5th edition did not list and those are mainly ones that were minted in the 1990's to 2007. Ebay is probably the best place to buy them. That is where I bought mine.

 

1970 Silver Art, have you ever removed toning from your bars? Can that hurt the value of an art bar? Sometimes I'll take my 10 ouncers and wash them with soap and water.

 

I do occasionally take an art bar to a local dealer to get it cleaned (dipped). I only get it cleaned (dipped) if the silver art bar that I bought had too much toning to the point where the bar was dark where you could not see the details. I do not mind some toning on my bars but I do not like too much toning on my bars.

As for hurting the value of an art bar by the removing toning from a bar, I do not think that it hurts the value of certain silver art bars because that rare art bar that was cleaned will still sell on ebay for around the same price as a similar one that was not cleaned and had toning on it. IMO when it comes to silver art bars, rarity and demand will play a much bigger factor in its value on ebay than the amount of toning. Opinions will vary on this. IMO toning is not very important for silver art bars like it is for numismatic coins. The general rule of thumb for Numismatic silver coins is the never clean them but that rule does not necessarily apply to silver art bars because they are looked at as .999 generic silver by most local dealers.