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 Replies: 31 / Views: 11,491 |
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
Hi, I have an heirloom of a 175 oz [12 lbs] silver bullion bar (known as a grease bar I believe). It was redeemed for paper silver during US Assay Office conversions in 1967.
There is no stamping on this bar and it basically looks like a brick with about 1/2 the thickness of a normal brick.
1. Is anyone familiar with this type of bar?
2. Is it worth anything more than the spot weight?
3. How would I go about selling such a thing if possible? It would seem to me that it would currently be worth around $6k
Thanks for your time and feedback.
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Valued Member
Canada
442 Posts |
Hello and Welcome! you might find some info here: https://goccf.com/t/80255Apparently their might be some interest in the numismatic club for its history. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Check auction history here an ebay as well, and see if you can find a recent transaction. It may not tell you much as silver is on the move every day, but it may tell you how high above spot it sold for. I am novice at this, but I would be real surprised if the history/age/rareness of this bar did not make it worth what could be a substantial mark above spot, via the info scanned on that link provided by vinnycoin above.... My math could be way off here, but it you multiplied 33.43 (current silver spot), by 175 oz, you get 5850.25, not a bad little chunk of change. If that bad boy didn't bring at least 6 grand I would be surprised, got any pictures of it? Also I recall a very wise member posting the difference between a "troy" pound at 12 oz, and a standard 16oz pound. Please correct me here if I got this incorrect from memory but that may play a factor in the calculation, does that sound right? Of course leave it do dam humans, to put a bunch of complicated red tape on every system of measurement (an in the USA teach us the system, few other countries use if any), just to make more complicated and confuse the slow folk of the world like myself, lol.... Edited by Silverhawk74
02/23/2011 3:57 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Mexico
1304 Posts |
Hahaha....funny, I always measure in grams for just that reason! (plus, from there it's a whole lot easier to convert to troy ounces)
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
 to CCF! Quote:
...the difference between a "troy" pound at 12 oz, and a standard 16oz pound. A troy pound is 12 troy ounces or about 373 grams. A "regular" avoirdupois pound is 16 avoirdupois ounces or about 454 grams. The OP's bar sounds like it would need an assay. Is the bar marked US Assay Office? Can you post a picture? We'll help out if we can. |
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New Member
United States
34 Posts |
How to sell it?
I'd take a hacksaw lol
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3184 Posts |
I believe they sell for a little premium on ebay? Either way, perhaps sell it and get something more liquidable like silver eagles or something. |
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New Member
 United States
8 Posts |
175 troy oz. thanks for the advice.   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
It looks like a poured silver bar. I'm wondering about your comment: Quote:
It was redeemed for paper silver during US Assay Office conversions in 1967.
You stated the bar is not marked. Is there any identifying stamp at all? Where did the US Assay Office information come from? |
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
My family redeemed all their 1-dollar bill Silver Certificates to the U.S. Assay Office for silver bullion due to the June 24, 1968 due date on conversion to silver.
This is one of the bars that were issued that my family kept all this time. From what I understand, for transactions larger than 100 ounces or so, the Treasury poured extremely crude silver bars (known as "grease bars").
They were unstamped and a grease pencil was used to write out their weight.
NOTE: there used to be some numeric writing on the bar (it looked more like a serial number than the weight) but over time (30 years from when I first saw the bar and writing) it has since then rubbed off,etc.
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
There is no stamping of any kind on the bar but this has not passed to anyone other than 3 people in my family since 1968 so the authenticity is not in question per se but I understand why you are asking :)
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Being silver, it is almost certainly 175 oz troy.
However, in this case, that does not matter. Simply weigh the bar, and find out!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Thank You bh1964 I think my low IQ brain finally grasps this. You said 373 grams which if divided by 12 you get the number we see often in ref to an oz at 31.08. But if you divide 454 by 16 an you get 28.375.... I bet you anything the drug dealers of the world use the 2nd system of measurement, rof  he he he, lol! Edited by Silverhawk74
02/24/2011 02:53 am
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
I weighed the bar.
It is 12 pounds which converts to 175 troy oz by my google calculations ;)
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Valued Member
Canada
442 Posts |
very nice looking bar!
I would say hang on to it, and watch silver go to the moon!
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
A troy pound is 12 troy ounces or about 373 grams. A "regular" avoirdupois pound is 16 avoirdupois ounces or about 454 grams. An easier comparison is 480 grains to the troy ounce, 5760 to the pound, 437.5 grains to the avoirdupois ounce, 7000 to the pound. The problem arises when they confuse types of ounces with types of pounds. A common mess is when someone weighs silver on a non-troy scale, where a standard pound is 14.583 troy ounces. |
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Replies: 31 / Views: 11,491 |
Posted 02/23/2011 3:38 pm
