Category: ZZ_Articles

We’re often asked how prices are calculated on rare bars and this article will attempt to clear up some of that up. Ultimately a bar is worth what a seller is willing to sell it for and what a buyer is willing to pay – often times, that can be difficult to calculate, particularly with…

Perhaps the most famous ingots are those from the early California gold rush which capture the essence of a bygone era. The Gold Rush started in January 1848 when John Marshall discovered a gleaming flake in the tail race of a sawmill at Sutter’s Fort near Sacramento. Soon, other flakes and nuggets were found, tests…

For a quick glance into the relative rarity of a given assayer, we’ve counted and graphed surviving examples of ingots from each assayer and ranked them in order of greatest to least. For the purpose of this graph, we do not consider Assayers from the SSCA (Marchand, etc), and we also do not include ingots…

In the world of vintage silver bars, 19th-century ingots are revered as the rarest and most valuable treasures. In 2007, Stacks Bowers auctioned off what was arguably the greatest collection assembled of these ingots from John J Ford. This consisted of a group of 59 gold, silver, and mixed metal ingots. See: Ford Auction Virtual…

When collectors are first starting out in their stacking or collecting journey, they often begin by stacking bullion. Over time they may become bored of the same things or start to look for something different to maintain interest in “the stack” and increase variety while also developing an increasing appreciation for rarity. As a result,…

These old Western assay bars are fascinating to study and collect, though there are few enough of them around to render either a considerable challenge. Each is essentially unique due to their hand-made nature and each has its own character. All are fascinating and rare artifacts of the old West. Aside from the few cases…

Following is a simplified breakdown of what would be theoretically possible to collect in Ford gold ingots. Just like we’ve done a census for 19th century ingots, we’ve also included a section on the website for fantasy ingots associated with John J. Ford Jr., or general fantasy pieces, especially if they are rare and/or made…

As seen from Stacks 10/2007, “John J. Ford, Jr. Collection of Coins, Medals and Currency”, reshared here for reference in ties with other Wiegand ingots: Persons and companies depositing bullion with a U.S. branch mint or private assayer received an acknowledgment of the transaction on its completion, commonly called an assay receipt. These receipts typically…

19th century rare ingots are in a league of their own – they are the cream of the crop when it comes to vintage bars. Thus they require special care and handling when it comes to trading them – both buying and selling. Public Auctions First and foremost, one must keep in mind that the…