Since we are known as The Daily Coin and we cover gold, silver, economic
news and a wide variety of other topics, we also keep an eye on the precious
metals collectible coin and bar market.
Over the past several years we have had the good fortune to experience a
great many collectibles and many of them we have written about and presented
our view as to why we believe the market for these coins and bars will only
grow stronger. The primary reason is rarity. Some of the coins and bars were
minted in such small numbers, with the appropriate name recognition, that it
seems only logical for the market to continue to covent these rare items.
The latest is an Engelhard bar. About two years ago we were in the right
place at the right time and stumble across two different 10oz “waffle”
Engelhard silver bars. They are called “waffle” bars due to the waffling
impression on the bottom of the bar.
These are rare, but still available if you look around. At the time we saw
this one the premium was running about 25% over spot. The example above is a
“typical” waffle back bar of which there were fewer than 50,000 minted. Some
of the true anomalies would have a reverse “observe” stamp along one edge –
see example below. This would be an amazing find and they are out there since
there were several thousand of them minted.
These are two examples of magnificent, highly collectible Engelhard bars.
However, these pale in comparison to the latest find. We saw, with our own
eyes, one of the more elusive Engelhard bars. The “bull” hallmark, italicized
logo, half kilo bar of which there were fewer than 500 minted!! WOW!
This is what happens when you have your seek and rescue hat on all the
time. On March 15, 2017 two of these bars sold for $1,800 EACH and the one
pictured above could be had for barely north of $300 or said another way just
above 1/6 what the others sold for more than a year ago. These bars are very
rare and the free market proves it. If you run into someone that doesn’t
understand, know or care about what they have and only see a silver bar,
well, it may be time to clean up!!
Is it about the silver, Engelhard bars or has it moved out of the precious
metals world and into the collectible world? Only time will tell. The rare
Engelhard bars seem to be taking on a life of their own in the free market.
I checked eBay to see if any were available and came up empty. This is
usually a very good sign of rarity. On the other hand I did find what could
be one the rarest silver bars anywhere in the world. A Rothschild, 1/2 kilo
silver bar that is for sale, as of the writing of this article, for $9,999 –
which includes free shipping!
What the seller had to say about this extremely rare opportunity:
Extremely RARE silver Rothschild & Sons bar weighing 1/2 kg. While
gold Rothschild bars are very scarce, silver bars are practically unheard of.
This is the rarest bar I have, and it may be the only opportunity you ever
have to own one. The Rothschilds were perhaps the most powerful bankers in
the world during the 19th century, and even today they rank among the top 10
investment banks. They left the refining business in 1967 and sold their
operations to Engelhard. Therefore, any bar with a Rothschild stamp must be
at least 50 years old.
Editor’s Note – the images below are from eBay and if I try to make them
larger they get blurry as you can see in the two images of the Rothschild
logo below the bar.
If you would like to purchase – there is no bidding – here is the link
– https://www.ebay.com/itm/EXTREMELY-RARE-NM-Ro...ksid=m570.l1313
