Oh, man, do I ever have a great old bar today! So much character/toning/patina/tarnish. If you've read my posts before, you know I love old bars with discoloration on them. But this? This is ugly, even for me.
Back in the 70's and early 80's, it wasn't unusual for financial businesses to have silver bars minted with their logo on them. I guess kind of an advertising piece, but printed on something actually valuable. Some of these bars are fairly rare and fetch a lot of money. But as far as I can tell, not this one, and certainly not in this condition.
Check out the corners. Gross! And beautiful!
According to
this website*, it was made by Tri-state Refining in 1981. Tri-state is the same company that made
this 10 oz bar I posted about years ago. Based on a quick Google search, Shelby appears to still be in operation today. However, Tri-State Refining closed its doors in 1982, shortly after this round was produced.
*side note: Steve Austin, whose site I linked to above, is a pillar of the silver collector community. I've never met him, but I can see his influence everywhere. He gives so much back to this community, so spend a few minutes checking out his site and see if there's something on there you'd like to own. For example, if you like the bar I've posted above, but want a copy that actually looks nice, he has one for sale.
