by Michael E. Marotta
© Copyright 2000 by Michael E. Marotta
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by Michael E. Marotta
© Copyright 2000 by Michael E. Marotta
Everyone has one or two. Most of them weigh one troy ounce of .999 fine silver. They commemorate cars, horses, presidents, guns, Elvis, and everything else that is America and the World. Most dealers have random bars and rounds for sale at $1 over the spot price of silver. Most dealers buy them without question for $1 under spot. When you need a special bar, the price can be twice bullion, or even much more than that.
Why would you pay that much? In the current year, silver bars for birthdays, graduations, and weddings bring more money. Art bars have low mintages. Art bars have narrow distributions. Art bars get melted. Collectors of coins, tokens, or even stamps, find art bars to be a good highlight to their interests. Whether you collect birds, banks, mines, space exploration, the Bible, states, cities, U. S. Mints, or Superman -- whatever your interests, you can find bars and rounds that carry the themes that interest you. As historical artifacts, bars validate names and dates. Bars carry pictures of people and buildings.
Every speciality has its club and the International Association of Silver Art Collectors serves this facet of numismatics. The club has about 160 members. They meet annually and publish a bi- monthly newsletter, The Silver Bugle. The Bugle's strongest features are the buy/sell ads and the member crosstalk. Annual dues are $10 ($15 foreign). You can get more information by writing to:
IASAC
P. O. Box 28415
Seattle, Washington
98118
USA
"The owls of Laureium will never desert you; they'll dwell
in your houses, nest in your purses and hatch out small
change."
- Aristophanes, "The Birds"